We hear that…

Japanese deer may not have seen, never mind smelt, a lion, but the West Japan Railway Company is hoping the deer’s instinctive fear of the king of the jungle is intact. Fed up with shooing deer off its tracks, the firm will this week begin spraying tracks with water laced with lion dung. “We have a real problem in the Wakayama area,” says spokesman Kosuke Sugiyama. “Since April, 124 deer have been killed in collisions with trains along one particular track.” The idea was inspired by researchers who used lion dung to stop deer nibbling saplings in Japanese forests. Whether passengers will appreciate the …