- Four climbers were rescued by helicopter from a mountain in Hokkaido, Japan, after a brown bear blocked their descent, leaving them stranded for over three hours on Saturday.
- The group spotted the approximately 1.5m tall bear about 50m ahead on a trail while descending a 2,141m mountain; all were airlifted to safety uninjured.
- The incident occurred on the same day Mount Rausu, a Unesco World Natural Heritage site, reopened to climbers for the first time since a fatal bear attack there last August.
- This event contributes to a sharp rise in bear encounters across Japan, with at least five people killed by bears since 1 April, following a record 13 deaths in the last fiscal year.
- Scientists attribute the increase to factors including growing bear populations, declining rural communities, poor harvests of natural food sources, and climate change shortening hibernation periods.
IN FULL
