The actions of a cleaning brigade that protects deer in Japan are attracting all the attention in a park in the city of Nara. The ancient medieval capital of the Japanese country also houses very special caretakers.
It is a team of activists that patrols the stone paths to pick up the trash that would pose a threat to the animals’ health.
This ancient city is one of the main destinations in Japan that is reaching record numbers of visitors. But the massive influx of people is also causing some problems.
The brigade that protects deer in Japan: this is how they act
Tourists can only feed the deer with some salty rice crackers sold in Nara, but the animals are increasingly eating more trash scattered around this park full of temples.
The deer protection brigade in Japan. (Photo: AFP).
“Plastic products accumulate in the stomachs of the deer for a long period, leading to their death from weakness,” warns Nobuyuki Yamazaki, from the Nara Deer Preservation Foundation, in dialogue with AFP.
The team, named “Beautiful Deer,” is mostly made up of people with disabilities and has been collaborating with Yamazaki for years.
Half a dozen workers patrol the park in their fluorescent green jackets, unfazed by the hordes of tourists who come to see the animals.
Japan’s problem, amid a tourism boom
About 36.8 million foreign visitors arrived in Japan last year, a record the government aims to increase to 60 million annually by 2030.
But residents and authorities in tourist areas, such as Kyoto and the neighboring towns of the majestic Mount Fuji, are increasingly complaining about the crowds, traffic violations, and the bad behavior of some tourists.
This is also happening in Nara Park. The park does not have trash cans, a policy adopted about 40 years ago to prevent the deer from approaching in search of food.
Instead, they ask visitors to take their garbage home, a common habit in Japan that is not always shared by foreigners, according to Yamazaki.
Nara, the city where sacred deer roam the streets
Nara is a relatively small city on the island of Honshu, in Japan. It barely reaches 400,000 inhabitants.
Deer in Nara, Japan.
Surprisingly, the first visual impact that greets visitors arriving in Nara is not its monuments, but fast creatures that populate its streets: deer.
There are thousands of these mammals that originally confined themselves to the surroundings of Nara-koen Park. But they overflowed its limits and now cross avenues and stroll along boulevards.
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