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| Tourists are forbidden from feeding the deer any food other than the crackers (AFP Photo/Behrouz MEHRI) |
Tokyo (AFP) - Nine deer have died after swallowing plastic bags in Japan's Nara Park, a wildlife group said on Wednesday, warning that a surge in tourism may be to blame.
The Nara
Deer Preservation Foundation said that masses of plastic bags and snack packets
were found in the stomachs of the deer which died between March and June this
year.
"The
biggest litter found in one of the nine amounted to 4.3 kilograms (9.5
pounds)," foundation official Yoshitaka Ashimura told AFP.
"We
were surprised. It was so big," he said.
The
picturesque park in Japan's ancient capital is home to more than 1,000 deer,
which can even be found roaming the streets in search of special tasty crackers
offered by tourists.
Tourists
are forbidden from feeding the deer any food besides the crackers but Ashimura
said some visitors offer the animals other types of snacks.
"The
deer probably think that the snacks and the plastic packs covering them are
both food," he said, adding the animals normally eat grass and acorns.
"They
might also eat plastic bags dropped on the ground," he said, adding that
he believed such cases had increased recently "due to the growing number
of visitors".
"The
only way to prevent this is to remove all the garbage."
The
sprawling park that also includes wooden temples and shrines built centuries
ago is a major tourist attraction.
The number
of tourists visiting Nara city where the park is located has increased in
recent years, with 16 million visitors in 2017.
The deer at
the park -- numbering on average about 1,200 -- are protected as a national
treasure.
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