100 people have been attacked by bears since April. The military is stepping in — but not in the way you’d expect.

There’s never quite anything like a bear preparing for hibernation. They enter a state of overeating, known as hyperphagia, that makes it extremely dangerous if you just so happen to cross their path. In the Japanese city of Akita, bear attacks have gotten so dire that the Japanese government opted to deploy the army.

Since April, bears in Akita have been having run-ins with residents on an almost daily basis. The bears have been rummaging through the city in search of food — and it has led them to train stations, resorts, and supermarkets, but it was a reality check when they also started visiting schools — which could cause a huge disaster involving children if left unchecked.

According to The Guardian, in the months that this has been going on, 100 people have been injured by bears, with 12 having completely lost their lives. In response, the Japanese defense ministry announced that they will be deploying boots on the ground to help stabilize the situation until the hibernation season officially begins. The army is planning to set box traps, transport all the local hunters in, and also clear the dead animal carcasses in the area that could end up being alluring to the bears.

However, before you start assuming that Akita will turn into an all-out war in the style of Planet of the Apes, the Japanese soldiers had something else in mind. Although the newly sworn-in deputy chief cabinet secretary, Fumitoshi Sato, let out a very stern statement saying, “Every day, bears intrude into residential areas in the region and their impact is expanding. Responses to the bear problem are an urgent matter,” they have also declared that they will not cull the animals with firearms.

Animal invasions are quite a common occurrence in certain areas. If you doomscroll long enough on TikTok you’re guaranteed to find a post about someone living in a remote area whose farm or even home got dominated by wild animals. And never once do you ever find anyone in the comments suggesting that the user should just kill those animals. Nobody would want to hear a story about the Japanese government sending their army to shoot down a sleuth of bears trying to stack up for their annual hibernation.

Currently, the bears are destroying livelihoods by ravaging farms. The governor of Akita has said that although the situation is heartbreaking, up until now he was simply overwhelmed by the invasion. The population of bears in the area is believed to be more than 800,000 and, reportedly, due to their desperation and competition, they have started encroaching into residential areas.

One woman told one of the usually lively Japanese local TV stations that there was an instance where a bear came into her garden. The bears apparently just ate fruits and walked around for 30 minutes — leaving her fearful for her life, because if the bears ever tried to force their way into her house, there’s very little she could do about it.

Hopefully, the Japanese army figures out a way to solve this for the residents of Akita city.