Japan Seeking Advice On Wolf Reintroduction

When Japan began modernizing early this century, American advisers helped the Japanese government eradicate native wolves.

Now, American advisers are helping officials form a plan to reintroduce wolves there in part to help thin the population of Sika deer, which has grown to high levels in the absence of one of the deer’s main predators.

Rick McIntyre, a National Park Service naturalist, recently traveled to Japan to speak to the Japan Wolf Association on the U.S. government’s wolf reintroduction program in central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park. During his visit, he toured Nikko and Shiretoko national parks.

“In Nikko, which is just two hours north of Tokyo, we saw hundreds and hundreds of deer,” he said. “The damage to vegetation was very evident.”

McIntyre said Japanese officials are developing plans to capture wolves in northeastern China if a reintroduction plan is approved.

He said while much of the opposition to the U.S. government’s reintroduction program came from ranchers concerned that wolves would kill livestock, many Japanese are concerned about their own safety.

“There needs to be about a decade of education about predators because the Japanese grew up on the same European fairy tales we did - ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and all - and human safety is one of their main concerns,” he said.