The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation said Thursday it will investigate how seven deer were able to get onto the runway at Shin-Chitose Airport in Hokkaido.
The deer were spotted at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, causing the closure of two runways for more than 2 1/2 hours, Sports Nippon reported. Thirty-four flights were affected. The Air Self-Defense Force Chitose Base in the area opened one of its runways to civilian flights to ease flight congestion.
The ministry's office at New Chitose Airport released a statement, saying, “Having this many deer intrude on the property is exceptional.”
The perimeter of the airport is surrounded by a two-meter high fence, and with no signs of any holes in the fence, how the deer got into area is unclear. It took a snowplow and nine cars about seven hours to get the deer out of the area.
However, Wednesday morning at 5 a.m., five more deer were seen near a runway and were rounded up by 9 a.m.
© Japan Today
18 Comments
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some14some
form a panel of experts and we may get vague report after one year.
Nessie
CTS higawari lunch: Half-price "gyu"-don. This week only.
I suspect the deer jumped in. They can jump quite high.
TumbleDry
Bought a ticket maybe...
Skeeter27
Deer can jump that high.... Two meters is not that high, plus it's not two meters high if there is a lot of snow on the ground.
MissingCylonModel
Oh deer...
FightingViking
They were on a flight to meet some reindeer at the North Pole. There was a "stop-over" at Chitose airport and they disembarked to "relieve" themselves...
CrazyJoe
Must have cost a lot of bucks to chase the deer out.
HongoTAFEinmate
Deer, deer, deer, deer, deer, deer, deer. On dear!
KnowBetter
I guess these guys working on security for the airport have never seen deer 'fly' over things when they travel at speed. A fence two metres tall with snow on the ground is not that much of a challenge for these little buggers when they're leggin it.
Frederic Bastiat
I think they hoofed it in.
turbotsat
Deer New Chitose Airport:
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74117.html
Nessie
Turbo, thanks for the link.
I suspect that Ezo deer, with their shorter stature, would not jump as high as the mule deer in your link, but still pretty high.
sillygirl
We're they photografted and hoof prints taken?
Eugene Ryan
SHIKATANAI
Mar044
Prob because Hokkaido is rich in wild life, I know of people who go there to hunt.
jpntdytmrow
Thanks, great way to wind down the day, watching deer "clear" fences on You Tube.
LAcajun
If you spray a predator sent on the fence the won't come (wolf, coyote) .. many airports around the world use this.
Jerome_from_Utah
New items at the Chitose cafeteria? Venison steak, Bambi-burgers, venison teriyaki, and so on.