What's Wrong with Hachimantai Bear Farm?

On April 20, 2012, some of the bears escaped from Hachimantai Bear Farm in Akita Prefecture. Two female employees were mauled to death. It was an extremely tragic event.

For a long time, this bear farm has been subject to criticism over its treatment of bears. In fact, a meeting was held to discuss the relevant issues attended by officials of Akita Prefecture, representatives of the WSPA and ALIVE, and the owner of Hachimantai Bear Farm. This meeting resulted in a decision to close the farm and the management of the farm was supposed to be working on finalizing the details. However, the farm’s ownership changed during the course of this process and due to this and several other reasons, the farm’s status has remained unchanged. In the meantime, the facility has become dilapidated after many years of use and the environment in which the bears are kept has grown progressively worse. In October 2011, ALIVE visited the site and sent a letter to Akita Prefecture regarding the care of the animals and the facility.

Following is the response from the prefecture and ALIVE's suggestions regarding the further approaches.

The bear cages at Hachimantai. The facility is old, the door is not secure, and the distance between the visitors and the bear cages is close. Moreover, security is too poor for the keeping of specified animals.

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1. Feeding and Care of Bears

Feeding is one of the major problems at Hachimantai Bear Farm. Around 10 kg of leftovers from hospital meals and 2 kg of apples and vegetables are provided every other day per bear. This is not a suitable diet for bears to eat.

Struggles for dominance take place between bears in overpopulated and confined places such as this farm. Some of the bears are not eating enough. On a past visit, we observed bears that were not even able to approach the food because they were intimidated by stronger bears.

The farm closes in winter, but the bears are unable to hibernate because they are too "physically frail" to go through hibernation. There is no area for sleeping or resting, and no roofed area. No consideration paid at all to the bears living conditions.

 

2. Identification of Individual Bears

Bears are "specified animals", according to the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals. Any facilities that keep specified animals are required to use microchips or some other kind of identification method. The already closed Jyozankei Bear Farm was not complying this requirement, and neither was Hachimantai Bear Farm. The reason given was that "there were no veterinarians who can implant microchips in bears." They used photos to identify the bears instead. Another bear farm in Akita Prefecture, Ani Bear Farm, receives help from Hokkaido University and follows a policy of implanting microchips to identify individual bears. Without any identification, there is no practical way to trace an individual’s origin, date of birth, gender, etc., at the time of arrival this makes it impossible to manage breeding plans or to control diseases. Facilities such as Hachimantai Bear Farm, which operates without being subject to even basic management ethics, are unqualified to keep 40 specified animals.

3. Receiving Asian Black Bears Captured in a Different Prefecture

On October 26, 2010, Toyoda City in Aichi Prefecture caught a mother bear and her two cubs. The authorities decided that they could not release them back into the wild, so they asked Hachimantai Bear Farm to take them. Soon after Hachimantai Bear Farm accepted the three bears, the mother bear died of a debilitating condition. When ALIVE researched the incident, the farm said that the cubs would be handed over to a hunter for the purpose of using them to obtain bear bile and meat.

Since the public was against the culling of these bears, Toyoda City decided to send them to Hachimantai Bear Farm. Other municipal governments have also asked Hachimantai Bear Farm to accept bears captured in their areas. Akita Prefecture has repeatedly warned the bear farm not to readily accept bears. The prefecture has also contacted the Ministry of the Environment to inform the ministry that the frequency of cases in which prefectures send captured bears to Hachimantai Bear Farm is increasing.

The municipal government officers in charge of wildlife protection lack information and knowledge about the inhumane treatment of animals at bear farms. This was one of the reasons why the bears handed over by Toyoda-city ended up as victims of Hachimantai Bear Farm. The two cubs were placed in inhumane confinement. Once bears become accustomed to being taken care of by humans, sending them back to the wild is virtually impossible. When animals other than targeted animals are captured, the hunters are obliged to release them, but the local people are usually against the release of bears in their areas, so the municipal offices often face challenges in choosing where to release captured bears.

4. Site Inspections of Specified Animal Facilities

Akita Prefecture has repeatedly visited Hachimantai Bear Farm and ordered the farm’s management to control breeding, renovate the facility and improve the care and management of the bears. The facility has not complied with the order or with the law as an animal exhibition facility. The municipal office has been having hard time supervising the farm. One of the items included in the next management plan was to close the bear farm. If the farm is closed, the 40 bears housed at the facility will be neglected even more and their status in terms of law will become that of "specified animals, owned by an individual" and not “exhibition animals” any longer. They can then be expected to meet the same fate as the bears at Jyozankei Bear Farm. (Please refer ALIVE No.101)

5. Welfare of Specified Animal

The current law does not have any section or provisions that protect the welfare of specified animals, while it does protect human property and assets. The amended law should include the welfare of specified animals and the treatment measures to be implemented in the case of unwanted specified animals. Once these items have a legal standing, municipal governments will be able to take more stringent action concerning site inspection and the issuing of necessary orders. 6. Animal Handling Businesses and Their Responsibilities

Animal exhibition businesses are required to register with their local prefecture. If they fail to do so, the businesses in question can no longer continue to operate. The Act also requires animal exhibition businesses to employ a responsible person in charge who has the experience, knowledge and skills to handle animals. This person in charge is required to attend annual lectures set by the prefectures to obtain deeper understanding about the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals and other relevant guidelines. The person in charge is also responsible of training her/his juniors to comply with the rules and regulations they are required to follow. Suspicion exists that the owner of Hachimantai Bear Farm was not fulfilling any of these responsibilities.

The ALIVE Bear Farm Investigation Team will continue working to improve the inhumane conditions existing at bear farms such as Jyozankei or Hachimantai and will keep talking with municipal governments. We appreciate your consideration and cooperation with respect specified animals and the improvement of their welfare.