Perilous
Times
Japan: Thousands of animals abandoned and left to die
Fukushima's radiation contaminated exclusion zone
By Kyung Lah, CNN
updated 5:48 AM EST, Thu January 26, 2012
Animals left to die in Fukushima radiation contaminated zone
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Nearly a year after the quake and tsunami, animal carcasses
litter the region
Animal activists call the dead animals an outrage
Environmental agency says government has tried to rescue as
many as possible
It points out the risk posed to people entering the
contaminated area
Inside Fukushima Exclusion Zone, Japan (CNN) -- When you stand in
the center of Japan's exclusion zone, there is absolute silence.
The exclusion zone is the 20-kilometer (12-mile) radius around the
crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, an area of high radiation
contamination.
On March 12, the day after the quake and tsunami hit, 78,000
people were evacuated out of this area, believing they would
return within a few days. As such, thousands of people left with
their dogs tied up in the backyard, cats in their houses and
livestock penned in barns.
Nearly a year later, animal carcasses litter the region.
Cows and pigs starved to death, their bones still in pens. Dogs
dropped dead with disease. A cat skull sits on a neighborhood
road.
This is perhaps an inevitable outcome to a nuclear emergency, but
animal rights activists call it an outrage.
"It's shameful," says Yasunori Hoso with United Kennel Club Japan.
"We kept asking the government to rescue these animals from the
beginning of the disaster. There must have been a way to rescue
the people and the animals at the same time following the nuclear
disaster at Fukushima."
Japan's environmental agency tells CNN the government's position
has been to rescue as many livestock and animals possible. But it
points out that because of the risk posed to people entering the
contaminated area, the government has chosen to take a prudent
attitude toward animal rescue.
Read about the exclusion zone-turned ghost town
Ghost town: Japan's exclusion zone
Last December, the government allowed animal rights groups like
UKC Japan to enter the exclusion zone and rescue any surviving
animals. Hoso entered with his members, carrying cages and food.
On one of those days, Hoso's group approached a house. A
six-week-old female puppy lay dead in the living room in a pool of
blood. It appeared to have died from disease. From the back of the
house, the UKC volunteers heard weak barking. The puppy's two
brothers were still alive, hiding in another part of the house.
They were traumatized and afraid of the rescuers, having never
been around people before. The volunteers soon rounded up their
mother.
Those dogs now reside at the UKC Japan shelter near Tokyo. 250
dogs and 100 cats, all from the exclusion zone, live in cramped
cages at the shelter. UKC Japan, which survives on donations, says
it has tracked down 80% of the owners.
But that hasn't meant the animals can reunite with owners.
Shelters and temporary apartment housing have not allowed the
owners to live with their pets, Hoso said.
Unfortunately, he added, the owners can't live with their animals
because they are homeless themselves.