The watch of a Japanese hiker who was killed by a bear has revealed harrowing details about his final moments, including that the animal returned to his body the next day, according to a newspaper report.

Bears killed a record 13 people in Japan this year and injured more than 200 others, while reports of the creatures roaming near schools and running amok in supermarkets have raised concerns, particularly in rural northern regions.

The hiker’s GPS watch, which uses satellite signals to record routes and monitor heart rates, was recovered after the fatal attack on August 14, the Asahi Shimbun reported.

Data from the device showed that around 11 a.m., he suddenly veered off a hiking trail in Hokkaido and went down a wooded slope, the daily said.

In the area of ​​dense bushes, he repeatedly circled and crossed over the same place.

The watch also showed that the man’s heart stopped beating about 100 to 130 meters from the track, indicating that he died there.

The watch stayed in the same spot all night, but moved again around 9am the next morning, traveling several hundred meters through the bush.

This suggests the brown bear returned and dragged the man’s body away, the Asahi said.

Three days later, on August 15, a bear with two cubs was seen dragging its body into its mouth. All three animals were killed.

A mound of dirt made by a bear was found nearby and traces of a man — who was engaged — were discovered, the report added.

The victim’s parents were asked to identify the body, but the police only asked them to look at his face due to the extent of the injuries.

Bear spotted at Japanese ski resort in latest incident

Meanwhile, a ski resort in Japan said Friday it had received reports of bear sightings as a snowboarder described being chased by one of the animals on the slopes.

“We have been patrolling to check for bear prints every day since we received two sighting reports on Sunday,” Kazuya Shirakawa of Hakuba47 Mountain Sports Park in the Nagano region told AFP.

Ski resort employees have not seen any signs of bears since the report, Shirakawa said.

Bears normally hibernate in the winter, but a man was attacked earlier this month in the region while clearing snow near his home.

Meanwhile, a snowboarder who posted a video of his encounter with a bear on Instagram told the media that the animal “chased” him on the ski slope.

“When I turned around I saw a bear. I was surprised,” he told private TV Asahi.

A video he posted online four days ago shows a bear running towards him under the field in Nagano.

It was not clear if the ski resort was the same as the location where other bear sightings had been reported.

“He almost collided with me… and our eyes met.”

The bear gave up and returned to the mountain, he said.

“Opportunity to expand the assortment”

Hungry bears due to shortages of food such as acorns — blamed on climate change — are increasingly entering human-populated cities aging and less.

Experts say the warmer weather is also affecting the hibernation patterns of the animals, which in the case of brown bears can weigh 1,100 pounds and run away from humans.

There are two types of bears in Japan: Asiatic black bears — also known as moon bears — and larger brown bears that live on the main northern island of Hokkaido.

Thousands of animals are shot every year.

The impact of climate change on bears’ food sources and hibernation cycles is cited by experts as a key factor, but there are also implications as Japan’s aging population shrinks and people leave rural areas.

Depopulation has left the bears with “an opportunity to expand their range,” biologist Koji Yamazaki, of the University of Agriculture in Tokyo, he told CBS NewsElizabeth Palmer 2023