Horror as pensioner has head ripped off by bear | World | News

A mushroom picker who went harvesting in the forest was tragically found dead with his head severed after a horrific bear attack.

The man, reportedly in his 70s, went missing after going looking for mushrooms in Iwate, Japan, on Wednesday. Authorities launched a search operation but found his body with scratches all over his body from a bear attack.

Following the wild bear attack, a local police officer from northern Iwate prefecture said, “A man in his 70s, who went missing after going into the forest to pick mushrooms, was found dead. We suspect he was attacked by a bear due to scratch marks.”

Local broadcaster TV Iwate reported that its torso and head were separated, leading authorities to believe it was a vicious bear attack.

The news comes at a time when there has been a significant increase in bear attacks in Japan in recent years, raising concerns about safety risks for local people, especially those living near forested areas.

In a separate bear attack incident, another man in his 70s was found dead in a different area of ​​Iwate on Wednesday. Meanwhile, on Saturday, the body of a 78-year-old man with multiple claw marks was found in the central prefecture of Nagano.

According to Japan’s Ministry of Environment, 103 people were reported injured by bears across Japan between April and September this year.

In a strange incident on Tuesday, an agitated bear was seen wandering the aisles of a supermarket in Gunma, north of Tokyo. The bear injured two people and scared countless customers. According to locals, although the store is close to mountainous areas, there have been no previous reports of bears coming near the store.

Last year, in Gunma prefecture on the island of Honshu, a black bear entered the house of an elderly couple while they were sleeping, causing serious facial and head injuries.

A 64-year-old man in Akita prefecture, also in Honshu, was tragically killed while searching for bamboo shoots in May. The police trying to retrieve his body were attacked by the bear and had to retreat.

Bears, typically vegetarian and insect-eating creatures, have reportedly developed a taste for meat due to the growing deer population in Japan.

Hunting used to keep their numbers in check, but now that there are fewer hunters, those that remain often leave their carcasses in the mountains, providing an easy meal for the bears.

Additionally, the drought following heavy summer rains in 2023 is believed to have an impact on the fruit harvest and insect population that bears need before hibernating. This lack of food was thought to be a potential factor behind what drives the animals to seek food elsewhere, including near human settlements where attacks have increased.

Yasushi Fujimoto, head of the hunting organization, said: “Due to the remains left on the mountain after hunting, the mountain turns into a restaurant for bears.

“The lack of professional hunters, such as government-funded park rangers in Alaska, poses a problem when it comes to controlling bear numbers.”