ツキノワグマ「指定管理鳥獣」に　北海道のヒグマも―環境省

　環境省は８日、クマによる人身被害が多発していることを受け、ツキノワグマと北海道だけに生息するヒグマの２種を、国の交付金を用いて捕獲できる「指定管理鳥獣」に指定する方針を決めた。関連省令の改正に向けた意見公募などを経て４月中の指定を目指す。指定管理鳥獣には現在、ニホンジカとイノシシが指定されており、追加は初めて。
　同省検討会が同日、ツキノワグマとヒグマの指定を求める対策方針をまとめた。これを受け、伊藤信太郎環境相は記者団に「安心して暮らすためには早急な対策が必要」と述べた。
　対策方針では、クマの生息地域が拡大傾向にあり、個体数がさらに増加する可能性があると分析。「人の生活圏での人身被害が増加する恐れがある」との見解を示した。（2024/02/08-17:02）

A Japanese Environment Ministry advisory panel on Thursday proposed adding black bears and brown bears to the country's list of designated wildlife species for control to allow them to be captured with the help of state subsidies.
   The number of bears in Japan may increase further as their areas of habitat are expanding, the panel said, warning that the country may face a rise in the number of cases in which people are either hurt or killed by bears in human settlements.
   Brown bears in Japan live exclusively in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, while black bears are found widely in Japan.
   The panel said that bears in Shikoku should not be included in the list out of concerns about extinction as the western region currently hosts only 20 such bears. In the Kyushu southern region, bears are believed to have gone extinct in 2012.
   Currently, sika deer and wild boars are on the list. Several tens of thousands of bears are thought to be existing in the wild now, far smaller than an estimated 2.22 million sika deer and 720,000 wild boars.