KESENNUMA, Miyagi Prefecture--A family whose house was washed away in the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami has finally been reunited with its two surviving cats after more than four years apart.
KESENNUMA, Miyagi Prefecture--A family whose house was washed away in the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami has finally been reunited with its two surviving cats after more than four years apart.
The Suzuki family had lost its home in Kesennuma, just 30 paces from the coast, when it was swept away by the massive wave. Although they managed to save their pets at the time--three cats and a dog--the Suzukis were no longer able to care for them in the wake of the disaster and entrusted them to an animal shelter in Osaka Prefecture in July 2011.
In the interim years, the family's heartache continued with the tragic loss of their husband and father to cancer, as well as the death of a dog and a cat.
But happier times returned at last when the surviving two cats arrived at Sendai Airport in cages on Nov. 15. The two felines, one male and one female, meowed affectionately as the Suzuki family called their names.
It was a far cry from March 11, 2011, when the massive quake rocked the region and the Suzukis quickly rounded up the animals into their car and rushed them to higher ground nearby.
Maru, the surviving female cat, had joined the household when Mai, the Suzukis' 27-year-old daughter, found her malnourished on a roadside. And before the disaster the male cat, So, had enjoyed walks with Reiko Suzuki, the 61-year-old mother, hitching a ride on her shoulders.
Such carefree companionship came to an end when, having lost their home, relatives of the family took them in but couldn’t accommodate the pets.
The family’s father, Toshinobu, a tuna fisherman, had wanted to find a new home for the entire family to live under one roof together again with their pets.
Sadly Toshinobu lost his battle with prostate cancer and passed away at age 65 in February. The dog and one of the cats also died before they could rejoin the family.
After suffering such losses, things finally began looking up when Mai’s landlord learned of the whole ordeal and granted special permission for her to keep a pet in her home.
Mai, who got married in July, took So into the rented apartment in Kesennuma.
"He seems to have lost some weight, but he still remembered me," she said as she hugged the feline.
Meanwhile, Mai’s boss agreed to house Maru at their home in the same city.
"I'm going to keep pushing myself until we can build a house where we'll be able to live together again,” Mai said.
In the years between the aftermath of the disaster and their reunion with their owners, the cats had lived under the care of Japan Animal Trust, a nonprofit animal welfare organization in Nose, Osaka Prefecture.
Japan Animal Trust is one of the nation's largest animal welfare organizations, caring for about 600 animals, mostly dogs and cats, over an area of about 6,600 square meters.
The organization took in a total of 213 dogs and cats from areas stricken by the 2011 catastrophe. About one-third of the pets were reunited with their families, but none of the animals had been returned to their owners for more than a year until this month.
With some adopted by new owners and others deceased, only 34 of the former pets remain in the facility today. The majority of them had lived in evacuation zones around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
"You can’t get the lost time back when people are separated from their pets," said Michitaka Imamura, a 40-year-old member of Japan Animal Trust. "Four or five years is a long time for dogs and cats that have much shorter lifespans than humans.
“But we will continue taking care of them, with the ultimate goal of returning them to their owners."