On the morning of October 31, on the Japanese Island of Hokkaido, a man with a knife fought off a brown bear as it attacked his two companions. It seems likely the attack was prompted because the bear was defending the food cache it had made of the body of a hiker it had killed on October 29. From mainichi.jp:
SAPPORO — A man fought off a brown bear using a knife after he and two others were attacked by the animal while climbing Mount Daisengen in a Hokkaido town on the morning of Oct. 31.
Two men in their 40s suffered minor injuries including scratches on their sides and necks, as well as bites on the legs inflicted by the 1.7-meter-tall bear, but all three descended the mountain under their own power.
According to the Hokkaido Prefectural Government’s brown bear countermeasures office, the three men all reside in Hokkaido. The last person walking in a single file line was attacked by the animal at around 9:30 a.m. — some 2 1/2 hours after the three left the trailhead. Another person drove off the bear but two sustained injuries.
When the authorities investigated the site of the attack on the three hikers, they were surprised to find two bodies. They found a brown bear carcass near by, and the body of Kanato Yanaike, a 22-year-old man.
Bummer about the deceased. Japanese don’t have the option of a firearm. Sounds like they should.