{
  "name": "Nara deer population, mortality and visitor injuries",
  "source": "https://kippujapan.com/nara/deer-safety/",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0 — attribution to Kippu Japan; underlying counts by the Foundation for the Protection of Deer in Nara and Nara Prefecture",
  "lastChecked": "2026-09-03",
  "caveat": "Population and mortality are counted by the Foundation for the Protection of Deer in Nara. Injury figures are compiled by the Nara Park Deer Consultation Room and published by Nara Prefecture. Everything here is translated from the Japanese originals; none of it is published in English by the bodies that collect it.",
  "upstream": {
    "census": {
      "label": "Foundation for the Protection of Deer in Nara — annual census",
      "url": "https://naradeer.com/learning/number.html"
    },
    "injuries": {
      "label": "Nara Prefecture — incidents involving the Nara deer, and countermeasures",
      "url": "https://www.pref.nara.lg.jp/documents/6506/32_siryou3-2_1.pdf"
    }
  },
  "census": {
    "conductedIn": "July each year, by direct observation over two mornings",
    "area": "Nara Park and its immediate surroundings",
    "unit": "deer",
    "years": [
      {
        "year": 2008,
        "male": 262,
        "female": 695,
        "fawn": 171,
        "total": 1128
      },
      {
        "year": 2009,
        "male": 196,
        "female": 705,
        "fawn": 151,
        "total": 1052
      },
      {
        "year": 2010,
        "male": 197,
        "female": 713,
        "fawn": 186,
        "total": 1096
      },
      {
        "year": 2011,
        "male": 188,
        "female": 730,
        "fawn": 177,
        "total": 1095
      },
      {
        "year": 2012,
        "male": 198,
        "female": 700,
        "fawn": 181,
        "total": 1079
      },
      {
        "year": 2013,
        "male": 210,
        "female": 736,
        "fawn": 148,
        "total": 1094
      },
      {
        "year": 2014,
        "male": 190,
        "female": 713,
        "fawn": 173,
        "total": 1076
      },
      {
        "year": 2015,
        "male": 204,
        "female": 788,
        "fawn": 199,
        "total": 1191
      },
      {
        "year": 2016,
        "male": 236,
        "female": 715,
        "fawn": 229,
        "total": 1180
      },
      {
        "year": 2017,
        "male": 261,
        "female": 731,
        "fawn": 234,
        "total": 1226
      },
      {
        "year": 2018,
        "male": 355,
        "female": 767,
        "fawn": 238,
        "total": 1360
      },
      {
        "year": 2019,
        "male": 357,
        "female": 756,
        "fawn": 275,
        "total": 1388
      },
      {
        "year": 2020,
        "male": 224,
        "female": 808,
        "fawn": 254,
        "total": 1286
      },
      {
        "year": 2021,
        "male": 217,
        "female": 806,
        "fawn": 82,
        "total": 1105
      },
      {
        "year": 2022,
        "male": 204,
        "female": 747,
        "fawn": 231,
        "total": 1182
      },
      {
        "year": 2023,
        "male": 286,
        "female": 770,
        "fawn": 177,
        "total": 1233
      },
      {
        "year": 2024,
        "male": 313,
        "female": 798,
        "fawn": 214,
        "total": 1325
      },
      {
        "year": 2025,
        "male": 315,
        "female": 816,
        "fawn": 334,
        "total": 1465
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "male": 411,
        "female": 990,
        "fawn": 286,
        "total": 1687
      }
    ]
  },
  "mortality": {
    "unit": "deer",
    "years": [
      {
        "year": 2008,
        "traffic": 71,
        "disease": 174,
        "dogs": 18,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 117,
        "total": 380
      },
      {
        "year": 2009,
        "traffic": 76,
        "disease": 179,
        "dogs": 14,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 88,
        "total": 357
      },
      {
        "year": 2010,
        "traffic": 66,
        "disease": 170,
        "dogs": 0,
        "poaching": 1,
        "other": 57,
        "total": 294
      },
      {
        "year": 2011,
        "traffic": 96,
        "disease": 184,
        "dogs": 0,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 82,
        "total": 362
      },
      {
        "year": 2012,
        "traffic": 58,
        "disease": 83,
        "dogs": 0,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 51,
        "total": 192
      },
      {
        "year": 2013,
        "traffic": 61,
        "disease": 68,
        "dogs": 0,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 71,
        "total": 200
      },
      {
        "year": 2014,
        "traffic": 48,
        "disease": 87,
        "dogs": 2,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 77,
        "total": 214
      },
      {
        "year": 2015,
        "traffic": 53,
        "disease": 71,
        "dogs": 0,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 45,
        "total": 169
      },
      {
        "year": 2016,
        "traffic": 56,
        "disease": 73,
        "dogs": 1,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 60,
        "total": 190
      },
      {
        "year": 2017,
        "traffic": 57,
        "disease": 81,
        "dogs": 0,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 76,
        "total": 214
      },
      {
        "year": 2018,
        "traffic": 29,
        "disease": 81,
        "dogs": 0,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 78,
        "total": 188
      },
      {
        "year": 2019,
        "traffic": 34,
        "disease": 87,
        "dogs": 0,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 58,
        "total": 179
      },
      {
        "year": 2020,
        "traffic": 49,
        "disease": 102,
        "dogs": 13,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 144,
        "total": 308
      },
      {
        "year": 2021,
        "traffic": 59,
        "disease": 80,
        "dogs": 0,
        "poaching": 1,
        "other": 129,
        "total": 269
      },
      {
        "year": 2022,
        "traffic": 27,
        "disease": 49,
        "dogs": 0,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 54,
        "total": 130
      },
      {
        "year": 2023,
        "traffic": 35,
        "disease": 59,
        "dogs": 0,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 50,
        "total": 144
      },
      {
        "year": 2024,
        "traffic": 29,
        "disease": 35,
        "dogs": 0,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 66,
        "total": 130
      },
      {
        "year": 2025,
        "traffic": 36,
        "disease": 30,
        "dogs": 0,
        "poaching": 0,
        "other": 74,
        "total": 140
      }
    ]
  },
  "injuries": {
    "fiscalYear": "2022 (April 2022 to March 2023)",
    "note": "The most recent year for which the prefecture has published this level of detail. Traffic collisions are counted separately and are not included here.",
    "peakMonths": "September first, then May and March. September is the rutting season, when stags are at their most aggressive.",
    "severity": {
      "total": 71,
      "rows": [
        {
          "label": "Admitted to hospital (all fractures)",
          "n": 0,
          "pct": 0
        },
        {
          "label": "Fracture, not admitted",
          "n": 2,
          "pct": 2.8
        },
        {
          "label": "Wound closed with stitches or staples",
          "n": 13,
          "pct": 18.3
        },
        {
          "label": "Severe bruising",
          "n": 1,
          "pct": 1.4
        },
        {
          "label": "Deeper cut, heavier bleeding, no stitches",
          "n": 4,
          "pct": 5.6
        },
        {
          "label": "Antiseptic and a plaster, or light bruising",
          "n": 50,
          "pct": 70.4
        },
        {
          "label": "Not recorded",
          "n": 1,
          "pct": 1.4
        }
      ]
    },
    "circumstances": {
      "total": 69,
      "rows": [
        {
          "label": "Buying deer crackers, feeding them, or just after feeding",
          "n": 50,
          "pct": 72.5
        },
        {
          "label": "Simply walking past or approaching a deer",
          "n": 8,
          "pct": 11.6
        },
        {
          "label": "Holding out a hand, letting a deer lick fingers, reaching to touch",
          "n": 1,
          "pct": 1.4
        },
        {
          "label": "Caught up in a fight between deer, or a startled deer bolting",
          "n": 3,
          "pct": 4.3
        },
        {
          "label": "A dog the visitor had with them barked",
          "n": 0,
          "pct": 0
        },
        {
          "label": "Other",
          "n": 2,
          "pct": 2.9
        },
        {
          "label": "Cause unknown",
          "n": 5,
          "pct": 7.2
        }
      ]
    },
    "totals": [
      {
        "fiscalYear": 2023,
        "count": 100,
        "japanese": 45,
        "foreign": 53,
        "unknown": 2,
        "asOf": "29 February 2024",
        "partial": true,
        "verified": true
      }
    ],
    "reportedElsewhere": [
      {
        "fiscalYear": 2018,
        "count": 227,
        "verified": false,
        "note": "Widely reported as the record year in Japanese press. We have not confirmed it in a prefecture document we have read in full."
      },
      {
        "fiscalYear": 2019,
        "count": 192,
        "asOf": "29 February 2020",
        "verified": false,
        "note": "Same caveat as 2018."
      }
    ]
  },
  "rabies": {
    "verified": true,
    "statement": "Japan has recorded no domestically acquired human rabies case since 1958 and is one of a small number of rabies-free countries, alongside Australia and New Zealand. Nara Prefecture states that there has been no case of rabies, or any other infection, resulting from being bitten or struck by a deer in Nara.",
    "source": "injuries"
  }
}