A bear sighting on Wednesday prompted organizers of a golf tournament in Japan to cancel the opening day, marking the second time an ursine invader has halted play in the last two months.
The bear was spotted in the morning near the first tee at the Meiji Yasuda Ladies tournament at Sendai Classic Golf Club in northern Japan on the professional JLPGA Tour.
The pro-am competition scheduled for the same day was canceled, with organizers later deciding to scrap Thursday’s opening day of the tournament.
Organizers said they would decide later whether to play or cancel the rest of the competition, which has a total prize money of $670,000.
“On Wednesday, a bear sighting on the course was reported and the pro-am tournament was cancelled to protect the safety of the participants, players and staff,” said a statement on the tournament website.
“To ensure safety and to consider future measures, we have decided to cancel Thursday’s opening day,” the statement continued. “We will announce details of the tournament from Friday onwards as soon as they have been decided.”
In May, the final round of the Twinfield Ladies on the women’s second-tier Step Up tour in central Japan was cancelled after a bear was spotted on the course.
Yoshimasa Nakano/JLPGA via Getty Images
The following month, a bear roaming the runway forced a Japanese airport to cancel flights and declare itself off-limits to passengers for the day.
Human encounters with bears reached record levels in Japan last year, with 219 people attacked and six deaths in the 12 months to April 2024.
Climate change affecting food sources and hibernation times is a key factor, but as Japan’s aging population shrinks, humans are leaving rural areas, and that is also leaving room for bears to move in.
“Then that area recovered to the forest, so bears have a chance to expand their range,” biologist Koji Yamazaki, from Tokyo University of Agriculture, told CBS News‘ Elizabeth Palmer in 2023.
Japan is one of the only places on the planet where a large mammal species has been reclaiming habitat — which is good news for the bears, but if, as biologists suspect, the bear population is growing, the country will have to figure out new ways to protect people, and vital infrastructure like airports, from the animals.
Japan’s government in February approved a bill allowing hunters to shoot bears in populated areas.
In December, a bear that rampaged through a Japanese supermarket for two days was lured out with food coated in honey. Police said the animal was trapped and later killed.