Winds of change

Having said I would start at the beginning I find myself leaping forward into real time as today marked a momentuous occasion in the lives of pet owners around the beleaguered nuclear plant in Fukushima.While it took a mere seven days for the earthquake and tsunami issues to take a back seat in the international media.The radiation problems would frequently raise their ugly heads again and again when there were protests in Germany, discussions in Britain and sit ins across the States. The main focus of these awareness raising campaigns were the dangers of nuclear power generation and the consequences on society if something went wrong.

 Sunday saw a march through Tokyo calling attention to the plight of the animals left behind in the 20km zone.

Japan has had quite a few quake related nuclear accidents in the last decade. They have been minor belches as compared with the current full-scale manifestation of chronic acid reflux. People have been "re-located" temporarily in those situations but never as long or as strictly enforced as this mandatory evacuation. People were told they would be one or two days away from home. At the 6 week mark it became a mandatory evacuation and people were given a few short hours to get in and out of the area and retrieve anything of importance/ value they felt they would need. One person per household donned the tyvek suit and protective eyewear and sped into the zone to grab everything on the lists compiled by family members waiting in the evacuation centers.

Stop for a minute. You have an hour. Grab everything that is important to you and leave forever. No turning back. 60 minutes for you ALONE to gather a lifetime of mementos.......for EVERY member of your family...... not to mention all things official, but I am assuming you know where those documents are and that would be the easy part. Your dogs are thrilled to see you they wag their tails, yeah!!!! My person is back! You enter the house your cats practically trip you up with every step you take as they wend their way around your moving legs. You stop for a minute to pick out a piece of paper you can feel the purrs vibrating against your leg as little miss kitty brushes the length of her body past your shins..............Now walk away. Leave them there, pour out whatever food is left but leave your pets where they are. They are not allowed to evacuate, people only. No pets permitted.Once you leave today, the "zone" will be sealed and your beloved furbies in there with it.How would you react?

The Japanese have a long standing reputation as law abiding citizens. In these circumstances they were no different, they did as told. With precedents, residents from around the nuclear plants have been allowed back in after a day or two.According to form this should have been no different, except it was. Very different. When the exclusion zone was at advisory level. Animal rescue groups were going in and finding all types of animals running loose, tethered animals who were skin and bones for lack of food and water and the worst sight of all were the dead animals most still tied to their kennels in their own front gardens.

Every so often the government would come across a hold out like the man below. This 83 year old told the police he would rather die than leave without his dog. I know this makes me look fickle, but I am requesting permission for him to be added to my list of heroes that have come to light in the wake of these horrible events. This story was taken from Kazuyoshi Nagashima san's blog. A Kanazawa politician with a big heart for the animals.

富岡町に住む83歳のこの男性は震災時から3日間ほど避難拒否をしていたといいます。
しかし、逃げるよう説得された時に「ペットはダメ」と言われたものの、「犬を連れて行っちゃダメなら俺は死ぬ」などと主張し何とか連れ出すことを認めてもらったと話していました。


I always start these entries and say to myself "Right, this is going to be short". Obviously I still haven't got my head around the definition of short!!  So finally to the news that was released to-day that made me take the leap to current time was that  the government has finally seen the light and will be letting people evacuate their animals.From pets to pigs, a lot of the animals will be catered for. From the bottom of my heart I just hope they survived this far.