News Brown Bear Minami Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido Sep 3, 2025, 03:00 PM

Description

On 2025-09-04 at a golf course in Minami Ward, Sapporo, a hunter in his 70s fired without authorization and killed one brown bear. The golf course manager and its operating company were also referred for indictment on suspicion of unauthorized capture, and police judged the shooting did not qualify as a legal 'necessity' (emergency escape).

Note: Official sources provide information in Japanese only. This description has been machine translated for your convenience.

Summary

At a golf course in Minami Ward, Sapporo, where bears had been sighted for consecutive days, a hunter in his 70s who had been asked to patrol fired without permission and killed one brown bear. The manager and operating company were also implicated, and police concluded the encounter was foreseeable so the shooting did not qualify as an emergency justification; all were referred for indictment on suspected violations of wildlife protection law.

Bear Type

Brown Bear

Number of Bears

1

Provider Type

News

Date & Time

Wednesday, September 3, 2025 at 03:00 PM

Address

Coordinates

42.998119, 141.348941

Sources