Photo/Illutration An Asian black bear (Provided by the Toyama prefectural government)

Nine-year-old Tama is gentle-natured and good at tracking bears. Her 5-year-old daughter, Lela, can immediately detect bears in the vicinity.

Both are Karelian bear dogs, a breed that helps keep bears away from humans. They are working in the Nagano Prefecture town of Karuizawa, where not one bear has harmed a person in the community there in the last 13 years.

Tama, Lela and two other dogs are kept and trained by an NPO called Picchio.

Bear cubs leave their mothers in the summer when food supplies happen to be short, according to Junpei Tanaka, 49.

Newly independent young bears avoid encountering their older and stronger counterparts in the woods and thus often wander into human settlements while foraging for food.

Picchio’s staffers patrol the neighborhoods with the bear dogs from late at night until the early morning. If a bear is spotted, it’s “showtime.”

The dogs bark loudly, causing the bear to scuttle back into the woods.

“And to make the bear understand that humans are also to be feared, I join the dogs and shout at the top of my lungs,” Tanaka said.

Bear attacks are occurring more frequently around the nation. In the current fiscal year, the latest Environment Ministry update shows 180 victims as of the end of last month, rewriting the worst record set in fiscal 2020.

Could bear dogs solve the problem by stopping bears from showing up in residential areas? I asked Tanaka, but he immediately replied, “It’s not that simple.”

Picchio has been in operation for 20 years, but the early years were marked by constant trial and error.

Not only did keeping and training the canines call for great patience and commitment, but there were also budgetary and staffing issues to contend with.

Picchio is currently run by six people and half the budget is covered by an agency fee paid by the town. But the remaining half has to be earned, requiring two of the staffers to work elsewhere during winter while the bears are in hibernation.

The methods of keeping bears away from human communities also vary by region. And it is up to the people and organizations with a thorough understanding of the situation to determine which method would work best in each area.

“Just getting rid of them won’t solve anything,” Tanaka said.

Those are weighty words.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 2

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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