Hadano city hall in Kanagawa Prefecture fielded about 60 calls and emails in the days after a captured Asian black bear was released back into the mountains, most of them thanking officials for setting it free. By the time the same bear was caught again and killed, the messages had reversed.
The male bear, 136 centimeters long and 101.3 kilograms, was released deep into the Tanzawa range on October 20 after a "learning release" intended to teach it to fear people. It was back near Kōbōyama Park within three days, recaptured on October 31 and destroyed.
Calls to city hall turn
Between the first sighting and October 23, the day the bear's return was confirmed, roughly 50 of the messages supported the release and about 10 opposed it, according to an official at the Hadano urban agriculture support center. The official said staff have asked residents to send opinions by email because handling the calls was interfering with other work.
After October 24, when the city established that the released bear had come back, about 40 messages demanded it be killed, including angry ones asking who would take responsibility if something happened. About 30 asked for it to be released again, but the recapture tipped the balance toward killing.
“We went to the trouble of choosing release, so the harsh words are hard to take.”an official at the Hadano urban agriculture support center, city official
Euthanasia and a missing rulebook
The recaptured bear was confirmed to be the same individual. Officials judged that it had kept its attachment to the area and that the danger to people had risen, and euthanized it. A prefectural specialist anesthetized the animal, confirmed it was immobilized and killed it with drugs, the official said, declining to give further detail.
Messages about the euthanasia are still arriving and have not been counted. The city also has barricades to take down, the official said.
Hadano had never handled a case like this before. The official said the city will discuss with the prefecture whether the response was right, and that it is hard to tell whether this bear came down from deep in the mountains or had formed an attachment to inhabited areas.
The city has an emergency shooting program in force, but no clear rule on whether a captured bear should be released or killed, so it followed the prefecture's direction. The official said such a rule will probably be needed.
“We would like to ask the bear why it came back.”the same official