Is this real? A figurine? A wild Ezo sika deer welcomes you on the Wakkanai Station platform.|Domingo

Is this real? A figurine? A wild Ezo sika deer welcomes you on the Wakkanai Station platform.

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Wakkanai City

A surprising sight at Wakkanai Station in Hokkaido, known as Japan's northernmost station, has become the talk of the town.

A shocking sight at Wakkanai Station on the Soya Main Line.
It is not a figurine. It is a real Ezo sika deer.

エゾシカ

Quote from @hime4145's post

Ezo-shika deer appeared majestically on the station platform! It looks as if it is welcoming us or passing through the ticket gate. ......

On SNS, there are comments such as "Even in Nara, deer don't come into the station", "I wonder if he came to greet us", "Isn't he the station chief making his rounds?

We asked the owner of the post, hime4145, what actually happened at this time.

The date and time of the photo was around 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, September 12, 2023. I was trying to photograph the terminus and monuments before boarding the train when I spotted an Ezo sika deer standing on the tracks.

エゾシカ

Yezo sika deer standing on the train tracks

エゾシカ

As the departure time approached and the flow of people calmed down, it approached the platform side and seemed to be looking ahead to the platform.

Shortly thereafter, it took a leap up onto the platform...

エゾシカ エゾシカ エゾシカ

Jump!

Soon after, he jumped over the fence with great speed and vigor.

エゾシカ

After escaping from the station grounds, the train continued to ply the area until it was time for the train to depart.

The deer looked as if they were on a walking trail. The deer seemed to be accustomed to the distance from humans, and they were crossing the platform when no one was around. But how did they manage to get so far into the area?

The contributor, hime4145,

(The deer that entered the tracks were chased by a train coming into the station at low speed, which fled on the tracks, so they must have come to the end of the line.

It is surmised that this is the case.

It is a common story in Hokkaido that wild deer often enter the railway tracks, but it must be quite rare to see them fleeing into the station premises. It was a slightly surprising sight at the northernmost station in Japan!

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