Pet dog taken by bear in Japan’s Akita amid spate of recent attacks
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The incident occurred in a village surrounded by rice fields, where bear cubs had been spotted earlier in November.
PHOTO: AFP
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AKITA - A pet dog was taken away by a bear in Akita on Nov 11, the latest in a series of bear attacks
A woman in her 70s, who is the owner of the Shiba Inu dog, witnessed the incident on her premises in Shimokitate, Akita City and called the police.
According to local police, upon hearing her dog barking, the woman looked outside of her house at about 11.15am.
She saw a 1.2m bear dragging the dog’s house away. She later found the structure abandoned in the nearby woods, but the dog was gone.
“We had nothing, so we thought the only thing we could do was to set off some fireworks,” the dog’s owner told local broadcaster Akita Television.
The dog was a four-year-old Shiba Inu chained to the doghouse at the time.
The incident occurred in a village surrounded by rice fields, where bear cubs had been spotted earlier in November.
A local hunting association searched the area but could not locate the bear nor the dog.
Earlier on Oct 30, a Shiba Inu was also attacked in Akita’s Odate city. The 17-year-old dog was found dead near a shed outside its owner’s home where it had been kept on a leash.
Claw marks were found on its body, with bear prints and fur found nearby.
Japanese broadcaster reported on Nov 11 that at least 220 people have been attacked by bears since April, including 13 who died. Four of the fatal attacks were recorded in Akita, second only to five deaths in Iwate. THE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA ENWS NETWORK
