Oh, deer: Japan’s Nara boosts police patrols to curb animal abuse

Police have begun patrolling Nara Park to safeguard its sacred deer population after a video of a tourist kicking and slapping one of the animals went viral, sparking outrage in Japan and drawing renewed scrutiny of visitor behaviour.The video, posted online last year, captured a man in a white T-shirt hitting a deer twice as he strolled through the ancient city’s popular park. The incident involving the unidentified man has become emblematic of a rise in problematic encounters between tourists and the deer, officials say.“This is a serious problem and we get reports of deer being slapped or kicked virtually