Parents LEFT missing boy, seven, in mountains populated by bears as a punishment - then tried to claim he had got lost during family hike

The parents of a seven-year-old boy missing in a Japanese mountain range where bears live admit they lied about his disappearance and left him there as punishment during a family hike. Yamato Tanooka's mother and father initially told police their child had got lost during
the walk on Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido.

But after a second day of searches, involving 150 rescuers, the parents admitted they lied and that they had left him there to teach him a lesson.

They claimed that they returned to the spot where they left him 'immediately' but the boy was no longer there.
Tanooka was reported missing on Saturday sparking a two day operation aimed at finding him.

His parents originally told police Yamato got lost while the family were out walking in the area, a habitat of bears, to pick wild vegetables. 

But a police spokesman later revealed: 'The parents left the boy in the mountains as apunishment.

'They said they went back to the site immediately but the boy was no longer there.'

The father told a TV Asahi reporter he did not dare admit the truth while requesting a search.