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Veterinarian Seido Watanabe, who for a time devoted himself to helping cattle left behind in the no-entry zone near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, decided now to spend his time saving dogs and cats.
In October 2011, renovations of a former pachinko parlor shop in Miharu, Fukushima Prefecture, which had been found by Watanabe, were completed and it was put into service as the second shelter of the prefectural government’s animal protection headquarters. He assumed the post of veterinarian in charge of managing animals there.
The building was much improved over the prefecture's first shelter, located in the Iinomachi district of Fukushima city, which was a rental warehouse.
Under the support of a pet-related business and other organizations, the second shelter, whose renovation cost about 90 million yen (about $900,000), was equipped with an air-conditioning system. In addition, it had 78 spacious individual rooms for dogs and 40 similar rooms for cats. The roofed parking lot became an exercise area for dogs.
However, there were many challenges. The prefectural government did not try to contact the owners of the pets. It also prohibited Watanabe from vaccinating or treating the animals without informing the owners of the measures.
“If a problem occurs, the owners could file lawsuits against us,” Watanabe quoted a prefectural government official as telling him.
In such a delicate situation, fire department officials came to the second shelter on an inspection one day. At that time, one of the officials asked Watanabe, “As a matter of course, you have given anti-rabies vaccinations to the dogs, haven’t you?”
“Well … yes,” Watanabe replied vaguely. After the officials left the shelter, he immediately gave the vaccinations at his own discretion.
Even when Watanabe wanted to buy medicines for the animals, he had to complete intensive paperwork and submit it to the prefectural government. As a result, it took several days for him to actually place orders. It was also impossible for him to do blood tests or take X-rays.
If any animal in the shelter showed signs of illness, he transported them by car to an animal hospital in Sukagawa, also in Fukushima Prefecture, where his wife, Michiko, 54, a veterinarian, was working.
“The situation (in the second shelter) is worse than in field hospitals,” Watanabe thought.
Due to long periods of wandering about, dogs and cats had strong appetites. Some dogs even consumed newspapers and blankets, and some cats ate the artificial “sand” that was placed for their toilets. In addition, parasitic insects, which are usually seen infesting amphibian species, were often found on cats. That was apparently because those cats ate frogs to survive.
Owners rarely came to take their pets with them or even to see them. As the owners did not abandon ownership, however, it was impossible to give the animals to new owners. The second shelter was like a free hotel for pets.
“I don’t care even if this shelter is like a pet hotel. I will take care of the animals indefinitely,” Watanabe, who was also living as an evacuee, initially thought.
Gradually, however, he began to have doubts.
“One year of a human’s life is equivalent to four or five years for a dog or a cat. If they are confined in this shelter indefinitely, will they be happy?” he thought.
On the other hand, Watanabe had mixed emotions when owners came to the shelter to take their pets with them. As their owners were unable to return to their homes, many were living outside Fukushima Prefecture.
Watanabe felt he should celebrate an animal’s departure from the shelter as normally, it was the best thing for pets when they were reunited with their owners. However, Watanabe was hoping that he would contribute to the reconstruction of the local area through taking care of pet animals. Therefore, he felt as if this “small hope” was slipping away.
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