Billy Halloran knows the forests of Myoko, Japan, well: he goes for walks, runs and has even participated in an ultramarathon amidst its wild nature. But two weeks ago, he ended up running for his life in the same forest, after being attacked by a bear.
Halloran was running as usual in early October when he saw something he had never seen before: two Asian black bears.
He knew immediately he was in trouble. Bear attacks have been on the rise across Japan: More than 100 people have been injured this year alone and at least seven have died — the highest number since records began in 2006. A recent fatal attack occurred just miles from his home.
Now he was alone on the trail, several kilometers from where he had parked the car, thinking about how to escape the two bears that were watching him from some bushes, less than 30 meters away.
When he tried to slowly back away, one of the bears began to approach, said the 32-year-old man from Auckland, New Zealand. “It was about my size, an adult, weighed at least 60 or 70 kilos,” he said.
Halloran decided not to run, fearing he would chase him and jump on him from behind. So instead he tried to scare him away by shouting. “I saw he was going to jump on me, and he did.”
He raised his arm in front of his face, “and he grabbed me by the arm and threw me to the ground,” Halloran said. “With one bite, my arm was destroyed,” he said.
The bear attacked his leg, leaving scratches, and then retreated. Fueled by adrenaline, Halloran managed to get to his feet and confronted the bear briefly before it disappeared into the bushes.
Terrified that he would return, Halloran called his wife to come pick him up. With his arm broken and his leg seriously injured, he managed to run a kilometer to find her and wait for an ambulance.
He talked to the CNN from the hospital where he has been recovering for the past two weeks after three surgeries, including a hip graft to cover a piece of bone that had been torn out and the insertion of metal plates in his arm.
A long road to recovery still awaits him, including physical rehabilitation. After his last ultramarathon, he hoped to train for more races — and still plans to do so — but he knows it won’t be the same as before.
A greater challenge may be facing the lingering trauma of the attack, which he likened to “how someone who has been attacked by a shark feels when trying to surf again.”
But he is determined to get back to running in the woods and is grateful to the local running community who supported him during his recovery. And he feels lucky, he said, because “there have been a lot of attacks, and some people haven’t been so lucky.”
In recent months, other similar incidents have included bears raiding a supermarket, prowling a plant nursery and seriously maiming a man as he cleaned an outdoor bathtub.
Experts say bears are increasingly venturing out of their traditional habitats and into urban areas in search of food, as climate change is interfering with the flowering and pollination of some of their traditional food sources.
In response to this deadly increase, the Japanese government announced on Friday (17) that it will take stricter measures to control the bear population.
Many residents take precautions, such as carrying bells or playing loud music to scare away bears. Next time, Halloran commented that he might consider bringing bear repellent spray.
“I’m just a little more cautious about what I’m going to do,” he said. But, he joked, winter is coming, and once he recovers, he’s looking forward to “snowboarding, getting some mental health back and reconnecting with nature.”
