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Chapter 24 - The Challenge of Brown Bear Management in Hokkaido, Japan

from Part IV - Conservation and ManagementConservation and Management

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2020

By
Tsutomu Mano ,
Masami Yamanaka ,
Hifumi Tsuruga  and
Yoshikazu Sato
Edited by
Vincenzo Penteriani  and
Mario Melletti
Vincenzo Penteriani
Affiliation:
Spanish Council of Scientific Research (CSIC)
Mario Melletti
Affiliation:
WPSG (Wild Pig Specialist Group) IUCN SSC
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Summary

In Japan, the brown bear (Ursus arctos) occurs only in Hokkaido. With recent increase and range expansion of the bear population, conflicts among people and bears, as well as the number of control bear kills, have also increased. Recently, bear intrusions into urban areas, such as Sapporo City, as well as agricultural damage to corn and fruits, have increased in various parts of Hokkaido, although there has been little livestock damage. The number of bear kills has increased from 200 to 300 per year in the 1990s to over 850 by 2010. The purpose of >90% of recent kills was damage control. The average cost of annual agricultural damage and number of bear kills between 2010 and 2017 were 13.7 and 679 million yen, respectively. In this chapter, the current situation of bear management issues in Hokkaido is presented, including the paradigm of Brown Bear Management Plan of Hokkaido, urban bear management in Sapporo, and the human resource development and management system to develop proper brown bear management

Keywords

brown bearursus arctosHokkaidoJapanmanagementhuntingdamage
Type
Chapter
Information
Bears of the World
Ecology, Conservation and Management
 , pp. 349 - 355
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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References

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