Establishment of Management Plan by Sighting Reports of Asiatic Black Bears (Ursus thibetanus): A Case Study in Oze National Park, Central Japan

In order to make efficient plans for wildlife management, we propose here how to establish the plan for the bear management using sighting reports of Oze National Park (Oze NP), Central Japan. A total of 574 sighting reports gathered from 2004 to 2009 in Oze NP were analyzed. Firstly, analyzing 36 of 236 dangerous bear responses to visitors revealed that bears in Oze NP were not habituated to visitors or their foods. This suggests that all efforts could be put into preventing from making "nuisance bears" in Oze NP. Secondly, in order to determine proper assignation of staffs, the pattern of bear occurrences was analyzed. Bears occurred more frequently in August and relatively frequently in June. Thus, the larger number of staffs should be assigned these months. Core areas were determined by the 50% karnel. Since core area was smaller in August, a few staffs should stand by at Yamanohana area. In June, the number of sighting and core area was larger only in early periods; thus, one staff should stand by at Todengoya and another at Yamanohana area in early June.