DEER PROBLEMS IN JAPAN: OVERPOPULATION, PESTS AND NOVEL SOLUTIONS

DEER IN JAPAN

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Ezo deer

Deer were an important source of food for the ancient Japanese. In some places deer achieved divine status. They were often depicted on “haniwa”, ceramic figures placed around grave mounds, dating from A.D. 3rd to 6th centuries. In many places sacred deer have been kept as animals familiar ot local kami.

The deer found in Japan are sika (or shika, Japanese deer). They are a forest deer closely related to deer found in East Asia from Siberia south through China to Vietnam and Taiwan. These deer are divided into more than a dozen different regional subspecies, of which seven are found in Japan. The largest is the ezo-jika, which lives in Hokkaido. Honshu and Kyushu-Shikoku have heir own subspecies. Unique subspecies live on Tsushima, Yakushima and Magesima Islands. Yakujika is a kind of deer native to Yakushima Island.

Sika are browsers that live primarily in forests — but are often seen roaming around farmland — and feed on tree leaves, fruits, flowers, buds, acorns and nuts. They have large eyes and strange haunting whistle. Adults can have large stately antlers. White hairs on the rumps can flare out like chrysanthemums when the animals are excited.

Deer at Nara Park

The 1,500 or so sika deer at Nara Park have been treasured as divine messengers at Kasugataisha shrine for generations and were designated as national Natural Treasures in 1957. References to them have been found in Japan’s oldest historical records the “Kojiki” .and “Nohongi”. In the evening they are called to a feeding area by the blowing of a trumpet.

According to legend the deer are offspring of a sacred white deer from Kashima Shrine in Ibaraki Prefecture and are messengers of the gods. Sika deer from this area were considered sacred due to a visit from Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto, one of the four gods of Kasuga Shrine. He was said to have come from Kashima Shrine in the Tokyo area and appeared on Mount Mikasa riding a white deer. Killing one of these sacred deer was a capital offense punishable by death up until 1637. After World War II, the deer were officially stripped of their sacred status, and were designated as national treasures instead. The number of deer grew to around 1,200 in 2008, leading to concerns about environmental damage and discussions of culling.

Tourists feed them “shikaenbei” (“discs of food”) that can be bought only $1.85 in the park and are are exclusively sold by the WNOW company. Year-round tourists feed and take selfies with the deer. The stacks of discs are essentially rice crackers. Some deer have been trained to bow on command. On Sundays and holidays in October, during the Deer Antler Cutting in Nara Park, a Japanese version of a round up and rodeo, the deer are chased into the Kasunga Taisha Shrine area and corralled off and then wrestled to the ground so their antlers can be sawn off.

Deer-Related Injuries in Nara Reach Record High

In 2019, Japan Today reported: The number of people who were injured in deer-related incidents in Nara Park was 209 over a one month period in early in the year — a record high. Nara prefectural authorities are urging people to be careful when feeding deer with rice crackers and other food so as not to provoke the animals. [Source: Japan Today, Feb. 7, 2019]

The number of people injured by being kicked or bitten by deer was 209 at the end of January, which surpasses 186, the number of people who were injured throughout the whole period of 2018. Fuji TV reported. Five foreign tourists were among those injured. Of the number, eight people suffered serious injuries, including broken bones.

Usually, the most injuries occur from September to November, during the mating season when the deer become more aggressive. The park has set up an information center that advises tourists in several languages on how to treat the deer. Patrols are also making the rounds around the park every day.

Deer Overpopulation in Japan

In fiscal 2010, there were an estimated 105,000 deer in Nagano prefecture. Wildlife there causes between about 1.5 billion yen and 1.7 billion yen a year in damage to the prefecture's agricultural and forestry industries, with about 40 percent caused by deer. [Source: Yomiuri Shimbun, June 12, 2012]

The deer population in Japan has been growing rapidly since a ban on hunting them was put in place in 1976. Without any natural predators deer populations have exploded. For millennia the deer population were kept in balance by wolves. When the last wolves were hunted to extinction in the early 20th century deer population were also reduced by extensive human hunting and their numbers became dangerous low. When human hunting began to fall off the deer quickly revived and it wasn’t long before there were too many of them and they became pests

Government officials have offered the following reasons for deer population increase: 1) Deer have expanded their grazing range in recent years due to less snow; 2) Abandoned farmland in mountainous regions has been providing good feeding ground for the animals, which has encouraged more breedingl;3) Fewer people are hunting, a change attributed to the aging of the population.

On Hokkaido hunting sika deer was banned in 1888. With no natural predators to keep them in check, their numbers grew to several hundred thousand in east Hokkaido alone. When the animals came to be viewed as a pest hunting was allowed to cull the animals.

Deer Problems in Japan

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Yakushima deer Deer were responsible for 20.8 percent of the ¥18.6 billion in crop damage caused by animals in fiscal 2005. They have been blamed for damaging forests and killing trees by stripping off their bark and contributing to problems like erosion and flooding by eating away grass and shrubs that hold the soil in place. There is some discussion of relaxing hunting restrictions, carrying out occasional cullings and even reintroducing wolves from South Korea to bring deer numbers down.

Deer also cause a lot of problems for Japan’s railway companies. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported: “Hokkaido Railway Co. trains were involved in 2,029 incidents — such as collisions and emergency stops — with Ezo sika deer in fiscal 2009. That figure is about 1.5 times the 1,317 incidents reported in fiscal 2006.The number of deer-linked dramas reported by Kyushu Railway Co. jumped from 139 in fiscal 2006 to 259 in fiscal 2009. And Central Japan Railway Co. has had to deal with 479 collisions with deer and other animals in fiscal 2009, up from 271 in fiscal 2005.” [Source: December 11, 2010]

“On a single day in October, nationwide freight train operator Japan Freight Railway Co. reported four collisions with animals on the Sanyo Line, which runs between the border of Hyogo and Okayama prefectures and in Hokkaido. Long-haul trains operating between Tokyo and Fukuoka stations on that day were delayed by as long as eight hours due to inspections after the incidents.”

Dealing with the Deer Problems in Japan

Large-scale deer culls are being carried on Yakushima island and in other places because of the damage the deer cause to local flora. According to the Environment Ministry, about 250,000 deer were captured through control efforts in fiscal 2008, up from 190,000 in fiscal 2005.

In Walayama trains reduce their speed when traveling through accident-prone areas at night, when it is most difficult for drivers to spot deer. For about 10 years, JR Hokkaido drivers have been trying to scare deer off by flicking the trains' headlights off and on. Two-meter-tall stainless-steel wire fences have been erected to keep animals off the tracks, but only along 38 kilometers of 2,500 kilometers of track.

An effort is being made to market meats taken from deer killed as pests. Meat from deer killed in Hokkaido is sold in the Tokyo area at restaurants and hotels. The owner of a business sells it told the Yomiuri Shimbun, “After tasting our meat, many people say its is more tender and not as pungent as they thought it would be. It seems many people have only eaten venison that wasn’t processed properly and retained a gamy aroma.”

In December 2007, a deer in Nara Park managed to get a purse wrapped around it abdomen, A woman was feeding the deer a cracker and her handbag — with her purse and money inside — became entangled in the animal’s antlers and somehow slid downs its body and lodged between its two pairs of legs. Efforts to catch deer were unsuccessful. The deer was finally shot with a tranquilizer gun. The woman got all of her possessions back.

Using Lion Roars. Feces and Wolf Urine to Deter Deer

Deer have become such a dangers for trains in the Wakayama areas that railway workers have placed lion feces along the tracks in an effort to keep them away. Frozen lion feces have been provided for the task by a local animal adventure park. On the stretch of track where the feces were placed no deer incidents were reported for several months. A similar concoction made of diluted of lion feces was used on the Moriaka branch of the East Japan Railway and was shown to deter tanukis as well as deer.

The ploy was effective at first, but deer gradually became used to the smell and became unafraid. The tendency for rain to wash the lion droppings away proved to be another flaw in the plan, but not the last. "It smells terrible," a JR East spokesperson told the Yomiuri Shimbun . "And it's not effective enough to be worth putting up with, so we gave up on the plan."

In 2013, lion roars and wolf urine imported from the U.S. were put to use in Hokkaido to tackle the growing problem of vehicle collisions with deer. The number of such accidents caused by the animal has more than doubled between 2002 and 2013. the Daily Mail reported: ““A spokesman for Nexco East, which runs the island’s highways, said: 'Even though we have increased the height of fences to 2.5 meters (8.3 feet) from 1.5 meters, fences sometimes break because of heavy snow, so we need this stop-gap measure while mending them. “'The effect lasts about a month, but it won't be effective forever because deer get used to the smell.' . [Source: Daily Mail, June 25, 2013]

“The deer population in Hokkaido was nearly wiped out in the early 20th century because of overhunting and sometimes brutal winters. But conservation efforts — and the extinction of the indigenous wild wolf population — led to their recovery. There are now around 650,000 deer on the island, sometimes wreaking havoc with farmland and transport systems. Hokkaido Railway Co erected equipment that broadcasts the roar of lions in an effort to keep the timid animals away from its tracks, a spokesman said. He added there were 2,581 incidents involving deer in 2012, a figure that had doubled in less than a decade.

Schemes by Hunters to Deal with Expanding Deer Population

In June 2012, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported: “There has been an increase in efforts to develop effective ways to cull the Japanese deer that are damaging the agricultural and forestry industries in Nagano Prefecture. The deer's habitat has spread from the Southern Japanese Alps to the Northern Japanese Alps, triggering moves to cull them over a wide area. Additional measures besides hunting, such as traps, are now necessary to effectively cull deer. Additional steps are required because membership in hunting associations has fallen to a quarter of its peak, as hunters retire and fewer people join. [Source: Yomiuri Shimbun, June 12, 2012]

A hunters association in Azumino in the prefecture embarked on its first deer cull in the Northern Japanese Alps in spring. A member of the association said: "We confirmed they're inhabiting this area. I think it's necessary to deal with this situation." This month, the Environment Ministry will launch a council in cooperation with Nagano, Gifu, Toyama and Niigata prefectures--where the Northern Japanese Alps are located--to develop countermeasures for the spread of deer. They plan to share information about the movements of herds to ensure deer are culled effectively.

“The Japan Wolf Association has suggested introducing foreign wolves into the Alps that would prey on deer and reduce their numbers. Naoki Maruyama, the association's chairman, said, "[By using wolves] the burden on hunters will be reduced and the ecological system will be protected." However, this method has caused concern, with a ministry official saying, "We're worried the number of wolves could increase to a point where they may pose a threat to people.”

Schemes by Chefs to Deal with Expanding Deer Population

Authorities are also trying to encourage people to eat more venison. About 500,000 wild boars and deer each are captured annually as harmful animals or killed by hunters. To distribute the meat of wild animals as food, game needs to be slaughtered at facilities recognized by local prefectural governments after they are caught. [Source: Roku Goda, Asahi Shimbun, August 5, 2016]

A group called the Shinshu Gibier Kenkyukai (game study group), which encourages people to eat meals containing game such as deer, was launched in March and became a national body on May 31. Chef Norihiko Fujimi, 40, a member of the group, from Chino in the prefecture, said "If venison consumption increases, it would make hunting profitable and promote the capturing of deer." As venison is low in calories and rich in iron, there are plans to introduce venison in school lunches. [Source: Yomiuri Shimbun, June 12, 2012]

Roku Goda wrote in the Asahi Shimbun: Fewer wild animals caught for their meat will go to waste thanks to a special refrigerator van that will enable captured wildlife to be butchered near hunting sites instead of at official abattoirs. Many wild animals are captured during summer, but it is difficult to keep their meat fresh in hot weather because the quality significantly declines within one to two hours after slaughter. This means that most meat from caught animals is discarded, but the new van will enable the quick butchering of boars, deer and other wild animals so that fresh game can be delivered to consumers even during summer.[Source: Roku Goda, Asahi Shimbun, August 5, 2016]

“The vehicle was developed jointly by Niigata-based Kitamura Manufacturing Co., which produces special-purpose vehicles, as well as others, based on a 2-ton truck of Toyota Motor Corp. at a cost of 15 million yen ($148,000). A butchering room and a middle room for hygiene control and a refrigerator room designed to keep the temperature of the meat at five degrees are mounted on its bed. Slaughtered animals can be washed while being hung from the ceiling of the car, and water used for the process is recovered so that dirty water is not discharged outside. Up to five wild boars and deer can be processed in the vehicle.

Image Sources: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Animal Trials 6) Ray Kinnane 7) 8) Japan-Animals blog 9) Wikipedia 10) Hubpages 11) Akita Prefecture site, Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, Daily Yomiuri, Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO), New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated March 2025