White storks spotted in all 47 prefectures

August 14, 2017

TOKYO- An Oriental white stork has been spotted in Akita Prefecture, which was the last one among Japan's 47 prefectures without a sighting of a white stork released into the wild under a program that began in 2005.

The recently sighted white stork is a female bird born in March 2015 in a facility in Noda, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, and released into the wild in July that year, the Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork said on Saturday.

The park aims to reintegrate into the wild the species designated as a special natural treasure in Japan.

According to the park, Hideyuki Endo, a 41 year-old company employee of Akita, the capital of the northeastern Japan prefecture, took photographs of the bird in a rural area in the city of Senboku around 8:30 a.m. Friday (11:30 p.m. Thursday GMT).

The species became extinct in Japan in 1971 after decreasing in number due to postwar overhunting. The park artificially breeds white storks and prepares feeding grounds for them to return to the wild. Jiji Press