A deer caught on the banks of the Arakawa river in Adachi Ward, Tokyo, has been taken to his new home: an elephant zoo in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture.
The Arakawa ward office said it received offers to take care of the deer from local residents one after another. The deer had been kept at a park in the ward since being caught last Wednesday. However, according to the Tokyo metropolitan government's Natural Environment Division, which approved the capture of the deer, the wildlife protection law does not allow individuals to catch wild animals and keep them for their own purposes. The ward office was therefore unable to give the deer to an individual person.
The ward then asked zoos and research institutes across the nation to take in the deer. Finally, the Ichihara Elephant Kingdom accepted the request on Friday, and the deer was transferred there on Monday. If the ward had not been able to find a place to keep the deer, the animal would have been killed.
The elephant zoo named the deer "Cape" after the English word "escape." The zoo will spend about two weeks checking such matters as whether the deer has a disease. It will also consider a public viewing of the deer.
"When we were asked [about taking in the deer], we were worried that it might be killed," a zoo official said. "We've accepted the request as we think protecting the lives [of animals] is the role of a zoo."
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