The Abandoned Animals of Fukushima: Part III

 We first brought you a CNN video in April of last year that documented some of the rescue efforts attempted by concerned citizens of Japan and international animal rescue groups to help the abandoned animals that remained in the Fukushima nuclear power plant's exclusion zone. And then in November 2011, we posted what we thought was good news: a report prepared by the International Fund for Animal Welfare that documented the likelihood of saving the abandoned animals, to either be reunited with their owners or placed with new families. So we just assumed that at least most of the remaining abandoned animals would be promptly rescued.

But we saw this news segment on Anderson Cooper's show last night and thought we'd bring it to you as an update, of sorts, on the abandoned animals that unfortunately still remain within the exclusion zone. We're guessing that this video doesn't tell the whole story, but it looks like many of the animals that survived, either still remain within the zone or have been taken to over-crowded shelters

Warning: this video contains some graphic and gruesome images.

If any of you know more details about the rescue efforts, please let us know.

Share

Update On Japan's Pets

The International Fund for Animal Welfare recently wrote a report for the Japanese government that had some good news about the abandoned dogs and cats within the Fukushima plant's zone of contamination: "...As long as the animals are appropriately cleaned and quarantined, they should be ultimately safe to handle and adopt. The animals will eventually eliminate the radioactive material from their bodies."

Photo of stray dog near Fukushima courtesy of Sean Bonner of Safecast.org

The Fund hopes this report will allow more animals to be safely removed for the area and eventually adopted or possibly reunited with their owners.

To be honest, we had stopped wondering about these poor abandoned animals and were unaware that efforts were still being made to rescue them. It's odd how such a major disaster fairly quickly falls off our collective radar (or maybe it was just us), but we're glad we happened to see this article and that many of this area's abandoned pets may still be saved.

 To learn more about the animal rescue operations in Japan, read the PBS NewsHour report, "What's the Fallout for Dogs Near Fukushima?" 


P.S. Stay tuned for the Tuesday evening announcement of the lucky winner of "The Puppy Diaries" by award-winning writer, Jill Abramson-there's still time to enter! www.boccibeefs.com/2011/11/puppy-diaries-review-and-giveaway.html
And coming later this week, yet another fabulous review and generous giveaway: this time courtesy of EO Pet Products, makers of organic pet "body care" products. Wait till you see the gift package waiting for you!

Share

Saving Japan's Animals Inside The Evacuation Zone

We saw this article and video on CNN's website and were riveted by yet another story of the selflessness of those trying to rescue the animals of Japan. This time the rescue efforts center on the pets and livestock left behind in the nuclear evacuation zone surrounding the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Read the full article here: www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/13/japan.nuclear.pets/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo.

This video of the abandoned animals and attempted rescues is not to be missed.

Share