Police with hunting rifles ready to cull bears in northeast Japan

Japanese police squads armed with rifles have begun a campaign on Thursday, to cull bears that appear in populated areas of northeastern Japan. Riot police personnel trained to use firearms to deal with terrorists have been sent there from other prefectures to work with local police.

At the Akita Prefectural Police headquarters, the police chief described the squad as being in the frontline of the response to bears, and asked the officers to make safeguarding people's way of life its top priority. The National Public Safety Commission's rules on the use of firearms have been partially revised to allow police officers to use rifles to shoot bears that pose a threat to humans.