きのうのブログでは体長３ｍにもなるヒグマの今期でのわが家（札幌市西区の三角山近隣）周辺出現について触れましたが、そんなブログ記事を書いた後に歩いていた散歩の道すがら、今度は野生の牡鹿との接近遭遇であります。
　出現場所は高級住宅街・札幌市中央区宮の森を流れる「琴似川」という住宅街のど真ん中。
　毎朝の散歩コースは、適時コースを変えて気分転換・健康増進を図っているのですが、早朝時間なので野生動物、ヒグマとの遭遇などの危険性のより少ないコースを選んで歩いている。そんな「配慮」をしているにもかかわらず、この場所でか？という意表を突かれてしまった。
　この遭遇場所はわが家から札幌市中心部方向へ、約1.5kmほどの位置。この琴似川は札幌の市街の南側後背の円山・三角山といった山地から低地にあたる札幌市街にむかって流れている。ということは野生動物にとっては、その流路を伝って行けば容易に人間界に接近できる「高速道路」。一昨年も、発寒川水系の流路を伝って、札幌市東区の市街地域に出現して駆除されたヒグマがいたけれど、そのようなパターンかと思われる。
　たしかにわが家近くの発寒川流路でも頻繁にキタキツネなどを見かけることは多いけれど、さすがに今回は繁殖期を迎えて大きなツノを持った（かれら種の攻撃殺傷力）個体との遭遇。
　通報を受けたと思われる警官の方、３人ほどが流路脇の位置から川を見下ろして警戒活動中のところに散歩中のわたしが遭遇したのであります。特段警察のお世話になるような「過激派」ではないし、「いったい何ごと？」という野次馬好奇心で、かれらの視線の先を共有したワケです。
　突然の人間社会からの注目の中、「なにごとさ？なんかあったの？」みたいなやや迷惑そうな視線の泳がせ方で、悠然と川に沿って歩いていた。

　で、わたしたちの視線から外れていく寸前には、上の写真のようにわたしに視線をまっすぐに向けてきていた。「そういえば他のヤツは制服を着ているのに、なんかひとりだけ一風変わったヘンなヤツがいるなぁ、なにこいつ？」とでも内語で語っているような視線。
　いやぁ、オレはもと過激派の少年で警察のみなさんにご苦労はお掛けしたけれど・・・、みたいな反省文を書かされるような視線（笑）。かれとの距離の間には３ｍほどの高さの防護河岸という結界装置があるので、安全装置を介在させての「会話」が成立していたか。
　ほんの数十秒ほどの接近遭遇でしたが、こういう野生との出会いはこころに残ります。

English version⬇

Close Encounter with Deer 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 4 in Miyanomori, Sapporo
An unexpected encounter with the wild. We exchanged glances and conversed with the creatures for only a few dozen seconds or so. The dignified dialogue with them was a time of deep introspection. Sapporo and Miyanomori

In yesterday’s blog, I mentioned the appearance of a 3-meter-long brown bear in the vicinity of our house (near Mt. Triangle in Nishi Ward, Sapporo City) in this season.
　The stag appeared in the middle of a residential area called Kotoni River, which runs through Miyanomori, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, a high-class residential area.
　I change the course of my morning walk from time to time in order to change my mind and improve my health, but since it is early in the morning, I choose a course with less risk of encountering wild animals or brown bears. In spite of such “consideration,” this is the place? I was surprised at the location of this encounter.
　The location of this encounter was about 1.5 km from our house in the direction of central Sapporo. The Kotoni River flows from the mountains of Maruyama and Sankakuyama in the southern hinterland of the city of Sapporo to the city of Sapporo in the lowlands. This means that for wild animals, the river is a “highway” that allows them to easily approach the human world by following its course. The year before last, there was a brown bear that followed the Hassamu River system into the urban area of Higashi-ku, Sapporo, and was exterminated.
　It is true that we frequently see foxes and other animals along the Hassamu River near our house, but this time we encountered one with large antlers (which can attack and kill these animals) during the breeding season.
　I was walking along the river when I came upon three police officers who had been alerted to the situation and were looking down at the river from their positions along the side of the stream channel. I was not an “extremist” who would need the help of the police, and I was just a curious onlooker wondering “what on earth is going on? I shared their gaze with the curiosity of an onlooker.
　Suddenly, the attention of the human community was on us, and we were like, “What’s going on? What’s going on? I was walking along the river with a somewhat annoyed look on my face.

　And just before he was about to move out of our line of sight, he turned his gaze straight at me, as in the photo above. He looked at me as if he was saying in his internal language, “By the way, the other guys are wearing uniforms, but there’s this one guy who looks so strange and peculiar. He looked at me as if he were saying in his own language, “Well, I used to be a radical.
　He looked at me as if he were asking me to write a letter of apology, as if to say, “Well, I used to be a radical boy, and I’m sorry for all the trouble I went through with the police, but…” (laughs). (Laughs). There is a 3-meter-high protective riverbank between me and him, so I wondered if we were having a “conversation” through a safety device.
　It was a close encounter that lasted only a few dozen seconds, but this kind of encounter with the wild will remain in my heart.

Posted on 8月 5th, 2024 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 「都市の快適」研究