Japan to trial AI bear warning system after record number of attacks

Japan is to trial an AI bear-warning system after a record number of attacks on humans over the past year as the animals struggle to find their staple foods.

A pilot system in Toyama prefecture, central Japan, will monitor live feeds from government, municipal and private security cameras to identify bears on the move in areas close to people, and send instant warnings to relevant local authorities, police and hunters. AI will also be used to monitor bears movement patterns and try to predict their future whereabouts.

If the scheme is a success, it will be rolled out in other parts of the country with significant bear populations.

There were 219 casualties and six fatalities from bear attacks across 19 prefectures in the year to March, the highest figures logged since nationwide data became available.

Related: Three bears that holed up in factory in Japan are captured and killed

Fluctuating harvests of bears staple foods, as well as rural depopulation, have been cited as factors in the rise in encounters with the animals. A steady fall in the number of children in country towns and villages, whose noisier behaviour helps keeps bears away, is believed by experts to be another factor.

Another AI surveillance system is being trialled in Hanamaki city in the north-east’s Iwate prefecture, with 30 cameras installed along rivers that run from nearby mountains towards the city.

Bears are often spotted along the rivers, and notifications are sent to a monitoring station and local residents. The city is cooperating with the security system manufacture on measures to deter the creatures from entering the city without killing them.

An attack by a bear on a small truck in the northern island of Hokkaido on 28 April was caught on its dashcam. The dramatic footage also captured what appeared to be a cub that had just crossed the mountain road in front of the truck, and the high-speed attack may have been the actions of a protective mother. The driver can be heard shouting, “It’s coming again; this is not good!” as the bear appears to furiously pursue the retreating vehicle.

Hokkaido is home to Ussuri brown bears, much larger than their black counterparts in the rest of Japan. They can weigh in at well over 300kg and run at speeds up to 50km/h.

Three days before the attack on the truck, Masato Fukuda, a 50-year-old karate practitioner, was able to scare off two black bears in Hokkaido by kicking one of them in the head.