Governor Kenta Suzuki of Akita Prefecture appeared live on TV Asahi’s “Hatori Shinichi Morning Show” (8:00 a.m.) on the 19th. He reported on the current situation of damage caused by a series of bears. The host, announcer Shinichi Hatori, described the lives of residents in bear-infested areas . He explained that they may encounter bears when they open their front doors, when they throw away garbage, or in their yards, and that they “get attacked when they are going about their normal daily lives. Regarding the situation of local governments in Akita Prefecture, Akita City explained that “four teams of two patrol the area from morning until nightfall,” “employees take turns working on weekends,” and “if there is a report of a bear sighting, we are forced to respond even after working hours. While receiving support from various sources, the city is trying to manage the situation so that normal administrative services are not affected, but “to be honest, the exhaustion of the employees has reached its limit,” he said. Yokote City will be unable to conduct business in the mountains from now on due to snow. Normally, the maintenance of forests and forest roads would be in full swing, but “the response to bears is putting pressure on these maintenance and other operations,” he said, adding that they are somehow managing to cope with the limited time available. Asked about the current state of the staff, Governor Suzuki explained, “Akita Prefecture’s population is decreasing to begin with, so the administrative organization is being streamlined. In the midst of this, he informed that “these incidents occur suddenly, and all the municipalities are having a hard time dealing with them. He also explained that there has been a string of phone calls complaining about bear exterminations. He explained, “Most of them are from outside of the prefecture, and they sometimes make unreasonable demands, and since it interferes with our operations, we say, ‘We are trying to be mindful of them. Yokote City posted on its official X last month (October) that it would take firm action against calls that it considered slanderous,” and that “last year, other municipalities were inundated with complaints about bear extermination, which also affected the work of its employees, so the city thought it was necessary to make this widely known.” Akita Prefecture has received “about 770 calls since mid-October,” he said, “Half of them are criticisms. Many of them ask why we kill them,” he explained. The other half of the calls are for support and suggestions, such as “work harder,” “don’t lose,” and “why don’t you do this? As for the complaint calls, he said, “Many people talk about the same thing for a long time, so we listen to them for a certain amount of time and then say, ‘I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to cut this part off now. He continued, “When there is an increase in media coverage of the deployment of the Self-Defense Forces, various opinions emerge, and on balance, many of them want us not to kill them. Compared to last year, this has become a nationwide issue, so there is also a lot of support.
