Post-quake Dog Rescue Efforts In Japan

[sandgrubber]

Someone posted a request for donations a few days back . . . I notice it isn't getting many viewings. Such an awful story. I know people are worn out by disaster reports, but I think this is a case where help may really do some good.

The British woman braving Fukushima radiation zone to save abandoned quake dogs

By Richard Jones

Last updated at 12:48 AM on 29th May 2011

• Comments (19)
• Add to My Stories
• Share

They are the forgotten victims of the Japanese tsunami; the countless pets abandoned by their owners as they fled fallout from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant.

But one British woman is braving the potentially lethal radiation levels to rescue animals left to die in the eerie ghost towns of the 12-mile evacuation zone.

So far, 70-year-old Elizabeth Oliver, originally from Somerset, has saved 197 dogs and 17 cats from the area, which she enters wearing a protective suit and carrying a Geiger counter.

Safe: Miss Oliver with a rescued pet in Osaka

After the evacuation, residents were allowed back for two hours to collect essentials – but were told to leave pets tethered in front of houses, for authorities to collect.

Yet in ten days, just 15 of an estimated 20,000 pets were picked up.

Miss Oliver, who has lived in Japan for more than 40 years, said: ‘Even when animals are cut free they often refuse to leave their homes, believing their owners will return.’

One rescued dog is an English setter she named Frostbite. He was found wandering hungry in an area called Nami-cho. His owners had cut him loose so he could fend for himself, but he had become terrified and aggressive.

Under Miss Oliver’s care he became gentle again.

More...

• The Saga suicide squad: Dozens of pensioners prepare to risk their lives in Fukushima clean up
• Finally, the full truth about Fukushima? Japanese nuclear bosses admit meltdown of THREE reactors after tsunami

She has now tracked down Frostbite’s owners – but they are still living in an evacuation centre, so their pet must remain in Miss Oliver’s Animals Rescue Kansai shelter in Osaka, more than 400 miles from the affected area.

After animals arrive there, she advertises them for three months in an attempt to reunite them with their owners before putting them up for rehoming.

During one visit to the evacuation zone, she encountered a particularly hellish scene: ‘I saw a farmer sitting amid the carcasses of nine horses that had starved to death. The 20 horses still alive were in appalling shape.

Police had refused to let anyone back into the zone with feed.’

The farmer said he was going to kill them rather than let them starve, but Miss Oliver arranged for them to be rescued.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1391988/The-British-woman-braving-Fukushima-radiation-zone-save-abandoned-quake-dogs.html#ixzz1NwVCfB1M

[Panto]

That must have been so horrid, to have to tie your pet up for them to be collected. (and most not getting collection...)

The poor people of Fukushima, this nightmare still goes on for them

[darlingdog]

This is so terribly sad. I know the story about the horses is completely true. We lived there working with horses many years ago and my horse friends over there have told me some awful stories. They have been using their horse truck to take in what supplies they could. I know the domestic pets are in a terrible way too. I know we get hit by a lot of requests for donations but the animal rescues over there at the moment are really getting hammered. JEARS is the combined rescue that is in need as well..