An article about Fukushima animals was run on PBS, Public Broadcasting Service's site on 11 Nov.
This is an extract from the site.
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At the tail end of Miles O'Brien's latest NewsHour report on radiation in Japan , a golden dog with a thick red collar trots into the street of the abandoned town, Katsurao, and weaves along the center divider.
Miles asks, off camera: "Do we have anything to feed him?"
The piece, which airs tonight, reports on the group Safecast , which has measured, mapped and crowdsourced data on radiation levels in locations throughout Japan, particularly in the hot spots near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The dog was one of several scrawny, undernourished dogs and cats they encountered, most likely abandoned by their owners during rapid evacuation. (The crew did, incidentally, have food in their supply for the dog - sweet buns with bean paste and sushi.)
Signs of the animals were everywhere, according to Xeni Jardin , who produced and helped shoot the piece. Bowls filled with dog food by a makeshift police station. A dog emerging from a cluster of houses near a stream. A cat poking its head out from behind the corner of an abandoned house. And on a lamppost, a sign with pictures of various dogs that had been rescued from the area, one of which has since been found.
"These were not feral cats and dogs," Jardin said. "It's obvious they were part of someone's family. As you feel empathy for these abandoned creatures, you start to feel the scope of the disruption and abandonment and complete destruction of the social fabric in Japan. The Japanese are very, very sweet to their pets."
Indeed, Japan is known for its animal lovers. After all, this is the land of cat cafes, where people pay by the hour to get their feline fix, hanging out and relaxing with resident cats. Some of these cafes are so crowded that reservations are recommended on weekends.
The dogs and cats spotted in Katsurao were were among thousands of pets abandoned after residents were forced to quickly evacuate areas around the Fukushima plant, after the tsunami damaged the facility, causing equipment failures and a release of radioactive materials.
"I think people expected not to be out of their homes for any length of time," said Ian Robinson, animal rescue program director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare , one of the groups that traveled to the evacuation zone after the disaster.
Upon visiting the area after the earthquake , Robinson's group found that many local Japanese groups were eager to help with animal rescue efforts, but there was confusion as to whether the animals in the radiation hot spots were safe to handle and how they should be tested for contamination. (As one of our readers pointed out, the Hachiko Coalition is an organization that has done a great deal of animal rescue work in the Fukushima radiation zone.)
They gathered international experts, produced a report in May and gave it to the Japanese government. "We hoped that would free up the ability of the government and NGO's to remove animals," Robinson said. "To a certain extent that happened, though as always with these things, they don't happen as well and smoothly as we would like. There have been holdups."
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What I agreed was the comment by "Hachiko Coalition" against the article.
"Intersting article isnt it? I do not know of a single rescue group that is hesitant to rescue an animal from the zone because of potential radiation contamination on the animal.
IFAW was interviewed and stated: We hoped that ((in reference to the IFAW report created in May on decontaminating animals from the zone) would free up the ability of the government and NGO's to remove animals," Robinson said. "To a certain extent that happened, though as always with these things, they don't happen as well and smoothly as we would like. There have been holdups."
No Mr. Robinson, to a large extent, animals have died because the Japanese Government could care less about your recommendations, the IFAW report, their citizens wishes, and the animal welfare groups begging to help them, because the Japanese Government is ignorant. That is what this article should focus on."
Yes, the Japanese Government ignored EVERYTHING !!
But... would it have been different if IFAW had provided a countinuous support and suggestions to the government even after May....?
１１月１１日付けのアメリカＰＢＳ（「公共放送サービス」。会員数３４９のテレビ放送局を有する、非営利・公共放送ネットワーク）のサイトに、福島の動物に関する記事が掲載されました。
記事には、クルーが葛尾村で、痩せこけた赤い首輪の犬に出会い、偶然持っていたおやつを与えたこと。猫たちはおそらく、早急な避難の際に住民が置いていかざるを得なかった子たちだろうとのこと。
あちらこちらに動物達の気配を感じられたこと。多くは飼い犬・飼い猫のように見えたこと。
その他に、日本人は動物好きで知られていて、「ねこカフェ」なるものが人気で、週末には予約が必要なほど混雑することなども紹介されています。
さらに、５月に専門家らと共に来日して会議を開き、日本政府に被災動物保護に関するレポートを提出したＩＦＡＷ （国際動物福祉基金）のロビンソン理事のインタビューが載っています。
ロビンソン理事は現地を視察した際のことを、次のように語っています。
「多くの動物保護団体が救助活動を熱望していたが、放射線のホットスポットにいる動物を触っても大丈夫なのかどうか、またどのようにしてスクリーニングすればよいのか分からず、混乱していた。」
（「ハチ公連盟」が、区域内で大がかりな救出活動を行ったグループの一つであると紹介されています）
そして、日本政府にレポートを提出したことについて、
「これによって、日本政府やＮＧＯの動物保護活動が進むことを願っていた。ある程度は後押しすることができた。しかし、物事にはいつでも遅れがつきものだ。今回もそうであった。」
と語っています。
私が同感だったのは、むしろこの記事に対する「ハチ公連盟」さんの次のようなコメントでした。
「私は、放射能に汚染された可能性があるからといって、その動物たちを区域から救出することをためらっていた団体をひとつも知りません。
ロビンソンさん、動物たちが死んでしまったのは、日本政府があなたの提案を、ＩＦＡＷのレポートを、国民の願いを、救助活動をさせてほしいと懇願する保護団体を、無視したからです。それこそに着目するべきだったと思う。」
そうです。何もかもすべて無視なのです。
国際的な機関であるＩＦＡＷが来日して、レポート（この中には、日本側からの報告として新庄動物病院の今本先生の書かれたものも含まれています）を提出してくれたことはよかったのですが、できればそれで終わりにせず、その後も動向を見守り、必要な支援や、政府に対する要望を続けてほしかったな…。
ちなみにＰＢＳには、この８ヶ月間、いまなお命がけで動物たちの保護・給餌を続けている保護団体やボランティアの存在により生き続けている命があること、危機的な状況であること、メッセージプロジェクトのことなど、さらに取り上げてほしいとメールをしました。
