Cows Dying in Fukushima

Cow at a Ranch in Namie in the 10 km Exclusion Zone

As more and more news agencies venture into the 10 km Exclusion Zone we see images of ghost towns abandoned in the middle of a thought, tea cups left half drunk, and snacks for children for after their last day of school just lying there. People are dead or still missing, all that is left of friends and relatives are damaged pictures. The ones who survived and left their homes are still in shelters and it will be some time before housing can be built so they feel they can start creating their lives over. That is those that feel they can even start over. Family farms will never be workable again at least not in their lifetimes, animals are contaminated the ground not plant-able. An April 6 Agence France Presse article on farmers who have ignored the ban on access and traveled back to their properties suggests that as many as 10,000 cattle and thousands of other farm animals were left to fend for themselves. When these animals were left behind it was thought that they would be able to go back to them within a few days and at least they had access to water but even the water that these animals usually have free access to has been shut off or was damaged in the Earthquake and Tsunami and no one can go back in to fix it. So the animals who were left behind have not had food or access to water in weeks.

We see images of skinny dogs roaming the streets, horses left in their stalls withering away, and cows dying of thirst and hunger. In a country with so much destruction and human death in the wake of the Earthquake and Tsunami where people in some cities still have not received full meals a month after the disaster, people are doing the best they can to help each other and the animals that were left behind. Its unfair and counterproductive to demand that they go in to an area that we all know is unsafe when what is there for anyone to do for the cows. The horse organizations already are overwhelmed with all the horses from the area they probably can’t safe all the horse let alone ask them to save the cows. Maybe there are farmers who can afford to feed the extra cows if they were turned over to them by their original owners but like horses cows are expensive to maintain and require specializes space. They could possibly take those from the 20 – 30 km area but are they contaminated with radiation and if so is it iodine or cesium would a few days in quarantine help flush their systems so they don’t contaminate other areas or is the radiation there to stay so not only would they contaminate but they are unfit for milk production or as meat and if rescued and brought to another location would only die a slow painful death.

A man showing compassion for a cow loosing the battle

“We have all been left to die,” says Yuji Watanabe as he strokes the head of a dying cow in a field located inside the zone. “We are supplied with food, but in reality we have been forgotten, just like these animals,” adds the former nuclear plant worker of 25 years. The animal population is dwindling, but at a slower, more agonizing rate than the human one.

Maybe there could have been hope for these animals if aid could have gotten to them sooner and taken them out of the area. If roads were open and all they needed to do was find  new feed and bring in the water department to fix the system. But there was and is so much more for everyone to contend with the Nuclear Power Plant melt down being the biggest insurmountable obstacle to getting any sort of quality help to these animals. Even if they were let to roam loose and live out their lives in the area there is no water for them its either contaminated with salt water or radiation and the food they might free graze on is all contaminated.

At this point only well established animals rescue organizations that are working with the government are being allowed in the Exclusion Zone, those who follow protocols and are using their brain about the situation. The Nuclear Crisis only miles away was upgraded to a level 7 that’s the same level as the Chernobyl. Should people risk their lives to go deep into the Exclusion Zone to rescue animals that are probably contaminated and will suffer? Do they send in veterinarians from their military or US military (Yakoto Air Base) or from WorldVets to access the situation and make a determination on what should be done?

Animal lovers should prepare themselves for a possible animal catastrophe similar the one seen in Pripyat after the Chernobyl accident in 1986. We know that 2 dogs have already been found to be contaminated with radiation and we have to assume that the closer these animals are to Fukushima Daiiyachi Nuclear Power Plant the more at risk they are to have already been contaminated by the deadly radiation. The Governor of Fukushima Prefecture should not be held up to blame, ridicule or defamation there was nothing he could do at the time of the Natural Disaster that would have saved most of the farm animals or the wild animals. He was concerned with saving the lives of as many people under his care as possible and that is still his main goal. He is well aware of the suffering taking place inside the 10 km Zone with the animals that were left behind initially and the desire to get those out that could still be healthy. We also can’t blame the people that left their pets behind when they ran to the safety of the shelters only moments before the Tsunami hit. There was no way for them to predict the damage that the Tsunami would leave in its wake and that they would not be able to get back to their homes within a day. They could not know that the damage would be so bad they could not leave the shelter for many days and that by then their homes would be in a no go zone. Japan is used to being hit by Earthquakes their cities and towns are built to withstand them which is evidenced by the fact that even though they have had 984 Earthquakes or aftershocks since March 11, 2011 the major damage is almost exclusively from the Tsunami Waves.

Articles of Interest. Please be aware that these articles contain graphic videos and photographs of the suffering cows.
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2011/04/11/fukushima-cattle-on-abandoned-ranch-starve-to-death-no-sign-of-owners-return/

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fv20110410a1.html

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Comments

  1. At this point, sadly, probably the best thing for the cows and horses is to end their lives. There's been too much disaster in Japan, earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear catastrophe. They don't have the resources they would have to cope if they'd only had one, or even two, of these disasters.

  2. KeithInCanada says

    It is unsafe to live in the exclusion zone, but it is safe to visit, provided the Fukishima plant doesn't get any worse while you are there, and provided you don't drink groundwater or eat local food.

    In fact, it is safe to visit the very gates Fukishima plant itself, if properly dressed so you don't pick up radioactive dust and take it with you.

  3. KeithInCanada says

    Regarding animals near the Fukashima plant. A little physics lesson.

    How contaminated a an animal is, whether it presents a danger to others, can be readily determined with a geiger counter and 5 minutes effort.

    For companion animals, whether they are a danger to others depends on how much long lived radioactive material they have absorbed into their body, not how much radioactive material they have been exposed to.

    You can't eat the food animals from the exclusion zone, but companion animals and working animals are probably not contaminated enough to warrant destruction.

    Also, with proper clothing and procedures, human visitors can approach the very gates of the Fukashima plant. The critical thing for your own health is not to drink ground water or food in the area, because your own health depends on minimizing radiation exposure.

    But whether something or someone from the exclusion zone is a hazard to others depends on how radioactive it is, not on how much radiation it has been exposed to.

    Think of irradiated potatoes and other long-life packaged products where lethal doses of radiation are used to sterilize them. They are perfectly safe to eat and in most countries don't even require special labeling. It is because they are exposed to radiation, but are not contaminated by absorbing radioactive materials.

  4. OMG.. I love cows, and this is so sad. I hope something is done, and soon 🙁

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