Thousands of Animals Left to Die Around Fukushima

06/09/2011

When the roughly 80,000 people were cleared from a 20 kilometer exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan, they were forced to leave behind their animals.

The area is off-limits to all but the specialized rescue teams since the reactors broke down after the devastating earthquakes and tsunami of March 11. 

At least two dogs and a cat can be seen on webcams, roaming around the radioactive remains of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. But thousands more are left behind in the surrounding areas.

For the first few weeks animal rescue groups were allowed to go into the evacuation zones at their own risk and feed the animals, but since April 22nd a strict “Do Not Enter” policy was enacted. Although some animal rescue groups are attempting to enter the exclusion zones, nuclear emergency laws prohibit them from doing so. Japanese authorities noted that at this point there is nothing they can do for the animals.

The stranded animals are on their own and as some of them are tied down or locked inside, thus unable to reach water or food sources, the future is not looking bright for them. 

Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support (JEARS) is asking animal lovers for donations to care for the animals that they were able to rescue as well as to write letters to the Japanese government to allow animal rescue workers to enter the exclusion zones.

Slideshow: Pets Affected by the Tornado in Joplin, Missouri

Slideshow: The Dogs and Cats of the Mississippi Flooding

Video: Japan in Crisis - a Timeline of the Earthquake and Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster

Photos: Toshifumi Taniuchi/Getty Images (2)|

Comments

[A.F. for Animal Planet]

Just horrible! These poor animals deserved better than to be left to die.

[Igor Purlantov]

This is horrible news. These animals deserve to be rescued and there are animal rescue groups that are willing and able to do so. Hopefully the government will allow these animals to be rescued before it is too late.

[Patti T.]

I'm sorry but if I had to evacuate, the first thing I would grab is my children, the second....My pets. Leave the rest. Shame on those that left their pets behind! You can fit your dogs/cats in the car!!!!

[ZaCloud]

@Patti T., if you read other stories at the time of the disaster, you'll find a lot of reasons the owners had to leave their animals.
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(1, The government assured them that they could come back and get them soon after. Except they then went back on that promise.
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(2, The people were FORBIDDEN to take their animals, because most of the human shelters did not have sufficient accommodations for them. They barely had enough room for that many people, let alone dogs, cats, birds, pigs, cattle, chickens, etc. Keep in mind, this happened in the cold winter over there, so keeping indoors was important.
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(3, Several owners TRIED to bring their pets, even little lap-dogs. But any that were being evacuated on buses... The buses pulled over once they got near the edge of the exclusion zone, and FORCED the people with animals to put them all outside. They would not go until this was done.
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There was too much pressure from everyone who thought they might die of radiation poisoning or an explosion at the time, so they had no choice but to give in, even if tearfully and full of regret, which they very much were from all the accounts they've given.
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4), What few people DID manage to smuggle animals out, found themselves having to live in their cars with them. But a great deal of the owners ended up hospitalized or dead due to blood clots which came from being huddled into such a small space for long periods of time without proper stretching of their legs. Leaving their pets orphaned or on their own anyway.
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5), Most of those pets' owners are DEAD in most of those areas. Remember that.
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6), Most shelters in Japan have a policy to "euthanize" (with cruel gas chambers) pets after a mere 72 hours (3 days). They didn't have the room, or vast food and medical supplies, needed to take in such a sudden huge wave of pets. VERY few organizations with long-term shelters exist over there. Or if they do, most owners no longer had the means to look them up with all the devastation around them, internet outages, or lack of means to travel to them.
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There ARE plenty of happy reunion stories, with pets having been brought to the GOOD shelters and their owners coming for them once they found a place to live. There are still owners begging and pleading the government to help, which is NOT something most Japanese people will stoop to doing, but they're willing to for the sake of their animals.
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The government even made people only tie their animals out on the porch or put them in a carrier, saying they'd send a "specialized rescue team" right away. How many did they retrieve after two days? Four animals. Four, out of countless hundreds or thousands that were now stuck with no way to forage for food.
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Japan is not a country for revolutions or protest like the United States. They're usually complacent, dignified, quiet. But in the face of this terrible ongoing tragedy about their pets, they've been willing to break the very mold of their society, and are fighting hard to save their pets. They ARE protesting, they're sneaking in and feeding them even if they have nowhere to bring them, they're smuggling them out, all at risk of being arrested.
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There are dogs who were caught by volunteers who had money tied onto their collars so their food could be paid for even though their owners could very well be dead.
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There are owners who comb every source of news they can get a hold of every day in hopes of spotting their beloved pets, sick to their stomachs every night unable to sleep because they don't know if the pet died in the tsunami, or of radiation, or starvation, or if he's safe in a shelter... or if that shelter has already gassed them and they'll never, ever know.
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So please, do NOT say "shame on them."

[intercrew watches]

This is really a disaster in the human's history ,and also for all living beings.

[medical wheelchairs]

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