When I approached SHIRETOKO in HOKKAIDO, a
middle-aged guy in a car said hello to me. He said:
“If you’re going to SHIRETOKO, I will give
you a ride.”
I accepted. The
guy put my bicycle in the trunk. I sat in the passenger seat. We enjoyed
chatting and driving. But suddenly he stopped the car and said:
“Excuse me. Could
you wait in the car?”
Then he got out of
the car and walked up to a young couple on the road. He started to scold them.
His face reddened with anger. I couldn’t hear what they were talking but I
realized some emergency had occurred.
I assumed he was insane. I thought:
(Oh, God! I am in an
insane man’s car. I have to find a way to escape.)
After a few
minutes, he came back to the car and explained briefly.
“We should not
feed wild animals.”
I couldn’t
understand what he meant. The young couple had put bread on the road. After
they were scolded they picked up the bread.
I couldn’t understand what was happening. I could
only think about how to run away from him.
Actually I didn’t need to find a way to
escape. When we arrived in SHIRETOKO he gently stopped the car and we parted.
Of course I never gave him any contact information because I still thought he
was insane.
Later, I understood what he was doing.
Feeding wild animals is strictly forbidden
in Hokkaido. If wild animals learn they can get food from people they will come
to the road and be hit by cars. If wild bears connect people with food, they
will come into towns. If we find bears in a town, we have to kill them with
guns. Tourists are not familiar with this situation so they often give food to
wild animals, but it risks the lives of the wild animals as well as people.
The middle-aged guy was a volunteer who found
tourists who were not aware of this problem and warned them. He was doing an important
job that saves wild animals’ and people’s lives. I am sorry I thought he was
insane.
Two years ago, I went to Hokkaido by plane. A
local TV announcer said “We should not feed wild animals. Let us give a good
example to the tourists”.
Almost thirty years has passed. I wonder if the
“insane man” is still patrolling in SHIRETOKO.
Japanese version
Picture by ayacon
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