A mushroom forager who ventured into woodland has been tragically discovered dead, with his head severed from his body, following a horrific bear attack.
The man, believed to have been in his 70s, disappeared on Wednesday after heading out to forage for mushrooms in Iwate, Japan.
Authorities launched a search operation, only to discover his lifeless body covered in scratch marks consistent with a bear attack.
In the wake of the brutal mauling, a local police officer from the northern region of Iwate stated: “A man in his 70s who went missing after going into the woods to harvest mushrooms was found dead. We suspect he was attacked by a bear based on scratch marks.”
Local broadcaster TV Iwate reported that his torso and head had been separated, further strengthening authorities’ belief that it was a gruesome bear attack.
The shocking incident comes amid a notable surge in bear attacks across Japan in recent years, raising serious safety concerns for those living close to forested areas.
In a separate incident, another man also in his 70s was found dead in a different part of Iwate on the same Wednesday.
View 2 ImagesIn recent years, bear attacks in Japan have increased exponentially(Image: Getty)
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the body of a 78-year-old man bearing multiple claw marks was discovered in the central prefecture of Nagano.
According to Japan’s environment ministry, between April and September this year, a total of 103 people across the country sustained injuries as a result of bear attacks.
In a bizarre incident, an agitated bear was spotted wandering the aisles of a supermarket in Gunma, north of Tokyo, on Tuesday.
The animal injured two men and left countless shoppers terrified. Local residents noted that, despite the store’s proximity to mountainous terrain, bears had never previously been reported venturing anywhere near it.
In 2024, also in Gunma prefecture on the island of Honshu, a black bear forced its way into an elderly couple’s home while they were asleep, leaving both victims with severe injuries to their faces and heads.
In Akita prefecture, also on Honshu, a 64-year-old man was tragically killed while foraging for bamboo shoots in May last year. Officers who attempted to retrieve his body were subsequently attacked by the bear and forced to withdraw.
Bears, which are typically vegetarian and insect-eating creatures, have reportedly developed an appetite for meat as a result of Japan’s growing deer population.
Hunting once kept their numbers under control, but with fewer hunters operating today, those that do remain frequently leave carcasses in the mountains, providing an effortless meal for the bears.
It is also believed that the heavy summer rainfall of 2023, followed by a prolonged drought, severely impacted the fruit harvest and insect population that bears depend upon ahead of hibernation.
This shortage of food is thought to be a contributing factor behind the animals venturing closer to human settlements in search of sustenance, with attacks on the rise as a result. Yasushi Fujimoto, the head of a hunting organisation, said: “The mountain is turning into a restaurant for bears, because of the remains left on the mountain after hunting.
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“The lack of professional hunters, like park rangers in Alaska financed by the government, is a problem when it comes to controlling the number of bears.”