Population of Deer in Japan's Nara Park Reaches Record High

JAKARTA - The population of deer in Nara Park, a tourist attraction in western Japan, reached a new record high of 1,687, a conservation group said on Thursday, with birth rates increasing as the animals are fed food other than sugar-free deer biscuits.

According to the Nara Deer Conservation Foundation, more and more people are feeding vegetables and leftovers to deer, which are also seen in private vegetable gardens outside the park, thus damaging the harvest.

The figure is up 222 from the previous year when the previous record was set, according to the group that has surveyed the deer population every year since 1953, Kyodo News reported (16/7).

The latest survey was conducted for two days until Thursday, with about 40 people joining in the visual count.

The details are 411 males, 990 females, and 286 deer calves. Throughout the year to the end of June, 198 deer died, including 72 deer calves, mostly due to traffic accidents.

Secretary-General Nobuyuki Yamazaki of the Nara Deer Preservation Foundation called for people to be slower in the park area, saying, "Deer children often run out when they follow their mothers."

In this vast park, visitors are allowed to feed the roaming animals, which are designated as national treasures, with digestive biscuits and sugar-free biscuits sold in nearby shops.