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A wild brown bear on the the loose all night in a city in northern Japan wounded four people, entered a milita🌳ry camp and disrupted flights at an airport Friday before being shot and killed by authorities.
The bear was seen wandering through the streets of Sapporo in the early hours of Fridayꦬ, triggering a number of calls to police. Over the next eight hours, Hokkaido prefectural police said the bear injured a woman in her 80s, a man in his 70s and a man in his 40s before attacking a soldier.
Police said the condition of those injured was not known, but the Asahi newspaper reported that the man in his 40s suffered serious injuries🌊 to his chest, back and limbs after he was mauled by the bear while walking on the street.
Footage on local television showed the bear wandering a street in Sapporo. Chased by a car, it crossed a buꦚsy road and forced its way into the Ground Self-Defense Force's Camp Okadama. The bear knocked down a uniformed soldier on duty at the gate.
The soldier suffered cuts to his chest and stomach, but his injuries were not life threatening, accor🐠ding to the Defense Ministry.
Next the bear ran through the camp aওnd intruded onto the runway at a nearby airport, causing several flights to be grounded.
The bear then ran 🍌into a forest, where it was shot by l🉐ocal hunters.
Toshihiro Hamada, an official at Sapporo city environmental department, said the bear's presence in town w🌞as a surprise and officials were investigating how the animal en🅷ded up in town.
“We are sorry that four people were injur♏ed,” Hamada said.
Brown bears roam mainly in Hokkꦍaido forests, but experts say they have been increasingly spotted in inhabited areas looking for food, especially durin♊g the summer.
