Nara, Japan, Treats its Deer Like Sacred Cows; Other Cities Worldwide Contemplate Reduction

Nara Deer Accost Tourist, by petitshoo

The sika deer in Nara, Japan, have it made: they are treated like the sacred cows of India, allowed to wander everywhere and eat pretty much whatever they want. James Dorsey writes in the LA Times that the deer have learned to bow to visitors. Vendors and vending machines sell "deer courtesy crackers" (鹿煎餅 Shika-senbei)  and outdoor restaurants provide diners with the biscuits so they can get the deer to leave them alone.

Japanese writer Noboru Ogata says that the sitka deer (Cervus nippon) have been around the Kasuga Shrine (near Osaka) since the 12th Century and were considered a good omen from the gods. Since they were literally sacred gift, people were put to death for killing them. Now they are officially a national treasure. About 1200 roam the city park. They have an annual Shika Tsuno Kiri festival to trim the deer's horns.

The Nara deer are probably some of the best treated in the world. Especially when you consider some ways people have been trying to handle their deer lately:

England: The Brits generally love their deer and even have deer parks with deer safaris. But lately they've had a bit much of them, Wildlife Extra says. Populations of all species--two native, four introduced--are on the rise. Wildlife minister Huw Irranca-Davies, declared the diminuitive muntjac deer, deer non grata. The Duke of Bedford once kept the tiny deer as pets, but, the British Deer Society says, they now roam south and central England and Wales. Here's their handy map.

Austin, TX, wants to trap deer, send them to a butcher and donate the meat to charity.

Suburban Chicago Will County wants to start allowing hunting in forest preserves.

For decades Pennsylvania managed its deer population to produce more deer to hunt. Now it wants to reduce deer numbers (and car accidents) by forcing hunters to shoot does instead of bucks. But a group of hunters objects, saying the state really has a deer shortage, Philly.com reports.

Where to Go to See Unusual Deer

Fareham, UK: Coconut-Eating Squirrel Capital of the World

2010 Coconut Squirrels

A British squirrel watcher has discovered a way to get her backyard visitors to put coconuts on their heads like they are astronauts on an adventure. Jane Roberts in Fareham, Hampshire (near Portsmouth) first gave the gray squirrels coconuts to distract them from the bird seed. She hangs to coconuts from a closesline--much the way people in the midwest dangle ears of hard feed corn for squirrels (and their own entertainment).

The 2008 Coconut Squirrel

"I make a large hole in the coconut so that they can get into the flesh. The first time I saw them feeding I nearly died laughing, they looked just like a pair of spacemen," she told Sky News."Even now I can't stop chuckling every time I see them."

Apparently all the squirrels in this little town like their coconuts. A couple years ago the Daily Mail profiled a squirrel that would lift a coconut over his head to eat it in the yard of Vicky Walker, in Portchester, Fareham. I've never known a squirrel to eat coconut before. Then again, I hate coconut, so I've never tried to inflict it on them. Maybe I'll see if my current patient, Mickey, who loves avocado, would like some.

 We have plenty of white squirrel capitals of the world. I'm adding Fareham to my map of places to see interesting squirrels. Fareham is now the Coconut-Eating Squirrel Capital of the World.

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Visitors to a Chinese Zoo Feed Carp Bananas by Hand

American zoos frown on feeding the animals, but the Nanning Zoo in China isn't so persnickety. Visitors feed their carp bananas by hand.

What I can make out from on online translation of the zoo's story: people in Guangxi got some bad bananas, so naturally they brought them to the zoo. And, of course, the zoo didn't mind people giving the fruit to the monkeys and hornbills. Then, almost inevitably, somebody fed them to the gold fish. And now, as long as you peel the bananas, the carp think of them as a treat.

And it seems to be cultural: only this one pool of fish like bananas. There's another pool in the zoo with the same kind of fish but they have "no enthusiasm on the banana."

Prince Edward Island: XL Blue Jays Eat From Your Hand

We wanted to see the seals on Prince Edward Island, but got an extra treat at our cabin: huge, friendly blue jays. Blue jays are the official bird of this Canadian province, but that usually means nothing. But they're everywhere here.

Glenn Saunders, our host at Forest and Stream Cottages in Murray Harbor, PE, told us that last year he had the jays eating out of his hand. This year, he said at first, he hadn't put the time into it.

Our cottage is next to the B&B, which has big windows and lots of bird feeders. I put some peanuts out for the red squirrels and chipmunks and the blue jays quickly buzzed in and picked them up.

I figured they were so bold, they probably would let me sit at the picnic table while they took nuts off it. They complained a lot about the situation from the trees, but eventually they did it. They'd swoop in, sometimes with a thud. Eventually they got used to the situation and slowed down, shoving two peanuts in their mouths (one half down their throats).

The jays were so close, so loud, I could see them interact. One was a juvenile, which I never would have known by its husky size. But it would cry and flap its wings, begging its parents for food, then chase after them when they got a nut.

Glenn told us he got the jays to eat from his hand. Then he took the time to show me how he did it. First he'd put the peanut on a porch railing, then whistle them in. Then he'd hold out his hand and the jays would come to the porch roof, then furtively fly down and take a nut.

He guided me and much to my surprise and delight they ate from my hand, too. Four times. They did a lot of fretting between the tree and the roof, but eventually swooped in and took the nuts. I've always liked blue jays and their bossy personalities, but this made melove them even more.

Where Else to See Wildlife in Canada
Where to See Odd Birds

Adirondack Garbage Dumps & Bears

Garbage dumps in the Adirondacks only a few years ago used to draw huge crowds to see black bears, but someone thought better of the idea and closed them off.

When I was fishing around for places in New York to reliably see animals for a story for New York, a guy from the state Department of Environmental Protection told me the garbage dumps in the Adirondacks were the most reliable place to see bear. When I visited the Adirondacks last week I asked the woman who rented us the cottage. Much to my surprise, she was all over the garbage dumb scene.

Just a few years ago dozens of people would show up at the garbage dumps, presumably at dusk, to see the bears. Sometimes the crowd would be thirty people, with the ranger feeding the bear a marshmallow on a stick.

Of course, the current thinking is that this kind of thing is exactly what leads to bear conflicts. A fed bear is a dead bear. Bears grow start associating people with food. Yellowstone Park once had similar, much more formal bear feeding stations, where they would dump the garbage and let tourists watch the bears.

Where to See Animals in the Northeast
Where to See Bears