Difficulty of Coexistence with Nature

The  owner was not conspiring a murder. Two men was killed, three women and two kids were injured in a river in Nishi-izu Town, Shizuoka. Around the place, there was an electronic fence to block natural animals and its one end was soaked into the river water. Two men are supposed to have died with electrocution. Police started investigation with a doubt that the owner of the fence had failed in supervising it.

The fence, with height of one meter, was settled to protect hydrangea garden on the riverside from wild deer that would eat the flowers. When the women and kids fell down into the river with screaming, other two men got into the river water to help them and get electrocuted. Vacation of two families turned into unpredictable kind of tragedy. After the accident, it was found that a part of the fence was broken and electronic line was touching river water.

According to the residents around the garden, the owner was providing electricity with the fence only in the night. But the accident happened in the daytime. The power source was drawn from family electricity. Supposedly, the crucial point was that the owner did not set a device to control flow of electricity in the electric system. Pulse system to halt continuous flow of electricity is demanded by law. The fence did not have that devise. Also, the fence did not have a device for shattering electrical leak. It is possible that the owner of the fence was not following legal requirements.

But, the government of Japan has recommended setting electric fence to avoid damage from natural animals. With subsidy for purchasing electric fence, farmers can easily buy the fence. They can buy two hundred meters of the fence with only seventy or eighty thousand yen. The farmers can exclude animals without any license such as possessing guns.

The tragedy happened with ignorance of country life. It was well known for the kids around the garden that touching electric fence might cause injury. But, the victims were families from city area enjoying vacation. Although the owner was responsible for supervising it, the families did not have enough knowledge about electric fence.

It is popular for urban families to let their kids experience natural life in the field. But, there are a few places to do that activity. The accident was caused by narrow land where human being and animals are living