TOKYO (AP) — Japan deployed troops this week to help contain a surge of bear attacks that have terrorized residents in a mountainous region in the northern prefecture of Akita.

Reports of sometimes deadly encounters with brown bears and Asiatic black bears are being reported almost daily ahead of hibernation season as the bears forage for food. They have been seen near schools, train stations, supermarkets and at a hot springs resort.

Since April, more than 100 people have been injured and at least 12 killed in bear attacks across Japan, according to Environment Ministry statistics at the end of October.

The growing bear population’s encroachment into residential areas is happening in a region with a rapidly aging and declining human population, with few people trained to hunt the animals.

The government has estimated the overall bear population at more than 54,000.

The Defense Ministry and Akita prefecture signed an agreement Wednesday to deploy soldiers who will set box traps with food, transport local hunters and help dispose of dead bears. Officials say the soldiers will not use firearms to cull the bears.

In Akita prefecture, which has a population of about 880,000, bears have attacked more than 50 people since May, killing at least four, according to the local government. Experts say most attacks have occurred in residential areas.

Experts say Japan’s aging and declining population in rural areas is one reason for the growing problem. They say the bears are not endangered and need culling to keep the population under control.

Local hunters are also aging and not used to bear hunting. Experts say police and other authorities should be trained as “government hunters” to help cull the animals.