A MUSHROOM picker has been found dead with his head ripped off after a savage bear attack.
The man, said to be in his 70s, went missing after going to a forest to harvest mushrooms in Iwate, Japan.
A Japanese Brown Bear in Shikotsu-Toya National Park, HokkaidoGetty
A sign warning people about bears in the areaAFP
His body was found after authorities launched a search operation for the missing man.
They said the man had scratch marks all over his body – which they said was because of a bear attack.
A local police officer said: “A man in his 70s who went missing after going into the woods to harvest mushrooms was found dead.
“We suspect he was attacked by a bear based on scratch marks.”
Local broadcaster TV Iwate said his head and torso had been separated.
Bear attacks have increased in recent years in Japan – posing a challenge for local people living near forest areas.
As well as the man in his 70s, police found a dead man apparently attacked by a bear in another part of Iwate on Wednesday.
While in the central prefecture of Nagano, the body of a 78-year-old man with multiple claw marks was found on Saturday.
Between April and September, 103 people nationwide suffered injuries caused by bears, according to the environment ministry.
On Tuesday, an agitated bear roamed the aisles of a supermarket in Gunma, north of Tokyo, injuring two men and frightening shoppers.
The store is close to mountainous areas, but has never had bears come near before, locals said.
A Spanish tourist on Sunday was attacked by a bear at a bus stop in scenic Shirakawa-go village in central Japan.
Among the latest confirmed fatalities was a woman in her 70s who died last week while picking mushrooms in the northern Miyagi region with three friends, one of whom is missing.
It comes as a group of savage bears rampaging in Japan are feared to have acquired a taste for human flesh.
A Japanese brown bear (stock)Getty
Residents of the peaceful island of Hokkaido have been grappling with fears over the “ninja bears” who have been attacking humans and devouring cattle.
For many years, bears in Japan stayed in the wild and did not interfere with human lives much – except for just a few rare glimpses.
However, now these wild bears have been running amok and causing widespread destruction in the Japanese city while killing humans as well as cattle.
Although Bears largely consume a vegetarian diet, experts have begun to fear that these savage beasts have now acquired a taste for flesh after preying on wild deer who are growing in numbers due to the lack of hunting practices in Japan.
Yasushi Fujimoto, head of a hunting organisation, said: “The mountain is turning into a restaurant for bears, because of the remains left on the mountain after hunting.
“The lack of professional hunters, like park rangers in Alaska financed by the government, is a problem when it comes to controlling the number of bears.”
The moment a bear suddenly appeared in front of a group of people