Bear park operator, ex-employee arrested over deaths of 2 women in April
AKITA —
Police on Saturday arrested the operator of a bear park in Akita Prefecture and an ex-employee in connection with the deaths of two women handlers who were killed by bears that escaped from their enclosures on April 20.
According to police, the two men have been charged with professional negligence resulting in death, TBS reported.
At the time, Hachimantai bear park kept 38 animals, most of them brown bears. At around 9:30 a.m., six bears got over the fence by climbing onto piled-up snowdrifts. Of the three staff who were on duty, one man managed to escape, but two women handlers, aged 76 and 69, were mauled and died of their injuries.
Local hunters eventually shot dead the six bears that escaped, all within the gated park campus.
Police arrested the former employee, Kiyomi Tatehana, 69, who piled the snow in the enclosure, and the park operator, Sadanoshin Nagasaki, 68, for not ensuring that the snow was cleared away, TBS reported.
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10 Comments
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7
Disillusioned
All these people are/were in their late 60's and early 70's. I am not having a shot at the oldies, but there seems to be a large error in judgement from all parties involved.
5
GG2141
That is pretty dumb.
4
Bob Sneider
A bear park run by the elderly? That's a business that can't go wrong.
2
bobubaka
Talk about mixing it up! It could have said two men arrested, or deaths of two employees. The operator and ex-employee also have a gender, and the two women were employees who willingly worked at a place that kept bears in poor conditions, and contributed to those poor conditions themselves, leading up to their own deaths.
Everyone involved should be arrested over the treatment, escape, and eventual deaths of the bears and only that. I add the escape because it was a danger to the public.
2
MeanRingo
Demo kuma-chan ga kawaii!!!!
1
Equality
Keep in mind that barricades only work if snow isn't piled up in them. How embarrassing!
0
choiwaruoyaji
Bears scare me to death. Ever since reading about Timothy Treadwell's death I have wanted to avoid going anywhere where I might meet a hungry bear.
0
scoobydoo
I don't understand why the guy piled the snow in the bears enclosure.
0
ka_chan
Sure this isn't a case of murder? Who piles snow "in" an enclosure of dangerous animals that allows them to climb out? Either the guy is really dumb or.... If the operator know about the issue and didn't take immediate action to correct it... The working should be charged with murder and the operator with manslaughter.
-2
JeffLee
Seems pretty harsh on the director. What if he was away or out having coffee when the employee piled up the snow? It's a scary thought that if an employee makes a mistake, then you go to prison.
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