Arya News - With their gentle and friendly nature, they have a spiritual healing effect.
TOKYO – Goats, a domestic animal, are increasingly being kept by welfare facilities and companies for various purposes. For one, with their gentle and friendly nature, they have a spiritual healing effect. I have studied their appeal in depth.
In late February, on a lawn beside a building near JR Totsuka Station in Yokohama, a 78-year-old local resident was feeding two goats kept by coffee shop owner Taizo Katayama, 56, while they chatted.
“Goats have a healing power,” the man said to Katayama with a smile.
The goats are sisters, 8 and 7 years old. They weigh 90 kilograms, which is heavier than I had expected. There is a shed and lawn near the building. Anyone is welcome to visit them.
Katayama started keeping the animals as pets about eight years ago to teach local children about the importance of life.
“I noticed that everyone smiled when they saw the animals,” he said.
Today, people who come across the goats on their walks look happy and say, “Look! There are goats,” Katayama said. Local children also come to feed them.
Katayama said: “The goats’ relaxed appearance makes people feel that they are easy to get along with. Also, since we don’t know what they are thinking, we can imagine whatever we want. They naturally attract people that way.”
Some companies have their own goats, too.
Di-Nikko Engineering Co., an electronic components manufacturer in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, has noticed the spiritual healing effect of goats and has been keeping two since 2023 as part of its employee welfare programs. The goats are quite popular among employees. About six employees take care of them in turn.
“The goats started to come closer to me after I became responsible for them,” one of the workers said. “They are more adorable than I expected.”
A welfare facility in Konosu, Saitama Prefecture, has been keeping a goat since 2021.
The goat was originally kept to eat the weeds around the facility, but it has now become a mascot. When the goat sometimes takes a walk around the building, elderly users of the facility pet and talk to it.
“Some elderly people used to keep a goat, so this makes goats approachable,” said the facility’s director.
He also says that some neighbors come to visit the goat, which helps foster ties between the welfare facility and the local community.
Reducing stress
Aichi Yagi Nojo, a farm in Mihama, Aichi Prefecture, which conducts educational activities using goats as well as selling the animals, carried out research in 2020 to find out how goats could reduce stress in humans.
The research subjects’ stress levels were measured based on changes in the amylase content, which is higher under stress, in saliva before and after they saw and interacted with goats. It was found that their amylase levels were reduced by 70% to 80%.
“Goats are herbivorous and look gentle, so they make people want to protect them,” said the farm’s representative. “Some people see themselves in the goats when they watch them continuing to eat, and then they renew their determination to do their best. I think goats have a spiritual healing effect.”
The farm has received more inquiries about keeping goats after the COVID-19 pandemic. The number is two to three times the pre-pandemic levels. The farm says that inquirers ask about various purposes for keeping goats, in addition to keeping them as pets and for weeding.
Goats have sometimes been used to prevent damage caused by wild boars.
The municipal government of Kato, Hyogo Prefecture, conducted a test at five locations in the city for the period of fiscal 2023 and 2024 to prove that wild boars, which have a sensitive sense of smell, stay away from places where there is the smell of goats.
As wild boars stopped coming to some places where goats were kept, the city has determined that keeping goats was effective to some extent. The city plans to talk about the positive effect to farmers suffering from damage caused by wild animals.
Easy to handle, secure
Goats are already familiar to the elderly and are a new animal for children, says Naoko Koda, an associate professor of psychology at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, who has conducted research on goats kept in schools, explaining the popularity of goats.
“Goats make humans feel safe as they keep a reasonable distance and are relatively easy to handle,” Koda said.
Koda added: “Keeping them can create bonds with the local community. I think it’s another attractive element.”
Although I had seen goats from a distance in a zoo, I had no special feeling toward them. While writing this article, I had my first opportunity to interact with goats. I didn’t know why, but I never got tired of watching them. I felt that because we live busy lives, the charm of goats, with their relaxed appearance, is being reevaluated.
Reporting required
The number of kept goats has been on the rise in recent years.
Data from the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry shows that the number peaked at 670,000 in 1957 and then dropped to the 10,000 level in the 2000s. The number began to rise again around 2014 and has exceeded 30,000 since 2020, even though the numbers are not strictly comparable due to a change in the method of collecting statistics in 2011.
Although goats are considered easy to keep, there are some requirements and precautions to keep the animal.
To have even one goat, owners are required to notify the local livestock hygiene service center.
Consideration for neighbors is also essential so that they are not disturbed by the smell of the animal’s excrement or cries. Having a goat also requires an area large enough for exercise and a clean shed.
They eat various weeds, but each goat has its own preferences. In winter, when there are no weeds, feeding them dried grass is necessary.
The goats are relatively resistant to disease, but a veterinarian should be secured and the availability of home visits should be discussed in advance.