Transport operators in northern Japan are sprinkling wolf urine near roads and broadcasting the roar of lions near train tracks in a bid to keep deer away and reduce accidents, officials said on Monday. Nexco East, an expressway operator, imports wolf urine from the United States to spray on the highways it operates in Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands.
“Even though we have increased the height of fences to 2.5 metres (8.3 feet) from 1.5 metres, fences sometimes break because of heavy snow, so we need this stop-gap measure while mending them,” a company official told AFP.
I – Word Understanding
Stop-gap measure – a temporary replacement
Mending – fixing
II – Have your say
1.Deer are considered sacred in Japan….but Japan has a “deer problem”.
2.In the US, hunting is considered a right by many and is an everyman’s activity. Some say, hunting could solve Japan’s deer problem.
3.A Game Study Group has been formed in Japan to examine the deer problem. One member, a chef, has campaigned for people to eat venison.
4.Velvet antler (dried immature antlers) is a popular ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, and sika in China were domesticated long ago for the antler trade, along with several other species. In Taiwan.
