Terrified families in the city of Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo, peered through windows as a search mission that included helicopters tried to track down the animal following multiple sightings, including in a shopping arcade, at a university and at a wholesale market.On Tuesday dozens of police officers, hunters and city officials surrounded a private home where the bear was spotted, an AFP photographer witnessed.After a successful tranquiliser shot, they captured the animal.AFP images showed the sedated bear loaded onto a truck.Issei Okabe, a 37-year-old house painter who lives in an apartment next to the house where the bear was caught, told AFP he was "so relieved".
Japanese zoo staff prepare a tranquiliser shot to catch the wild bear in Utsunomiya © Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP
"My kid goes to the primary school nearby... and news reports said a bear appeared around there," he said."Then I watched the news, and our house was shown (in the footage)... I was so surprised."This is the first time I heard of a wild bear in Utsunomiya."The bear sightings had forced the closure of all 94 public primary and middle schools in the city on Monday and Tuesday.Public broadcaster NHK and other major media reported the bear's capture as breaking news.The Shimotsuke Shimbun daily, based in Utsunomiya, said the first and second tranquiliser shots missed the target but a third successfully hit the animal.
