In Japan nowadays, Asian black bears can be mainly found in the mountains of the main island of Honshu. Only a very few specimens remain in the island of Shikoku and the population is already extinct in Kyushu, which is why they have to be protected. Located in the city of Karuizawa in Nagano prefecture, Picchio is an organisation that has a wildlife research center and a team that is dedicated to work on the conservation of Asian black bears.
Although they have to be preserved, black bears are also a problem in Karuizawa. They sometimes come to town to look for food and may cause damage to the city, to houses and possibly to humans. Over the years, one purpose of Picchio's conservation program has been to make people change their habits to prevent bears from being attracted to come to town, by collecting garbage in designated areas for instance. Another aim is to educate bears not to come where humans are and to send them back to their natural environment.
The first task of the team is to find out where the bears are located by analyzing data collected in the past. Once they think they may have found a good place, they put a trap there that isn't harmful to the animal in order to capture it. After the bear has been anesthetized, it is taken out from the trap to undergo a quick checkup to know its sex or its weight, for example. Samples of hair and blood are also collected then. A radio collar is then put around the bear's neck and it is ready to be released back into the wild.
It is not that rare for the team to capture and release bears but it is rather unusual for normal people, let alone foreigners, to witness these events. As soon as the trap is open, some of the members start to make a lot of noise, yelling and shooting fireworks. The objective is to scare the bear and make it think humans are dangerous and shouldn't be approached anymore. Usually, it only takes a few seconds for the bear to escape straight away. However, the female that was released that day decided to stay with us for a little while and the team members had to scream louder and shoot fireworks for a very long time. The surroundings were almost completely covered in white smoke when the big black bear finally disappeared into the mountains.
Persons who are interested not only in bears but also in protecting nature in general should pay a visit to the Picchio center. Not everyone will be able to witness the capture or the release of a wild Asian black bear, but the guides provide a lot of information that will surely be helpful if you ever encounter a beer while walking around the town.
