Japanese city closes 94 schools as hunt for stray bear enters third day

Residents of Utsunomiya have been urged to stay indoors as police and hunters track the animal, which was spotted inside a shopping arcade

The city government of Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo, closed all 94 public primary and junior high schools in the area after receiving more than 10 reports of bear sightings since Saturday – including in a shopping arcade.

“We have vehicles out to areas where a bear was seen to make people aware and to urge people to stay indoors or in vehicles,” a city official said, adding that dozens of hunters, police and local officials had been looking for the animal.

It was not clear whether there was one bear or more, he said, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity.

A record 13 people were killed by bears in Japan last year, and there has been a jump in encounters as the animals emerge hungry from hibernation.

In the last year to March, bear sightings nationwide topped 50,000 – more than double the previous record set two years earlier, according to official data.