OSAKA - Deer, one of Nara’s most enduring symbols and animals that have been protected for more than 1,300 years as sacred messengers of the gods, are now beginning to move beyond Nara Park and even beyond Nara Prefecture, raising new questions about what is driving the unusual migration.
A Kansai TV "News Runner" reporting team closely tracked the animals’ movements after deer were spotted in Higashi-Osaka, where residents said such a sight was almost unheard of.
A reporter on the scene in Nunoshichi-cho in Higashi-Osaka said a deer had appeared there earlier in the afternoon and was later seen resting quietly near a field. Local residents described the sight as extremely unusual, saying they had never seen anything like it before. According to Higashi-Osaka city officials, there are no wild deer living in the nearby Ikoma mountain range, prompting the question of where the animal had come from.
Nara is widely known among tourists from Japan and overseas for its deer, which have long been regarded as divine messengers. The animals roaming freely through the city are one of the region’s most iconic sights. But now a major change appears to be underway.
Deer believed to have come from Nara Park have been sighted more than 10 kilometers away from central Nara, and reports suggest their range is expanding beyond the prefecture itself.
The deer of Nara are said to have inhabited the area for more than 1,300 years and have long been cherished as sacred animals. Those living in Nara Park are designated as a natural monument, and their protection and management have traditionally been carried out with an emphasis on coexistence with people.
Recently, however, deer from Nara Park have increasingly been seen outside the park. To understand the scale of the movement, reporters traced just how far the animals had traveled from their usual habitat.
Searching westward from the area around JR Nara Station, the reporting team found two deer resting in a residential neighborhood more than 2 kilometers from Nara Park. A local woman who said she owned the land where they appeared said the animals had been there for around three weeks. She said she had lived there for more than 50 years and had never seen deer in the area before. At first there had been one deer, but by the previous week there were two.
Both animals were male, and according to an expert, their antlers showed signs of having been cut by humans, suggesting they had come from Nara Park.
The team later obtained video shot the previous Tuesday morning showing a group of deer walking boldly through a residential district. Buses were forced to stop as the animals crossed the road. The footage was recorded in Tezukayama, Nara City, more than 10 kilometers from Nara Park.
A man who witnessed the deer said about six of them had been grazing nearby before moving along a main road and even causing buses to halt. He said he had lived in the area since 1968 and had never before seen a group of six deer together there.
According to the witness, the deer continued moving west. Reporters followed the trail into Ikoma, where some residents said they had heard about sightings in Tezukayama but had not seen the animals themselves. Others said deer had been spotted along a busy roadside in the urban area.
At a nearby bakery, staff provided a crucial lead. One employee said another worker had noticed deer passing in front of the shop on the previous Tuesday, prompting everyone to rush outside. They saw six deer moving past the store.
Video recorded there at around 9 a.m. on March 10 showed the animals crossing the road in an orderly line, a scene that looked unmistakably like the deer of Nara Park. The timing was roughly two hours after the group had been filmed in Tezukayama.
Residents then began hearing that the deer had gone even farther west, toward Ishikiri in Higashi-Osaka, around 20 kilometers from Nara Park and across the Ikoma Mountains.
Following those reports, the News Runner team visited the area around Ishikiri Shrine in search of the animals. They quickly found fresh testimony from local residents, who said deer had entered a nearby park. At the site, the team found what appeared to be deer hair scattered on the ground and footprints that may have belonged to the animals.
Further investigation found that one of the two deer later seen in the area had been temporarily taken into protection by police and members of a local deer preservation group, while the other fled toward the mountains.
Then, during coverage in Higashi-Osaka on the following day, the team finally captured footage of a lone deer in Osaka. The animal, with short antlers, stood looking toward the camera. Since there are no wild deer believed to inhabit the Ikoma Mountains, officials said it may have come from Nara Park.
The question then became why so many deer are now moving so far.
The Nara Deer Preservation Foundation, which oversees the protection and management of deer in Nara Park, said the animals being tracked were almost certainly deer from Nara. A representative said Nara Park is normally the safest place for deer, and they generally have little reason to leave. But conditions appear to be changing.
Looking at the state of the grass and acorns in the park, the foundation believes there is no longer enough natural food to sustain the growing number of deer. As the population becomes too dense, more animals may be getting pushed out.
A graph shown in the report indicated that the deer population in Nara Park reached a record 1,465 last year, up 140 from the previous year. The foundation described that figure as abnormal.
It said one major reason for the unusually high number is human behavior. Tourists feeding the deer foods other than the designated deer crackers, along with leftovers and other food waste, may have improved the animals’ nutrition and reduced mortality.
Reporters also observed what appeared to be foreign tourists feeding deer from a silver bag rather than using the approved crackers.
Once deer begin moving far from the park, however, managing them becomes much more difficult. The foundation noted that animals that travel far away are effectively outside its jurisdiction, yet they remain protected as a natural monument. That means any capture or management action requires legal permission and cannot be done freely.
The situation is now raising broader concerns about how people should respond when such deer appear in urban areas. If the animals are indeed protected deer from Nara, touching or relocating them without authorization could create legal issues. On the other hand, feeding them could worsen the problem.
Commentators in the program noted that because these deer are used to people, they may be less fearful than truly wild animals, which could increase the risk of trouble involving crops, pets, traffic, or food scavenging. They said rules and a clearer public response may now be needed, including at the national level.
Source: KTV NEWS
