The next time you're considering a vacation to beautiful Japan (yes, Japan!), you may want to think about taking a can of bear spray.
The harrowing ordeal, which happened at the start of October, was described in detail by BroBible:
Billy Halloran, an ultramarathon runner who hails from New Zealand but has spent the past few years living in Japan, was aware of that fact when he encountered two bears on a run earlier this month, and he has opened up about the terrifying attack that left him nursing some serious injuries.
Halloran went out for a morning run in the wooded, mountainous area of Myoko and quickly found himself in a fight for his life.
The 32-year-old said he stood his ground and yelled as loud as he could when one of the bears charged at it, but it didn't to anything to deter the animal that clamped down on his arm and began to claw at his legs after he was knocked down to the ground.
Halloran said the bear eventually let up before making his way into the forest while leaving him standing with a bleeding calf and broken right arm that had been 'fully snapped' after the bear bit the limb he raised to defend his face. He called his wife to pick him up, and she raced to his location before ferrying him to the ambulance she'd called.
Miraculously surviving the encounter, Halloran's long day wasn't over.
He had to endure a 40-minute ride to the hospital with no pain relief before undergoing surgery, which required doctors to graft some bone from his hip to repair the arm that was broken in three places. It will still take him a few months to fully recover, but that's certainly a better outcome compared to the alternative.
The incident is only the latest in an alarming trend of such occurrences in Japan, where there has been a terrifying spike in bear attacks as human population has decreased.
CBS News reports that 4 people were mauled by bears on FRIDAY ALONE, including one person who died.
Separate bear attacks in Japan killed one and injured four on Friday, officials said, days after the government vowed to toughen measures because of a record year of deadly assaults by the animals.
Before Friday's attacks, bears had killed a record nine people this year, surpassing the previous high of six in the fiscal year that ended in March 2024.
Let this be a lesson to everyone:
Don't ever go out for a run.
Or, you know, do what we do in the States! 👇
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