Fukushima's Animals Have Been Abandoned and Left to Die
source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/26/world/asia/fukushimas-animals-abandoned-and-left-to-die/index....
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Fukushima's animals abandoned and left to die
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By Kyung Lah, CNN
updated 5:48 AM EST, Thu January 26, 2012
Click link to play video
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Animals left to die in Fukushima zone
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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
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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.
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.
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PressCore
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Scurrilous. As bad as things got there was no excuse not to rescue
the pets along with the people. Homeless or no, it's still an excuse
to pretend their pets lives were worth no less than theirs whether
they were indoors or not. Human lives are not worth more than
these animal's lives simply because we live longer, and because
we have opposable thumbs to hold tools with. Humans have always
suffered tragedy because of prideful conceit, and lack of humility.
An animal's heart has no problem being big enough to be a faith
ful companion to a human, It can't make us worth more than them
in the eyes of God that humans lack the loyalty to them that they,
the innocent, have for us. - 4 months ago
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PressCore
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JanforGore
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What an absolute tragedy.
- 4 months ago
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JanforGore
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FreeSpiritMuse
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"Unfortunately, he added, the owners can't live with their animals because they are homeless themselves."
This is terribly sad, I believe there's a lot we don't know about yet. Thank you for keeping on top of this, I'm not reading much about it anymore.
- 4 months ago
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FreeSpiritMuse
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EthicalVegan
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Ghost Town: Japan's Exclusion Zone
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http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/25/world/asia/japan-exclusion-zone/index.html
CNN...
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Fukushima's exclusion zone a ghost town
By Kyung Lah, CNN
January 25, 2012 -- Updated 1020 GMT (1820 HKT)
Click link to play video
Ghost town: Japan's exclusion zone.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Tomioka was once home to 52,000 people
It sits in the southern section of the exclusion zone
Except for the livestock roaming the region, there are no people
Surface radiation meter climbs near entryway to exclusion zone.
Tomioka, Japan (CNN) -- As we travel down the road toward the 20-kilometer (12-mile) exclusion zone, the entryway is blocked by half a dozen police officers and a large sign flashing red lights. The sign reads: "Keep out. Don't enter."
This is Japan's exclusion zone. No one lives here, a place where 78,000 people once lived. Nearly a year after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster, the exclusion zone remains off-limits due to high levels of radioactive contamination.
My goal today is to see the town of Tomioka, a farming and factory community which sits in the southern section of the exclusion zone. It's a town that was once home to 52,000 people.
It's hard to imagine that many people once lived here, as we drive into the center of town. That's what strikes you first about the exclusion zone -- what you can't see, the people. Even though I know the residents have been evacuated, it is still eerie to be in a town where it seems the people have simply evaporated. Bicycles near a bus stop lie tipped over, as if owners forgot to retrieve them. Cars sit in a shopping center, seemingly waiting to have groceries loaded into them. A 7-Eleven convenient store sits in disarray, the items shaken from the shelves from the March 11 earthquake. These communities are complete ghost towns, frozen in time.
The signs of life can oddly be found among livestock roaming the region. We come up to cows grazing on the hill right off the main road. They stare at us, the visitors, and then return to grazing, as we drive off. We're surrounded by what appears to be farmland, overrun by brown weeds.
I'm carrying two radiation meters with me, one to measure surface radiation and one to track how much my body accumulates. The surface reader begins to climb, as soon as we drive past the entryway, even though I haven't placed it next to a contaminated surface, which residents hope will be decontaminated within a few years. The release of radiation from the plant primarily covered the communities to the north of the plant. Tomioka, in the southern end of the exclusion zone, has a lower level of contamination than towns to the north and northwest of the plant.
But a lower level doesn't mean it's safe to be here long. We stop in a neighborhood to check the radiation. On the pavement, the surface reads a radiation level of 0.042 millisieverts per hour, which is 10 times what you're exposed to in a dental x-ray. Not a significant problem since we're in the exclusion zone for a short visit and wearing protective suits. But living on this street carries possible long-term health risks, especially for children.
At a nearby park, contaminated soil sits under blue tarps. It's the first hopeful sign of progress we've seen, contained in this small park. But the rest of Tomioka sits empty, of people, of progress and an apparent future.
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- 4 months ago
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EthicalVegan
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EthicalVegan
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EthicalVegan:
http://www.globalanimal.org/2011/04/14/japans-exclusion-zones-like-katrina-with-...
APRIL 14 2011 [old article]
Global Animal...
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Japan’s Exclusion Zones Like “Katrina With Radiation”
April 14, 2011Dogs Wander around Mina Soma 650x433 Japans Exclusion Zones Like Katrina With Radiation
UPDATE: These dogs have been rescued! This photo helped Japanese volunteers led by Etsumi Ogino, who has a shelty herself, rescue this pack of shelties left behind in the town of Minamisoma. They were inside the deserted evacuation zone established for the 20 kilometer radius around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in northeastern Japan. The phono was taken Thursday, April 7, 2011. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Arthur Jeon, Global Animal
Update: June 2, 2011: Animal rescues in Fukushima exclusion zones.
JAPAN – According to representatives of animal rescue organizations on the ground, thousands of abandoned animals are starving and dying in Fukushima’s 20km radiation exclusion zones. And a small band of animal rescue groups are bending the rules to try to save them.
“It’s like Katrina with radiation – a ghost town with only animals. All we hear are barking dogs,” said Brenda Shoss, the executive director of Kinship Circle, an animal organization working in the exclusion zone to rescue animals at the direct request of their guardians. “It’s a crisis for domesticated animals. It’s not like we’re in a disaster aftermath. The disaster is still happening.”
Even though they risk radiation poisoning and being arrested, Kinship Circle and other rescue groups now sneak into the ‘dead zone’ to save any life they can. Heart, passion and a love of animals is what drives these animal rescuers; they can’t sit by and not help. Said one volunteer, “I’m going to die someday, I’d rather die saving a dog.”
The situation in Japan is complex and has a lot of moving pieces. All the animals need to be decontaminated, quarantined, and cared for after they are rescued. It could be months before they find new homes, so longterm care will be necessary.
“Part of the problem now is the rescue groups need a place, a decontamination center to take the animals to and decontaminate them,” said Shoss. “They are healthy and can live a long life, but right now the problem is getting them out before they starve.”
These dedicated volunteers are in it for the animals and are willing to break some rules to save as many as they can. They release any animal they find chained or confined, giving them a chance to forage for food and water and avoid an agonizing death by starvation. The rescues also do ‘shelter in place,’ leaving the animal with food and water to survive until their owners can come back and check on them.
“It’s a heart-wrenching situation,” said Brenda Shoss. “Most of the animals we find are solely abandoned companion animals, left behind by owners who thought the evacuation was temporary. They call us in a panic to get their animals out.”
As the radiation crisis in Japan worsens, yesterday rising to the highest level of seven (the same as Chernobyl), the situation grows desperate for the abandoned animals. Dogs chained to posts are dying of thirst or wandering the countryside in packs, horses locked in barns are collapsing without food or water, and cats left alone in houses are cannibalizing themselves are some of the harrowing scenes the rescuers are encountering.
The exclusion zone around Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union – the scene of the worst nuclear disaster in history – remains a derelict wasteland 25 years later. Given the eerie snapshots of a town deserted in a hurry, it’s difficult to believe this decimated area around Fukushima will not be left similarly abandoned.
Contrary to some news reports and the disturbing images we see, there are animal rescue groups on the ground in the ‘dead zone.’ But their numbers are few compared to the enormous task of evacuating thousands of dogs, cats, horses, cows and other farm animals. They are racing against time and risk, valiantly trying to save these animals before the land goes the way of Chernobyl.
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- 4 months ago
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EthicalVegan
