Asiatic black bear
The body was so severely mauled that the police have yet to identify the victim. But the police were looking for 74-year-old Tsuwa Suzuki in the area where they found the body in a mountain forest in Kazuno, Akita, after she was reported missing the previous day.
Near the spot where the body was found, the police found a car Suzuki had apparently used as well as a mobile phone and food inside the vehicle. Suzuki, who lives in Towada in neighbouring Aomori Prefecture, is believed to have gone to the area to pick edible wild plants.
On May 21 and 22, two men in their 70s were found dead in the forest where they had gone to harvest bamboo shoots, and on May 30 the body of a man in his 60s was found in the area. Their wounds have led the police to believe that they were killed by bears.
Takeshi Komatsu, a veterinarian with the municipal government of Kitaakita in Akita, said because the attacks appear to have occurred in a limited area over a short period of time, all four people were likely killed by the same bear.
Noting that the victims had been severely mauled, Mr Komatsu said: "After tasting humans, the bear may have learned it can eat them."
Later on Friday, a hunter killed a bear in the forest in Kazuno, the police said. The police will look into whether it was a bear that likely attacked some or all of the victims.
Well, the bear will learn that 'humans' are an acquired taste, not for every bear in the forest. I wonder if it's a certain type of bear that has found this to be a delicacy worth a change in consumption patters?