Differing perceptions of Japanese black bears in urban and rural Japan

The resolution of conflict between humans and the Japanese black bear (Ursus thibetanus japonicus, hereafter 'black bear') has become an issue on the Japanese islands from Honshu south. On the other hand, several local populations have been listed as endangered, and efforts are being made to maintain a stable population. In 1999, Japan's Wildlife Protection and Hunting Law was partially amended to reflect the environmental concerns of city dwellers (who account for the vast majority of Japanese), and in response to changes in wild populations of birds and animals including bears. The Specified Wildlife Conservation and Management Plan wildlife management system was implemented with these legal amendments. However, the majority of damage caused by bears affects rural areas. Here, bears are exterminated by residents who have experienced damage caused by bears out of fear of further crop depredation or physical harm to humans. Thus, human-black bear conflict resolution measures are themselves conflicted between policies and practice in the field. Policies that often place the entire onus of damage control measures on rural residents tend to abet or encourage extermination because it is the simplest and most effective method of bear control. In the hopes of alleviating some of the conflict between policy and practice and developing new damage control measures, this paper presents the results of a questionnaire distributed to urban and rural residents of Morioka, a city in Iwate prefecture. This survey revealed the existence of an urban-rural gap in experience with and attitudes about bears. Country dwellers were more likely to have experience with bears and to support their capture and slaughter to prevent crop depredation. These differences of experience and opinion suggest that a new policy must be created to support rural crop depredation control measures. Additionally, a policy should be implemented to encourage understanding of these measures and increase mutual understanding between urban and rural populations.