From a village full of foxes to an island of BUNNIES: Destinations around the world that have been taken over by animals revealed

• Fox Island in Japan is home to around 100 semi-tame foxes and attracts tourists from all over the world
• The American island of Assateague hosts more than 300 feral ponies, thought to have survived a shipwreck
• Jellyfish Lake in Palau contains over a million stingless jellyfish who got cut off from the ocean and multiplied

Fox Village, Japan

Fox Village, located in Japan’s Miyagi prefecture, is home to a leash of more than 100 foxes, composed of six different species, all allowed to wander free in a large forested area

It's the stuff of dreams for any animal lover - a destination overrun with cute creatures. 

And happily, they really do exist.

From a village full of friendly foxes and another crammed with rabbits in Japan, to an American island populated with feral ponies, which are thought to have survived a shipwreck long ago - these are the places where animals rule the roost.

But there are the slightly less appealing infestations.

A lake in Palau filled with more than a million jellyfish, for example, and a tiny island that is home to 43million crabs on Christmas Island, not far from Australia.

 

Visitors to the village can pay around £4 (700 Japanese Yen) to enter and feed the animals. Foxes are heralded in Japan, with many believing they have mystical powers and bring good luck

Rabbit Island 

Rabbit Island, officially known as Okunoshima, is a small island off the coast of Hiroshima Prefecture, and is home to hundreds of wild but friendly bunnies who approach tourists in large groups to scavenge for food

 

It’s not known how the island came to be overrun by rabbits, but from 1930 to 1945 it was used as a testing ground for poison and it is thought during that time that the test subjects included rabbits

 

Things got very hairy for this tourist when she visited the island. After offering them some food, she was chased down a road by a stampede of these rabbits

 

Crab Island  

 

It is estimated that more than 43million crabs inhabit tiny Christmas island, their presence more obvious during breeding season when they head to the water’s edge to reproduce

 

During the migration period the state government closes the roads on the island to ensure the crabs have a safe journey, but many are still killed on train tracks

Jellyfish Lake 

 

Located on Eil Malik island in Palau, Jellyfish Lake is home to over a million stingless golden jellyfish. Hundreds of years ago the lake had an outlet to the ocean but when the sea level dropped the jellyfish population were isolated and began to thrive

 

 They had no predators so over time their stings disappeared and now divers can now swim alongside them with no fear of being stung

 

Cat Island  

 

On the Japanese island of Tashirojima - population 100 - there are more cats than residents, and they are valued by locals who feed them in the belief that they bring good luck

 

They are particularly useful for the local farm-raised silkworms industry because they chase away mice, which eat them

Pony Island  

 

 

The rural island of Assateague on the coast of America is home to more than 300 feral ponies thought to have made their way there after surviving a shipwreck


 

 

The best way to see the ponies, on the 37 mile-long island off Maryland and Virginia, is by kayak along the island's waterways

 

Monkey Forest  

 

 Monkey Forest, located in Ubud, Bali, is home to more than 600 monkeys. Tourists the world over flock to come and interact with them, but being bitten is common

 

 

The forest hosts a variety of ancient Hindu temples that date back to 1350, and which the monkeys have made their home


 

Pig Island 

 

On a small uninhabited island in the Exuma region of the Bahamas, wild pigs paddle freely. Tourists can reach the site by boat to feed and play with them

 

 

According to legend they were left there by sailors who had plans to return for a pork roast, but never did, leaving the pigs to turn feral

Deer Island  

Situated in the west central section of Honshu, the largest island of Japan, Nara is home to more than 1,200 deer - believed to be sacred among the locals

 

Tourists can purchase crackers to feed to the tame deer, which roam the streets freely in large groups all year round



 

Polar Bear Bay 

Canada is home to two-thirds of the world's polar bears, many of which amass each year at Hudson bay in Churchill, Manitoba, to hunt on the ice. Tourists can get up-close with them in specially-made Tundra Buggy vehicles like this one

 

Churchill  has been nicknamed the Polar Bear Capital of the World, but environmental experts say climate change could make the population extinct within a few decades


 

Chicken Cove  

 

The Hawaiian island of Kauai is overrun with thousands of feral chickens who have no natural predators. Their origin remains a mystery

The ever-multiplying birds are popular with locals because they eat the venomous centipedes native to the remote island
(The Mail, UK)