Small bear disrupts Japanese airport, prompting low-speed chase on runway

Officials at a small airport in northern Japan conducted a low-speed car chase Thursday to thwart a security risk: a small black bear.

An employee at Yamagata Airport in Higashine, Yamagata prefecture, spotted the bear near the runway early Thursday morning, according to the Japanese outlet Yomiuri Shimbun. Airport personnel briefly shut down operations to run safety checks when staff lost sight of the bear, Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

The bear, about 4 feet tall, reemerged around noon to cause a level of havoc three times its size: Twelve flights were canceled Thursday as airport employees chased the bear around the runway, Yamagata Airport official Akira Nagai told Agence France-Presse.

“We’re in a stalemate now,” Nagai said at the time, noting that the airport would remain closed until 8 p.m. as the situation was assessed.

Nagai confirmed to the Washington Post on Friday that the airport had resumed operations Thursday night after the bear seemed to disappear once more. Yamagata is one of the smaller airports in Japan.

The sighting comes as Japan wrestles with an uptick in bear sightings – some of which have resulted in fatalities, the Japanese outlet Kyodo News reported in April.

Footage from Japan’s Nippon TV showed the bear walking through a grassy field and running onto a runway Thursday as a bright-colored car followed behind. In one scene, the bear puts its paws on a fence.

“Given the situation, there is no way we can host plane arrivals now,” Nagai told AFP that day.

Nagai said hunters were hired to trap the bear. Local police also joined the effort by surrounding the premise, he added.

The bear, to Nagai’s knowledge, has not been captured. Local hunters are on the lookout. Nagai said he suspects the bear is hiding in the bushes or forest near the airport.

Bear sightings – and attacks – in Japan have become increasingly common. Last January, Japan’s Environment Ministry estimated that the number of bear sightings between April 2023 and October 2023 was over 19,000, more than the 18,000 sightings reported in 2020.

A week before the black bear delayed flights at Yamagata Airport, bear sightings caused a school to move a sports event indoors in Goshogawara, Aomori prefecture, according to Yomiuri Shimbun.