The Future of Urban Brown Bear Management in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan: a Review

Recently, brown bears have moved deeper inside urban areas in Sapporo, the fifth-largest city with a population of 1.9 million in Japan. Here, I review urban large carnivore management and its human dimension and discuss how to create a model of harmonious coexistence that includes both management of human-brown bear conflict (HBC) and conservation of the lush, green environment of Sapporo. Although large carnivores that use urban landscapes can temporarily obtain an abundance of high-energy foods, they are also subject to high rates of human-derived mortality. Brown bear invasions of the city center of Sapporo are still rare and are likely caused by bear population increase and distribution expansion within the last decade. It is important to manage urban borders to reduce their attractiveness. A verdant environment and biodiversity conservation are considered to be important to urban residents in Sapporo. Urban HBC, however, is an unavoidable consequence of this style of living. Because a variety of stakeholders affected by HBC and its management live in the city, their various values should be reflected in wildlife management policy through a more collaborative, communitybased decision-making model.