2016 Volume 21 Issue 3 Pages 73-79
Main purpose of hunting in Japan has changed with the time. Current trend of Japanese hunting is characterized by decline of recreational hunting and increase of hunting effort for animal control to prevent damage on agriculture, forestry and ecosystems. Wildlife Protection and Proper Hunting Law (WPPHL) had been established originally as Hunting Law in Meiji era and then was revised in 1963 as WPPHL. WPPHL aimed at regulating captures of wild birds and mammals by setting various restrictions on hunting. In 1999, the WPPHL had been revised and then the Specific Wildlife Management Planning System, the first science-based wildlife management system in Japan, was introduced. Since this revision, the WPPHL has been contributing to two objectives of biodiversity conservation and wildlife damage control simultaneously. A new control program by public sector and a certification system for professional culling to further enhance wildlife damage control were introduced by the amendment of WPPHL in 2014. It is also expected that this revision will help reduce and keep populations of problem animals at appropriate levels.
