A disturbed bear injures two people at a grocery store in Japan, where a man was killed in a separate suspected attack

Tokyo – A disgusting bear wandered the aisles of a grocery store in central Japan, scaring two men and frightening shoppers, officials said Wednesday.

More and more wild bears have been spotted in Japan in recent years, even in residential areas, due to factors including a Human population decline And climate change.

A man was found dead on a mountain on Wednesday in the northern Iwate prefecture after a suspected bear attack, according to public broadcaster NHK, citing police.

Separately, regional police and fire officials said the 4.5-foot-long adult bear that entered the grocery store Tuesday evening in Numata, north of Tokyo, had a slightly injured man in his 70s and another in his 60s.

Hiroshi Horikawa, a management planning officer at the grocery store chain, told AFP that the store is close to mountainous areas, but had never been so close before.

“I entered through the main entrance and stayed inside for about four minutes,” he said. “He almost climbed into the fish tray and the damaged glass. In the fruit section, I knocked over a pile of avocados and chopped them up.”

The store manager told local media that about 30 to 40 customers were inside at the time, and that the bear became excited as it struggled to find the exit.

Also on Tuesday, a farmer in the Iwate area was scratched and bitten by a bear, accompanied by a cub, outside his home.

A Spanish tourist was attacked on Sunday by a bear at a bus stop in the scenic village of Shirakawa-go in central Japan.

Between April and September, 108 people suffered nationwide Injuries caused by bears, including five deathsaccording to the Ministry of Environment. There was a record number of Human encounters with bears In Japan last year, with 219 attacks including six deaths in the 12 months to April 2024.

Experts have cited the effects of climate change on bears’ food sources and hibernation cycles as a major factor, but there are also impacts as Japan’s population shrinks and humans abandon more rural areas.

This population has left the bears with “an opportunity to expand their range,” biologist Koji Yamazaki, of Tokyo Agricultural University, said. He told CBS NewsElizabeth Palmer in 2023.

Japan is one of the few places in the world where large mammal species have been recovering habitat — good news for bears, but, as biologists suspect, as the bear population grows, the country will have to figure out new ways to protect people and critical infrastructure from the animals.