In the town of Yamanaka in Western Japan, wild boars are a threat to local farming. With the extinction of natural predators, the boars run rampant, leaving hunters like Sakura Yoshida to patrol the area. This pits boars against humans, but Sakura approaches the boars with veneration and a deep understanding of the ecosystem they both inhabit. In this episode of Proof, author Hannah Kirshner takes us along for a ride with Sakura and recounts the history of meat eating in Japan.

This episode draws on the "Year of the Boars" chapter in Hannah Kirshner's Water, Wood, and Wild Things.

For further reading about human-wildlife relations in Japan, read The Lost Wolves of Japan by Brett L. Walker and Waiting For Wolves in Japan by John Knight.

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