Japan deployed troops to the country's rugged north on Wednesday to help trap bears after local authorities said besieged communities were struggling to cope with an unprecedented wave of attacks.

A Spanish tourist was attacked by a bear in broad daylight while walking to a bus stop in Shirakawa, a village in Japan's Gifu Prefecture known for its picturesque, UNESCO-listed houses.

A man in his 30s was rushed to hospital by air ambulance on Thursday after he was attacked by a grizzly bear while hunting west of Calgary.

Three grizzly bear cubs have been found at the site of a mauling that left a hunter injured and the attacking grizzly dead south of Cochrane last Thursday. Those cubs will be left alone by Alberta Fish and Wildlife and allowed to hibernate,

Police records indicated that the bear tried to enter a chicken coop after the attack. Later the same day, the town's fire chief snapped a photo of the bear meandering outside his home, and the local police department took to Facebook to share a warning about bear encounters.

A 44-year-old man was stabbed after being sprayed twice with bear spray in broad daylight in Butte. The suspect remains at large.

The man, Shawn Meuse, was airlifted to Gulf Coast Medical Center for treatment.  A 62-year-old woman was hospitalized after a 7-foot alligator attacked her on the Bird Rookery Swamp Trail in Collier County.