A Hunter’s Dilemma: Navigating the Controversy of Bear Extermination in Hokkaido”

“I can still vividly remember the barking and the rattling of the cage, and up until a year ago I thought trapping was evil.”

Why did he kill the bear?

Protests poured in against hunters in Kushiro Town who exterminated OSO 18, which attacked more than 60 cattle in Hokkaido, and the city of Sapporo, which exterminated a mother bear that had been spotted near a residential area, received about 650 criticisms. Misato Town, Akita Prefecture, which exterminated a black bear on the 5th of this month, has also reportedly received a flood of protests.

According to calculations by the Hokkaido Prefectural Government, the estimated number of brown bears in the country was 5,200 in fiscal 1990, but by fiscal 2020, the number had almost doubled to 11,700, a figure that has increased over the past 30 years. The current fiscal year is also said to be the worst on record for human casualties caused by bears in Japan.

Naturally, news about bear extermination is increasing, and each report raises voices of opposition across the country.

Hokkaido held a brown bear protection and management study group this month to consider setting a target number of bears to be hunted. Based on the opinions of experts, the committee will decide on the target number of bears to be captured, as well as the sex and age of the bears to be targeted. This is the first time the Hokkaido Prefectural Government has set a target for the capture of bears.

Such criticism and protests have reached the ears of  Rakato Takasaki, 24, a young hunter from Mikasa City, Hokkaido.

“If a bear appears, I will deal with it,” he said. “That’s my role. It’s the time of the year when the bears are hibernating, and for the past two or three weeks, they have been very active. If I get a call now, I have to go out.”

The young hunter is unwavering in his opposition to bear extermination.

Born in Nagoya, Japan. In April of last year, after graduating from Hokkaido’s Dairy Farming University, he was hired by Mikasa City as an avian wildlife control specialist. He currently works for the city’s agriculture and forestry department and is a member of the Mikasa branch of the Hokkaido Hunting Club.

“When a report of a bear appears, I go out as a specialist for the city office,” he says. “Since I am in a position where I can move easily, I am able to get to the scene as quickly as possible.”

 

Until he became a wildlife protection specialist, he had never touched a hunting rifle. He says he only started carrying a shotgun in October of last year.

“I asked permission from the Agriculture and Forestry Department and walked around the mountains every day during the winter to get to know them better,” he said. “I studied under an experienced hunter from a hunting club and was allowed to accompany him. I learned a lot about shooting bears in the mountains in winter.”

Hokkaido abolished the spring bear extermination program in the ’90, which encouraged trapping during the lingering snow season, but this year it began allowing spring controlled trapping in order to curb the number of bears appearing in human settlements. Mr. Takasaki and his mentor went out to capture the bears this spring.

 

“My first bear extermination was on the 22nd of April,” he said. “It was just six months after I got my gun. During the spring controlled trapping period, Mikasa City exterminated four bears, and I shot three of them.”

He was present for the capture of the bears in the box traps last summer.

“I have suffered many flashbacks since the first time I saw a bear in a cage being put to the stop with a gun. Until a year ago, I thought trapping was evil.”