A “Ninja” brown bear was killed after four years of hunting

He was nicknamed “Ninja” for his hidden prowess. A brown bear from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which particularly attacked cattle, was recently killed after a four-year hunt, local authorities announced on Tuesday, August 22.

“A brown bear was shot on July 30 and various analyses, including DNA tests, confirmed that it was OSO18” The animal’s code name, Tadayoshi Takeda, a member of the Hokkaido department’s authorities, told AFP.

He is suspected to have attacked 66 cattle

OSO18, which is about two meters tall, has been actively sought after since 2019 when it started hunting dairy cows. In total, he is suspected to have attacked 66 cattle, half of which died from the injuries.

According to the Japanese public television channel NHK, which, like other Japanese media, was interested in tracking this plantigrade and its surrounding mysteries, OSO18 was nicknamed “Ninja” for its ability to evade humans and outwit their enemies. According to estimates by local authorities, about 11,700 brown bears live on the big island of Hokkaido, and their population is growing.