‘The bear bit down on my head’: Japanese man recalls horrifying bear attack in his backyard

Wounds from a bear attack are seen on the back of a man from Kita-Akita, Akita Prefecture. - PHOTO: JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

AKITA, Japan (Japan News/ANN): A 66-year-old man from Kita-Akita, Akita Prefecture in Japan, was attacked by a bear last week.

“The bear bit down on my head. I couldn’t do anything,” he said in a phone interview on Tuesday, adding that he thought he was going to die.

The confectionary shop owner is still in the hospital, getting treatment for his wounds.

Local police are calling on the public to stay alert as four more people were attacked by bears in the prefecture on Tuesday.

The man interviewed saw the bear shortly after 11am on Oct 19. When he pulled up a garage door in his backyard, he found the bear inside. The animal was only 2m away from him.

“He was facing forward, and our eyes met. The bear was at least 1m tall. I thought I didn’t stand a chance and immediately started to run away,” he said. “But after (running for) about 10m, I got knocked down.”

The man fell with the right side of his body up, and the bear came down on him.

“It was growling horribly, and bit my head with its his fangs. I couldn’t do anything,” he said.

The attack seemed to last for only a minute, and he managed to escape into his studio. He staunched the bleeding with a towel and called the police.

Looking into a mirror, he saw the right part of his scalp sticking up. A roughly 10cm-square patch of his skull was visible.

He was taken by emergency medical helicopter to a hospital in Akita City and is still receiving treatment. He sustained countless scratches on his back, right arm, and the right side of his torso. His face bears deep wounds.

Earlier that day in the city, at 6.40am, two women were attacked by a bear while on a walk. Then, a high school girl was also attacked by the bear around 7am at a bus station only 800m north of the first attack. It was believed that the same bear was responsible for the spate of attacks.

The man said he always watches out for bears when he goes deep into the mountains for fishing. But this time, he had no chance to get the hunting knife or repellant spray he kept at home.

“I never thought I would be attacked by a bear in my own backyard,” he said.

Bears were also spotted in downtown Akita City on Tuesday. According to Akita-Higashi Police Station, three bears, believed to be a parent bear and two cubs, were sighted on a street about 500m east of Akita University at 7.10am. - JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK