OSHU, Iwate Prefecture--A licensed hunter who took pity on a bear cub trapped in a deer snare ran afoul of the law by trying to raise the animal at home and then arranging for it to be killed after she became too unruly to handle.

The man, who is 77 and a member of a local hunting association, was arrested here in February. Police said it is illegal to keep a bear without permission and that the man compounded his crime by having the animal shot dead.

He came across the trapped female bitsy bear in a mountain area and brought her home, intending to care for the animal until it could be released into the wild and fend for itself.

The man named her Ma-kun because of her “makkuro” (deep black) fur and took great pains to care for her.

THE FATEFUL DAY

The hunter recalled that an Oshu city official phoned him in late June last year to report “a small bear caught in a deer snare.” He headed for the mountain with a fellow hunting association member who is 72.

Trapped bear cubs are normally supposed to be returned to their natural mountain habitats as a precaution against them harming humans. The municipal official told the pair to release the bear in a safe manner and left things at that.

The cub was very weak and unable to move in a crouched position. The hunter took pity on her and decided to “look after her for the time being.” He loaded the animal on to his light truck and drove home, where he built a cage made of plywood panels and wire net in his backyard.

Ma-kun kept on whimpering, even when the hunter poured milk into a plate for her to drink. After a while, he fed her milk from a baby’s bottle, which she later began to hungrily devour.

He had initially planned to eventually release her into the wild but every time Ma-kun was coaxed out of the cage, she hid behind a nearby thicket and then came back. No matter how many times he set her loose, the same thing happened.

“She doesn't know how to catch prey, though the mother should have shown her how,” the man recalled thinking.

It emerged that a female bear, very likely the cub's mother, was caught in nearby trap the day before Ma-kun was found entangled. The adult bear was distraught and acted violently, so the hunter shot her at the city’s request.

Two months later, Ma-kun started consuming bananas and grapes and enjoyed tucking into loaves of bread.

The hunter hosed down Ma-kun on sweltering summer days as she lay on her back baring her belly as if to ask for more water.

The man and his wife became increasingly attached to Ma-kun, who was growing noticeably bigger.

By November, five months after the hunter found her, the bear's weight topped 20 kilograms. She scratched his face with her claws whenever he came too close at mealtimes.

He realized the bear was “dangerous,” offering no hope of her ever being released into her natural mountain habitat because of the risk of “her attacking people.”

The notion of setting Ma-kun free faded with each passing day.

On Nov. 25, the huntsman went to a local police station to renew his hunting license and told an officer during a casual conversation he was “keeping a bear.”

The animal welfare and management law bans tigers, bears and other designated wild animals from being owned as pets. Police opened an investigation into the matter.

Learning the following day that the police were hot on his trail, the man decided he “had no other choice.”

As he was away from home, the hunter called his friend to perform the gruesome task of shooting Ma-kun. When the police turned up at the man’s home the following day, all they found was the dismantled cage and the bear's body covered by plywood boards.

The man and the colleague were arrested in February on suspicion of breaching the animal welfare and management law.

According to the Iwate prefectural police, Ma-kun was 85 centimeters long and weighed 25 kg at the time of her death.

The men were released two days later and a decision was made March 25 not to indict them.

An Asahi Shimbun reporter visited the hunter at his home following the decision. The man said he “did not know keeping (bears) is prohibited” and expressed his sadness at the way things turned out.

He has surrendered his hunter's license and hunting gun. Left in the yard that once housed Ma-kun’s cage was a light blue plastic vessel from which she gobbled water.