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Veterinarian Seido Watanabe of Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture, was concerned about the pets of the people who had evacuated from their hometowns due to the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
He visited evacuation centers in Koriyama, also in Fukushima Prefecture, where many evacuees were living, and saw many pet owners he was acquainted with. However, he did not see their animals.
“When I got on a bus prepared by the town office (for evacuation), I was told to leave my dog (at home),” one of the owners said.
Another said, “As I thought that I would be able to return home soon, I prepared only water (for my pet).” Every pet owner was weeping.
Some people brought their pets with them. But they were not allowed to bring them into evacuation centers. Therefore, they were living with the animals in their cars in parking lots while shivering in the cold weather.
Many pets were suffering from diarrhea. But Watanabe was impressed by the difficult living conditions their owners were enduring to keep them.
“It is a living hell for pet owners to have left their pets in their houses when they evacuated. But it is also a living hell to have brought their pets with them,” he thought.
Unable to stand watching the owners suffer under miserable living conditions, he decided to keep their pets in a shed he had borrowed in Miharu town, also in Fukushima Prefecture. Though home delivery services were not available there in those days, fellow alumni of his university brought him the things necessary to care for the animals.
However, it was extremely difficult to take care of nearly 40 dogs and cats. On April 5, Watanabe visited the Fukushima Veterinary Medical Association, located in the city of Fukushima, and asked for their assistance. However, his request was refused.
“We are now extremely busy only in confirming the safety of our members,” one of the association officials said.
On his return from the association, Watanabe visited veterinarian Jun Kawamata, 53, of Fukushima city, whom he had been acquainted with for 20 years, and vented his complaints.
Starting in late March 2011, Kawamata was also visiting the Azuma Sports Park, the largest evacuation center in Fukushima city, where about 2,400 evacuees were living. He worked as a volunteer, delivering pet food to owners living in their cars and vaccinating their animals.
A rumor had spread among pet owners that pets would be put down by public health centers if they were found. Therefore, some pet owners suspected that Kawamata’s offer of a free vaccination was a ploy by the Fukushima prefectural government to euthanize their animals.
Watanabe did not see the prefectural government doing anything about pets. So, he asked prefectural government employees stationed in an evacuation center about their duties and priorities.
“We are putting a priority on human lives," one of the employees said. "Please don’t talk about animals now.”
Watanabe and Kawamata thought that their efforts to help evacuees' pets would become long-term ones. They encouraged each other and went their separate ways that day.
In March 2011, the Fukushima prefectural government's food and sanitation division, which is also in charge of animal protection, was in extreme chaos. The section’s tasks ranged widely from food and water to graveyard and burial-related services.
Immediately after the disaster, employees of the section were tasked with a variety of responsibilities, ranging from restoring water service and securing of crematoriums, to checking of radioactive levels of food.
Two employees, who were in charge of animal protection, were busy preparing manuals on preventing the spread of infectious diseases among people living in evacuation centers. Responsibilities for pets were put on the back-burner.
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