A bear broke into a family’s kitchen in northern Japan and raided the fridge, police said Wednesday, the latest in a string of intrusions as the country reckons with a surge in deadly bear encounters.
Officers in Iwate prefecture took a call Monday evening from a household in the town of Shizukuishi reporting the animal inside their home. It « opened the fridge, scattering its content nearby, » a local police official told AFP. Footprints suggest the bear left through a back door and rooted through a bin for food waste. At least four other homes in the same town have reported bear intrusions since July 5, and some outlets say a single animal may be behind more than a dozen break-ins.
Bears have killed at least five people in Japan since April 1, all in the Tohoku region, following a record 13 fatal attacks last fiscal year. Scientists point to a growing bear population, shrinking rural communities and shifting food supplies.
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