HOKKAIDO, Jan 22 (News On Japan) –
A brand new disposal system that makes use of microorganisms to interrupt down culled bears is drawing consideration in Hokkaido, as Japan faces a rising problem not solely in stopping bear assaults but additionally in dealing with the stays after animals are killed.
Bear sightings surged throughout the nation in 2025, with human casualties reaching 230 nationwide, together with two deaths in Hokkaido.
Fukushima, a city in southern Hokkaido the place a newspaper supply employee was fatally attacked by a bear in July 2025, has launched a facility able to processing culled bears and different animals utilizing microbes, the one such system at the moment working in Hokkaido.
The facility is designed to cut back the quantity of animal carcasses by decomposing them virtually fully. The course of entails putting the animal in a tank, mixing in water and particular chips coated with microorganisms, and elevating the temperature to round 80 levels Celsius. With microbial exercise accelerated, the meat may be damaged down in about at some point, whereas bones and pores and skin usually take round per week, with many of the materials discharged as water and carbon dioxide.
In many areas, hunters are required to dismantle culled bears and deer themselves into items sufficiently small to be incinerated at native amenities. But in southern Hokkaido, the place wildlife-related crop injury has continued and requests for culling have elevated, hunters have been spending vital time on dismantling work, slowing down their skill to seize extra animals.
One native hunter stated the work may be overwhelming, noting that they’re typically requested to chop carcasses into items as small as 10 centimeters sq..
Fukushima invested about 100 million yen in 2024 to introduce the system, changing into the primary municipality in Hokkaido to undertake the know-how. In southern Hokkaido, the place the variety of bears captured rose sharply in 2024 and incineration processing started to fall behind, the city says the brand new system proved efficient by permitting bears to be dealt with extra rapidly.
Mayor Kiyoharu Narumi stated Fukushima is at the moment managing the system, however hopes it may possibly finally be expanded and collectively managed by 4 cities within the area: Fukushima, Matsumae, Shiriuchi and Kikonai.
Local officers say they purpose to stop one other tragic accident by strengthening resident security via using superior know-how.
Source: HBCニュース 北海道放送