Japan has so many bear attacks that the military is now taking action

The bears are in the streets. They are on the sidewalks of rural roads. They are on airport runways. And they are attacking humans in record numbers, according to a flurry of warnings from the Japanese government.

The increase in attacks is prompting foreign governments to issue warnings and Japanese officials to deploy troops and authorize police officers to shoot the animals.

A declining human population in rural areas, combined with a growing bear population and a poor harvest of a key food source this year, is likely behind the increase in bear attacks, experts say.

“Bears living in such conditions have likely become less wary of humans,” said Shinsuke Koike, a professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, who studies Asiatic black bears.