The smart watch of a Japanese hiker who was killed in a bear mauling has provided terrifying insight into the person’s final moments, including when the bear allegedly returned to retrieve his body.
His death comes during a yr the country has seen a record variety of bear attacks. Thirteen people have died for the reason that start of April, in line with the Japanese environment ministry. The entire variety of attacks stands at 220 — also a record, Japanese news outlet NHK reported in late November, with essentially the most deaths occurring within the northern prefecture of Iwate.
GPS from the hiker’s watch, which logged the 1,661-meter route he was taking down Mount Rausu in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island, and tracked his heart rate, was retrieved after the deadly attack on Aug. 14, Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun wrote.
The person was walking about 200 metres ahead of a friend near an area often called the “560-meter rocky peak,” when the friend heard a cry for help and ran down a slope to seek out the person being dragged by a brown bear into the bushes, in line with the Japanese newspaper.
The watch’s data recorded erratic movements at around 11 a.m., including a sudden deviation from the mountaineering trail, a descent down a slope lined with trees, and circling in an area thick with foliage, CBS News reported.
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It also showed that the person’s heart stopped beating between 90 and 120 metres from the trail, indicating that he had died.
The watch didn’t move from the realm where the person’s heart stopped all night, but began moving around 9:00 a.m. the next morning, suggesting the bear got here back for his body, which it dragged greater than 100 metres through the woods, Asahi wrote.
Three days later, a bear with two cubs was seen dragging the body in its mouth, the outlet added. Hunters killed all three, it said.
A pile of earth dug up by the bear was found nearby, and the stays of the person — who had recently gotten engaged — were discovered, the report added.
Officers later directed the person’s parents at Shari Police Station to discover the person’s stays, but advised them only to have a look at his face because of the extent of his injuries.
The mauling in Hokkaido got here weeks after a person in a busy urban area within the Gunma Prefecture, near Numata railway station, north of Tokyo, was mauled while exiting a public restroom, sustaining minor injuries to his leg.
The bear fled the scene after the person began yelling and kicking his legs in self-defence, The Guardian reported.
The station where the bear attack occurred is centrally situated in Numata City, near homes and restaurants, and only one kilometre from town hall.
The toilet encounter got here a few month after a bear wandered right into a food market in the identical urban area and reportedly attacked an individual within the parking zone before lying on top of a customer and ransacking the food counter.
In the identical week, a person was mauled to death by a bear while out picking mushrooms, and one other person was found decapitated in a suspected bear attack, marking an uptick in such confrontations, Japanese officials said.
In response to the uptick in attacks, the Japanese government has put aside about 3.4 billion yen ($22 million USD) for bear-control measures in a draft supplementary budget, in line with NHK. It has also mobilized the military to help local hunters in trapping bears.
Armed police have also been permitted to shoot the animals as local hunting populations decline.
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