However, by March 2023, it has been reported uninhabited.
Similar to many of its relatives, Sika deer prefer forestry, scrub and open lands in which to live. Daqiu provides plenty of space for the deer to roam freely and navigate the mix of greenery and rolling plains. It isn’t uncommon for them to munch on shrubs.
Humans are the strongest threat to the Sika deer species. Luckily, the Sika deer at Daqiu are often unbothered and serve as an eco-tourism location where tourists only observe the deer, as we did. However, since 2020, construction has started on a bridge that connects one of the main islands, Beigan Island, to Daqiu Island. This bridge has brought some concerns to local tour guides as they will lose the tourism business of driving people to the island on a boat. Furthermore, I personally worry that more tourism could lead to the loss of habitat, as people may find profit in developing restaurants or hotels.
