They’re determined to save the ones left behind.
Though a 20km exclusion zone was put in place around the damaged Fukushima, Japan nuclear power plant as deadly radiation spills into the atmosphere, teams of animal-lovers are ignoring health warnings to scour the deserted wasteland for signs of canine life.
The search began earlier this week when Etsumi Ogino saw a photo of a pack of Shelties wandering through an abandoned town and thought of her own 13-year-old pet, Kein.
‘My heart trembled,’ said Ms Ogino, a 56-year-old volunteer at an animal shelter in Chiba prefecture. ‘They looked just like my dog. I started searching for them right away.’
She managed to track down the photographer who took the photo and got the address where the dogs were spotted. Ms Ogino then relayed the information to a team of animal rescuers called Sheltie Rescue. Through emails and internet research it was then established that the owner of the dogs was a breeder in Minami Soma, Japan. The group then tracked the owner down and got her go-ahead to rescue the dogs.
The first to arrive on the scene found the pack around the Odaka, Japan railway station, near the owner’s home, where the dogs had last been seen.
‘They were waiting for their owner,’ said Tamiko Nakamura, a volunteer who went with the group from Tokyo.
The dogs had been left some dry food, and were not starving.
It took a while to entice them with snacks, and six or seven were bundled into each car. The group saved 20 dogs in all.
Most were taken to a veterinary clinic in Kanagawa prefecture just west of Tokyo. Others are being cared for by individuals in other areas.
The owner, worn down by the disaster and worrying about her dogs, was ‘extremely happy’, Ms Nakamura said. She said the owner did not want her identity revealed.
Ms Nakamura only regrets that some of the dogs in the pack ran away and countless others are still stranded in the evacuation zone.
‘There are still some left behind,’ she said. ‘I’m concerned about them and want to pull them out.’
Thanks for the kind words, Sonia! And welcome to the Dog Files!