Animals in Kansai

I'll be in the Kansai region (Kobe, Kyoto, Osaka and Nara) for a few days in April and am looking for suggestions for places to see cool animals, preferably in nature parks where I can interact with them as opposed to zoos. I've been to the Nara deer park several times and last winter I went to Kishi, Wakayama to see Tama the station master cat. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated!

It's a little further than Kobe but doable as a day trip... why not go to Okunoshima, the rabbit island?

http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-city-guides/okunoshima

In Kyoto you also have the Iwatayama Monkey Park in Arashiyama.

I want to see Okunoshima at some point, but unfortunately Hiroshima is too far and expensive for me to get to from Kansai!

It's a little out of Kansai but there is an awesome squirrel park at Takayama. They end up running all over you.

You can get a Sanyo Pass, makes Hiroshima accessible.
Miyajima has deer that are far more friendly than Nara

Mt Koya has animals roaming about.

The squirrel park in Takayama has been on my to-do list for a while, thanks for reminding me! Unfortunately I'm unable to get a Sanyo pass as I live here, so no cheap travel for me!

Cheers. If you have a list put Enoshima on it. First there are the multitude of mangey cats, but what is really awesome is the flocks of hawks. There can be maybe 30 of them wheeling around in the sky as you walk across the bridge, they swoop down pretty low (apparently they can go for you if you have food). I'd never seen anything like it.

And you see them from all over the island.