Japanese farmers hope Russian wolves will help get rid of wild boars.

17/1 Tass 84

TOKYO, January 17 (Itar-Tass) -- Japanese farmers are hoping to defend
their crop fields from inroads of wild boars and wild deer species
using wolves the farmers are planning to bring from Russia and
China. The authorities of Oita prefecture (Kyushu) have been studying
plans of bringing the wolves to Japan, mass media sources said in Tokyo.
Oita prefecture is famous for its dried "shiitake" mushrooms- a
popular treat in local cuisine and an element used in oriental
medicine, which proved a particularly attractive food to wild boars.
Wild deer, whose population has recently grown, are frequent visitors to
rice fields.
Last year the overall losses inflicted by the animals' inroads on
almost 17,000 farms in the town of Bungo-ono alone totaled record
high 24 million yen (around 300,000 U.S. dollars). The construction
of all kinds of traps and fence-like constructions, where over 2,000
boars and deer species were trapped over the past year, proved an
extra burden on the budget of local residents. The actual losses might
have been higher because not every household has reported, how much they
lost.
A local mayor, who is one of the authors of the plan to bring the
gray beasts from abroad, suggested earmarking the necessary funds in the
2011 budget. First, his plan has to be approved by a majority of Bungo-ono
population, the townsfolk from neighboring regions and the central
authorities.
Wolves have been extinct in Japan since 1905.
-0-ere/kud