On Sunday, 2nd April a joint team from WSPA and the Humane Society International (HSI) joined members of the Japanese Animal Disaster Response Team (ADRT) to visit animal shelters in the cities of Niigata, Ishinomaki and Sendai – the worst hit from the earthquake and resultant tsunami of 11th March 2011.
Niigata has seen an influx of at least 7000 people from Fukushima, now staying in evacuation centres. In Niigata, the team met with local hero Mr Akitsugu Kakimoto, who runs his own animal welfare charity called ‘Pet With’. Years ago, Kakimoto san took over a ‘dog entertainment park’ where over 200 dogs were kept and trained to perform tricks. He closed down the business, found new, caring homes for 190 of these dogs and kept 30 of the oldest ones in comfortable enclosures. For the last several years, he has used the establishment to run boarding kennels and a grooming parlour for pets. Following the earthquake, he has been providing shelter to abandoned pets, and is also acting as the coordinator for the various agencies taking action in Niigata to help the animals there.
The team visited one of the evacuation centres in Niigata – an erstwhile sports stadium. Since this is essentially a large, open area, people were not allowed to keep their animals alongside other families. However, the authorities did put up a prefabricated building right outside the stadium and furnished it with comfortable cages where people could house their pets.
The owners get to spend as much time with their animals as they like, since each owner (or indeed, family!) is responsible for the cleaning, walking and feeding of their pets. Local vets come by on a regular basis, to administer medication, treat wounds and provide advice to pet owners. Mr Kakimoto makes regular rounds of all the evacuation centres in Niigata, making sure that animals are included in all their plans.
Kakimoto san is also very well known to the team from the WSPA member society JAWS. In the days before transport links between Sendai and Tokyo were restored, JAWS got in touch with him and asked him what he could do for the animals in Sendai, as no one from Tokyo was able to get in. He first got to Sendai on the Saturday following the earthquake, and has since been visiting the city at least twice a week – each time he carries supplies of pet food and medications, visiting the animal shelters, local vets, the Sendai City Animal Control Centre and those human evacuation shelters that are allowing pets in.
One of the dogs Damian met in Niigata is called Taro. Taro is one of about ten dogs that were brought in to Pet With; these dogs came from inside the 20km exclusion zone around the Daichi nuclear plant. Officials from the Fukushima Animal Control Centre checked them for signs of radiation exposure and gave them warm soapy baths to decontaminate them.
While nine of the ten dogs from Fukushima that were brought in to Pet With were reclaimed by their owners, Taro was not. But he seems quite happy to be with Mr. Kakimoto, and appeared well settled at Pet With.
Equally happy seems this lovely dog, reunited with his owner – although she instantly recognized him as belonging to her, this elderly lady couldn’t remember her dog’s name! Nonetheless, both of them seem well pleased to be reunited and drawing comfort from each other’s presence.
Tomorrow, we will bring you an update from Ishinomaki and Sendai – watch this space!
