Sika deer and established woodlands, and public and private forestry bodies adopt policies of rigorous year-round culling. The main predators of sika deer include tigers, wolves, leopards, and brown bears. Lynx and golden eagles target fawns. Velvet antler (dried immature antlers) is a popular ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, and sika in China were domesticated long ago for the antler trade, along with several other species. In Taiwan, both Formosan sika deer and Formosan sambar deer ("Cervus unicolor swinhoei") have been farmed for velvet antlers. Japan is the only country in eastern Asia where sika deer were not farmed for velvet antlers.
Formosan sika deer the 17th century immigration from the Chinese mainland increased dramatically in response to political instability in China and economic opportunities on Taiwan, which from 1624 until 1662 was controlled by the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The VOC, operating from the port of Taoyuan (modern-day Anping, Tainan) in southwestern Taiwan, established a trading post whose main business was the export of sika skins to Europe. During the six decades of Dutch activity two to four million sika skins were exported to Europe. Exporting was reduced when the Dutch were forced out of Taiwan in 1662, but continued throughout the Qing