Animal attack

Five people were attacked by bears in three Japanese prefectures on Sunday, but none suffered life-threatening injuries, local authorities said.In Aomori Prefecture, a 57-year-old employee of a ramen shop was scratched on the face by a bear, which was around 1 meter tall, when he stepped out of the back door at around 5 a.m., according to authorities in the northeastern prefecture.A 78-year-old woman was also scratched on the face outside a house in Gojome in Akita Prefecture, also northeastern Japan, at around 6:05 a.m. The woman's daughter, 50, was injured in her left thigh after she rushed to help after hearing her mother scream, police said.In Misato in the same prefecture, an 83-year-old man was attacked by a bear near the door of his house at around 6:30 a.m. and suffered an injury to his face. Another bear was spotted nearby and the two left the area together.
In Niigata Prefecture, a man in his 60s made an emergency call at around 7:20 a.m., reporting he had been scratched on the ribs by an adult bear, around 1 meter in length, that lunged from a bush.Bear attacks this year had left 13 people dead as of Wednesday, with more than a hundred attacked by the end of September, according to the Ministry of the Environment.