- A black bear at Yamagata Airport caused a dozen flight cancellations on Thursday
- Airport operations were halted for safety inspections after the bear was spotted near runway
- Airport staff used flashing lights and pursued the bear, which remained on the run by noon
A small black bear baffled airport officials in Japan by roaming around the Yamagata Airport premises, causing a dozen flights to be cancelled on Thursday. Airport staff temporarily halted operations to conduct safety inspections when they could no longer see the bear.
A Yamagata Airport employee in Higashine, Yamagata prefecture, first spotted the bear close to the runway. Yamagata Airport's deputy manager, Akira Nagai, confirmed that more than 10 flights were impacted by the runway's temporary closure.
According to the video shared by the news agency AP, the hairy ruckus can be seen climbing onto a fence and pacing about with its mouth wide. Airport personnel used flashing airport car lights to try to drive the bear away after stopping all flights when it returned.
Around noon, the four-foot-tall animal reappeared, and airport workers pursued it along the runway. This resulted in the cancellation of 12 flights. However, it is believed that the bear is still at large.
"We are in a stalemate now,” said Yamagata Airport official Akira Nagai. The official added that authorities have been patrolling the perimeter of the airport, and hunters have come to prepare a trap for the bear.
Later, Nagai told The Washington Post that the airport had resumed operations.
Recent increases in bear sightings in Japan have provided airport officials another terrifying possibility: This bear could bring buddies. Japan has seen record numbers of human-bear interactions, with 219 attacks and six fatalities in the 12 months leading up to April 2024, per CBS News.
A golf tournament in central Japan was abruptly ended last month due to a bear sighting, with organisers citing safety concerns. A school in Goshogawara, Aomori prefecture, had to move a sporting event indoors due to bear sightings a week before the Yamagata Airport black bear incident, per The Post.
According to a January estimate from Japan's Environment Ministry, there were more than 19,000 bear sightings between April 2023 and October 2023, higher than the 18,000 sightings recorded in 2020.
Climate change, which alters food sources and hibernation periods, is a major contributing factor to bear sightings. However, as Japan's population shrinks, people move out of rural areas, creating space for bears to settle.
