The authorities in Japan are searching for a bear that injured four people in Fukushima.

The Japanese authorities are in search of a bear described as 'extremely intelligent', which injured four people in northern Japan, in the Fukushima area. The incident occurred on Wednesday when the bear managed to escape from the building it had taken refuge in, being suspected of unlocking a window to evade and turning on a tap to drink water.

The mayor of Fukushima city, Yuki Baba, stated that the claw marks at the scene suggest that the animal acted alone. Despite the efforts of hunters equipped with tranquilizer guns, the bear managed to escape and is still at large. Last year, Japan recorded a record number of 13 fatal bear attacks, and in the last fiscal year, over 50,000 bear sightings in populated areas were reported, more than double the previous record. The increase in the bear population is attributed to the abundance of food in the archipelago.