A BEAR wandered into a large shopping center in Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, on Monday morning and remained there all day until it was killed.

The bear entered the Abio City Kaga shopping mall through a delivery entrance at around 7:50 a.m. The mall, which had not yet opened, suspended business operations and all staff and maintenance personnel were evacuated, Fuji TV reported.

Police were dispatched to the scene but it took them 13 1/2 hours to find the bear inside the shopping complex. The bear was killed by a member of a local hunting association at around 9:10 p.m.

Upon learning that the bear was killed, a resident stated, “I must admit that I feel a bit relieved. There have been a lot of bear sightings recently. Since children also commute to school in the morning, I feel at ease.”

A record number of 462 bear sightings have been reported in the prefecture, up to Oct. 13.

(SD-Agencies)