TOKYO -- Eighty percent of respondents in a recent Mainichi Shimbun opinion poll supported Japan's bear control measures, including policies allowing police officers to use rifles to kill the animals and the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to aid efforts against them, amid a surge of bear attacks across the country.

In the survey conducted Nov. 22 and 23, the most common response to these measures against bears was that they were "reasonable" at 46%, followed by 34% who said the bear control efforts "should be further strengthened." Only 12% answered "Other methods should be considered."

According to the Ministry of the Environment, the number of fatalities due to bear attacks from April to October this year reached a record high of 12, doubling from fiscal 2023. Incidents of attacks in urban areas have also become more prominent. In Akita Prefecture, where bear-related injuries have become severe, the SDF have been deployed to support prevention activities. In addition, police officers are now authorized to use rifles to kill bears that appear in populated areas.

The national government plans to compile a bear control measure package at a meeting of relevant ministers and include the necessary expenses in the fiscal 2025 supplementary budget proposal, which will be submitted to the ongoing extraordinary Diet session.

The poll was conducted using the smartphone-based "d-Survey" method. NTT Docomo's "d Point Club" membership service, covering roughly 77 million people aged 18 and up nationwide, was used to randomly select respondents. The poll received 1,985 valid responses.

(Japanese original by Daisuke Nohara, Poll Office)