Officials in Japan said a body found on a mountain belongs to a missing hiker who was attacked by a brown bear.
The attack happened on Thursday, Aug. 14, on Mount Rausu in Hokkaido, Japan, according to The Japan Times, The Japan News and NHK.
Police said the male hiker was walking on a trail Thursday morning when the bear attacked him, according to the Agence France-Presse.
The hiker’s friend ran to help and saw him trying to fight off the bear before it dragged him into the forest, The Japan News and NHK reported.
The friend, who was not hurt, reported the attack to police. Officers tried calling the victim’s phone but got no answer.
On Friday morning, Aug. 15, police and searchers found part of a shirt that may have belonged to the hiker near the spot where his friend reported the attack, according to NHK. They also discovered a wallet linked to him.
Authorities later found the hiker in the afternoon. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the AFP reported. He was identified as 26-year-old Sota Keisuke, according to NHK.
An official told the AFP that hunters captured and killed a bear near the trail. A DNA test will check whether this bear was the one that attacked the hiker.
After the attack, officials closed the mountain trail, The Japan Times reported.
Officials with Hokkaido’s government said this was the first bear attack in the Shiretoko Mountain Range, including Mount Rausu, in 63 years, according to The Japan News.
According to figures released earlier this month, there were 11,600 brown bears in Hokkaido at the end of 2023, a drop of 500 from the previous year, the AFP reported.
This attack comes about a month after a hunter in his 50s went missing in Hokkaido — just days after a brown bear was spotted in the area.
A friend told authorities that the hunter did not return from Mount Esan on July 15, according to The Guardian, Kyodo News and The Japan News.
A gun believed to belong to him was found near bloodstains. The disappearance happened after a large brown bear was reported in the area on July 12.
