You’ve got to quite literally watch your a** if you are walking around Nara Deer Park in Nara, Japan.
To be frank, people who visit national parks and other outdoor sites from… let’s just say more urban areas, generally have no idea how to interact with wild animals. Here’s a clue for those that aren’t sure how to act around wildlife – you interact with them by not interacting with them at all.
The National Park Service advises tourists to stay 25 yards away from animals that are deemed “non-violent,” like bison, elk, and other creatures that tend to be relatively docile. When it comes to bears, wolves, and other apex predators, the NPS warns park goers to keep a football-field-distance (100 yards for non-sports-fans) between them and the animals.
I feel as though I sound like a broken record saying that, because anytime one of these videos pops up, I include a variation of that message above. I’m doing so in hopes that my words will reach one of the people that may not be informed on how to act around wild animals… but then again, I do enjoy covering these idiotic videos.
And strangely enough, all of those guidelines that I just laid don’t necessarily apply to this video.
This footage was captured at the Nara Deer Park in Nara, Japan, which actually encourages visitors to interact with the animals that are on the property. The deer that roam the park are called Sika deer, and those that go to the property can pay for “deer crackers” that they can then use to feed the deer population. How has that gone, you might be wondering?
Well, it’s believed that there are around 1,200 to 1,500 deer living in the 1,200 acre park, and from 2017 to 2018, there were 164 human injuries reported. Most of the incidents originated from people trying to feed the deer. Shocking, right? It’s almost as if getting close to wild animals, and training them to be fed by humans, is a bad thing.
Despite the somewhat-violent history of deer in Nara Park when food gets involved, the guy in this video wasn’t worried about it at all. He walked around and happily fed little snacks to the Sika deer that were swarming, and for the most part, he was smiling ear-to-ear as he enjoyed his time in the park.
That’s until one of the deer mistook his tuchus (yes, I just said tuchus) for a bite to eat.
The man was so preoccupied feeding the deer in front of him that he never thought to check behind him. One of the deer was fed up, and apparently felt shorted when it came to treat time. So the antlered Sika chomped down on the tourist’s buttocks, and the man later confirmed that by saying the animal “bit my a**.”
As the caption of the video explains, deer bites are actually a common occurrence at Nara Deer Park. This guy was just the latest victim:
“Yes, Nara deer can absolutely bite, and Przemek’s painful first-hand experience is a reminder shared by hundreds of tourists every year. While they are globally famous for their cute, bowing behavior, they are still wild animals with strong natural instincts. When thousands of visitors hold out food, the deer can quickly become impatient, demanding, or aggressive.”
