An Honest Report from IFAW on Fukushima Japan

Warning. Graphic Images of suffering cows appear during part of the video. 

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/dumVPTqx_h8?fs=1&hl=en_US

This is the first time that any animal rescue or relief organization is trying to be logical about what is going on in Japan. Their first desire is to help the animals who have been evacuated from their homes and living in cars or tied to poles because they are not allowed in the Evacuation center with their owners. They want to help build temporary housing for the dogs and cats that will allow their owners to not feel so much stress and guilt because they have to be in cars and tied to poles for most of the day. They want to make sure there are sanctuaries available for injured wildlife should they need help to heal from wounds.

In terms of radiation exposure, their number one concern is the monitoring of the radiation levels and determining the impact the radiation is having on the animals currently living in the evacuation zone.  In addition, it is assumed that animals dogs and cats and especially wild birds are moving freely in and out of the Fukushima Exclusion Zone.  There is no established protocol for decontamination and/or treatment of animals affected by radiation, nor are there any standards established for determining when an animal has been exposed to an unsafe level of radiation.  In essence, little is known about the survivability of wildlife and pets – or the viability of feed animals – exposed to radiation.

They were given the opportunity to speak with people inside the Fukushima Evacuation Center that brought pets with them in order to help determine what is needed to help them and their animals. One of the people they spoke with was a gentleman who was forced to evacuate and did not have a vehicle he could only bring his dog with him on a leash and walk through town to the evacuation center which forced him to leave three cats behind.  He dumped out all the food that he had available and left water for the cats. But he cannot go back for the cats he has no way to bring them to the shelter and it isn’t safe for him to walk back with food because there are now packs of hungry aggressive dogs who were pets only weeks before. His story was the only one many people were forced due to the situation to leave pets behind. There was no finger pointing only a promise to try and help figure out if it is safe to get the animals out and if so to get them and bring them to a shelter that they set up for all of the displaced pets.

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of good options available.  A large-scale round-up and evacuation of potentially contaminated animals is not practical and long-term feeding operations in an unsafe area is probably not feasible. It would be a disaster many times over to bring animals out of the Exclusion Zone if they have been contaminated  and entering safe areas where they could bring the contamination with them and affect people and other animals. – so the situation is not good at all. 

They go on to say that as much as they hate to resort to euthanasia – if the radiation levels remain high and death is imminent – it may be the most humane option. They don’t want to see the animals continue to suffer or start to suffer if they have been contaminated. They will evaluate the situation with the Japanese Government and with specialists in radiation and make a determination exactly what the safest best course of action is in this horrible situation. The main thing they are interested in is the welfare of the animals in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone as well as making sure they do not spread the effects of any potential radiation poisoning to other areas.

They are the first organization that are not finger pointing and are being honest about the situation that not every animal will be able to be saved. It is a horrible situation but I think people especially those not on the ground in Japan dealing with all of these things need to understand. By demanding people go in and risk their own health to get these animals out who might already be contaminated and then bring them to live with groups of animals and possibly contaminate them is not doing anyone any good. Let’s not cause a bigger disaster by trying to do what our hearts are telling us we should. It needs to be understood that not a single animal that was in the Chernobyl no go zone at the time of that accident ever came back out. This is the first time this has ever been contemplated or done and there are no protocols for decontamination or monitoring or any research or studies done on something like this.