Abstract
Controlling the population of a specific animal has become one of the most important managing strategies to ensure the sustainability of agriculture/forestry development.
In this case study, we overview recent initiatives related to Yezo deer management in Hokkaido, Japan. For instance, adaptive management, which has been adopted in Hokkaido since 1998, aims to protect Yezo deer from extinction by managing their population. Despite this objective of the management policy, they have not yet succeeded in controlling the overpopulation that has been causing serious damage to agricultural lands and forests.
In Hokkaido, since 1995, they constructed about 3,300 km of fences to keep deer out of agriculture/ forestry lands. At the same time, they decided to catch deer and make the best use of their meat. However, the number of hunters in Hokkaido is decreasing, and it is not easy to catch enough deer to control their population.
