Miyajima deer - September 2008

I went to Miyajima again on the 13th of September, along with members of the volunteer group who are campaigning to help the deer. We spent about 3 hours on the island and fed deer at many locations, in and around the town. The deer are less in number now and are visibly thinner. They are desperately hungry and I could  hear many deer whimpering at the sight of food. The photographs posted here are from that day and as you can see, some look very thin indeed and most of their coats are in poor condition. 

The group visit Miyajima once a week to feed the deer, but despite this they don't feel this is enough to stop the deer from starving. They are encountering a lot of opposition from local people who often complain to officials when they visit the island. I was very impressed by the efforts this group make. In addition to feeding, they spend a lot of time picking up garbage, as the deer have recently resorted to eating plastic bags and paper in the absence of food.

The group are also very concerned about the treatment of deer from some local people. Although a few locals continue to feed deer in secret, others have been seen attacking deer. The group members have seen locals prodding deer with sticks and throwing stones at them (and on one occasion a broom) while tourists were trying to feed them. They have also heard reports about a local person breaking a deer's leg with a golf club. I saw one deer (pictured) with a damaged or broken leg. This deer is confined to the grounds of an abandoned building covered in trash, which they were trying to eat when we arrived.

The tourists on the island that day seemed very keen to pat the deer and have their photos taken with them but most seemed oblivious to their condition. Ironically, the tourist shops are still displaying and selling deer souvenirs. The deer are obviously still a big attraction for tourists and the local area has made a lot of money out of them. 

The volunteer group have been in touch with various newspapers about the situation but unfortunately the newspapers don't have the courage to report this issue. In Japan, the relationship between reporters and government officials is very close, so the local press are very reluctant to talk about the abuse of animals, when the local government is implicated.

 

It's very frustrating for anyone who cares about animals to see this situation first hand and to realise that the general public aren't being informed about it. 

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Thanks to the other poster who mentioned PETA. I had contacted them a while back but with no response. I contacted them again recently and they replied and told me they have contacted the mayor of the local government (Hatsukaichi city) and urged him to act. They have also posted an action alert about the problem.

I would urge anyone concerned about the issue to contact UNESCO to complain about Miyajima's status as a world heritage site and to add their name to the online petitions on the volunteer group's website:

wh-info@unesco.org  (UNESCO world heritage committee email)

http://miyajimanosinjitu.web.fc2.com/ (volunteer group website)

I visited Miyajima on the 26th of May and took some photos. The photos on this post are from that day. No-one was feeding the deer when I was there and the animals were just lying around in the town. I brought some food with me (apples and some rabbit food). As soon as they saw it they went crazy and gathered around me from all over. The deer have always been pretty cheeky but it was obvious how desperate they were.

Some of them looked ok but very thin. Others looked very bad, extremely skinny with their coats in poor condition. Partly, this was probably because at this time of year the deer are shedding their winter coats. However, other deer (such as the deer in the first picture) looked like they were suffering from skin disease. A few others looked quite ill and hardly moved. One fawn in particular looked very sick and unlikely to last much longer.

Starving deer in Miyajima

Miyajima (or Itsukushima) is an island very close to Hiroshima city in Japan. It is a very famous tourist location in Japan and It's name literally means "shrine island". Miyajima is a UNESCO world heritage site and designated one of the top three scenic places in Japan. The famous shrine on the island, Itsukushima Jinja, is considered one of the holiest places in Japan.

There have been deer on the island for years and they were originally seen as divine creatures and were thought of as messengers from the gods of the shrine. During the second world war, because of food shortages, residents were forced to eat deer. At this time the deer population therefore declined but after the war it was decided to import more deer from Nara city to boost the population and increase breeding. Since then the population has grown and the deer have become almost as famous as the shrine itself.

When I visited last year, it was easy to buy food for for the deer at various places in the town.  The deer were very tame and ate food from my hand. Many people visit the island, especially to see the deer and in the multitude of tourist shops, many deer souvenirs are still available.

However, recently, due to complains by residents, the local government decided to stop the sale of deer food on the island and to instruct visitors not to feed them. There are now signs all round the town warning of the supposed dangers of feeding deer. They have also claimed they want the deer to return to the wild. However, there isn't much grass on the island and the deer are still wandering around the town looking for food. Unlike other deer parks in other countries, there doesn't seem to be anyone responsible for managing the deer.

I recently became aware of this issue from a local volunteer group who in turn found out about it from a letter in a newspaper from a tourist. This person was shocked at the sight of weak and dying deer on the famous island. The group investigated the claims and found the deer on the island to be emaciated and ill. Their coats were in terrible condition (see profile picture) and they were desperate for food.  They also saw dead deer on the beach.

There are many places in other countries which have faced similar problems with growing deer populations. Some people have advocated sterilization of deer and feeding programs located away from residential areas. Others have "culled" deer. In Miyajima the current approach seems to be to let the deer starve to death.

If you search for "Miyajima" and "deer" on the internet you may find information like "The deer are protected as divine messengers of Istukushima" shrine". This no longer seems to be true.