A brown bear from the island of Hokkaido, northern Japan, which mainly attacked cows and was nicknamed “Ninja” for its ability to hide, was recently killed after a four-year hunt, authorities said on Tuesday.
“On July 30, a brown bear was killed and various analyses, including DNA tests, confirmed that it was OSO18,” Tadayoshi Takeda, a member of the Hokkaido authorities, told AFP, the animal’s codename.
OSO18, who was around two meters tall, has been actively wanted since he began hunting dairy cows in 2019. In all, he is suspected of attacking 66 cattle, about half of whom died from their injuries.
According to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, which like other Japanese media was passionate about the quest for this Plantigrade and the mysteries surrounding it, OSO18 was also nicknamed “Ninja” for his ability to dodge humans and outsmart their pitfalls.
Local authorities estimate that around 11,700 brown bears live on the big island of Hokkaido, and the number is growing.
They rarely attack humans, but farmers and herders in Hokkaido blame them for frequently damaging their crops and attacking livestock.
In fiscal year 2021-22 (which ended March 31, 2022), 1,056 bears were killed in Hokkaido, a record in decades.