Kinship Circle's Ron Presley handles a dog that he and team members rescued in Fukushima, wandering between Soma and Kashima. Kinship Circle, Japan
This cow's caretaker won't leave her animals at a Minamisoma farm, despite evacuation orders. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kinship Circle Field Response Manager Cheri Deatsch holds a rescued beagle while scanned for radiation levels at Minamisoma Public Health. Kinship Circle, Japan
A woman overwhelmed since the quake-tsunami surrenders Choco, Koo, Lee and 3 kittens. The more her animals deteriorate her anxiety worsens. Kinship Circle, Japan
Jessie is 1 of 3 surviving kittens born to Cassie in desolate Yamakiya, Kawamata by the 20K zone. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Michi, a Shiba Inu mix, is a wee warrior who lugs her "woobie" even when walked. JEARS thinks Michi has a person who might still be searching. Kinship Circle, Japan
Kinship Circle Field Response Manager Ron Presley rescues this cocker spaniel in Minami-Soma. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kinship Circle's Cheri Deatsch gets a radiation scan at Minamisoma Public Health Center. Kinship Circle, Japan
Joey appeared roadside, too weak and injured to flee when JEARS' Selena and Rieko approached. Joey should weigh 12-15 pounds, but currently is just 4 lbs, with massive wounds. Kinship Circle's Adrienne Usher is careful to not overfeed an emaciated animal. Joey consumes meals laced with antibiotics and dewormer. Kinship Circle, Japan
Muku misses his family, who visited last month after a 2-month separation. Kinship Circle, Japan
People-friendly King nears the end of a mandatory 4-month hold, with no trace of the humans who once cared for him. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kenny comes from a litter near the 20km zone that lived by a feral pack slowly feeding on them. Kenny barely survived a head wound. The pups were rescued when returning residents alerted JEARS. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Lilly was rescued near the 20km no-go line. She escaped wounds, but nearly starved to death. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Mama Cassie was rescued in Yamakiya, a barren area that borders the 20km radiation zone. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Jesse was born in a vacated radiation hot zone. She and two more litter-mates gained weight, while another two kittens perished. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kinship Circle IC Ron Presley and Minashigo's co-director shake hands after meeting about search-rescue-shelter for Japan animals. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Cassie rests with her brood, now safe at Club Lohas Shelter in Inawashiro, Fukushima. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Lee, surrendered by the same distraught woman, had a severe tail injury related to fighting. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kinship Circle's Sister Michael Marie first spotted pregnant Peetie perched on a rock in Tsushima, Namie — about 25km from the nuclear reactor. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Local Hajime Honda regularly stops by the Inawashiro shelter to photograph bewildered animals and deliver cat-dog food, litter, carriers, trash bags, towels and blankets. He also became foster dad to Scarlet. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
When Tsushima, Namie evacuated, hundreds of chickens were abandoned. Kinship-JEARS feeds them, 25km from the reactor. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kinship Circle is grateful to JEARS (Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue & Support) for:
▶ Volunteer lodging
▶ Part of vehicle, gas, tolls, parking*
▶ Logistical support
PHOTO: Isabella Galloan-Aoki (Animal Friends Niigata), Hitoshi Tojo (HEART Tokushima), David Wybenga (Japan Cat Network), Susan Mercer (HEART Tokushima), Selena Hoy (Inawashiro shelter manager). Behind the camera is Susan Roberts (Japan Cat Network).
*When we moved base from Niigata to Sendai, Kinship Circle funded its own vehicle, gas, tolls, parking through May.
Pups rescued at the 20km no-go border were vulnerable to attack from dog packs. Kenny (not pictured) barely survived a head bite by a feral dog. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Two cats in the evacuated Minamisoma home of a hoarder. We received a call to rescue 2 dogs and 50 cats here. Kinship Circle, Japan
When Reo's family evacuated from Tsushima town — a Namie, Fukushima area that straddles 20-30km radiation zones — they temporarily surrendered Reo. Alex Lane / Kinship Circle, Japan
Sister Micahel Marie, who serves on Kinship Circle's board, is a vet tech who deployed to Japan 4 times. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
En route to feed Namie chickens, JEARS' Fran Conigliaro, with Kinship Circle's Alex Lane, retrieve this white cat, since named Nova for "Casanova," because he a lover boy. Alex Lane / Kinship Circle, Japan
Kinship Circle vet tech Sister Michael Marie with JEARS' Susan Roberts (lt) and Selena Hoy (rt). Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Hajime Honda brought donated food and supplies to our Fukushima hotel-shelter…and fell in love with the kittens! He took beautiful photos to circulate to potential adopters. Photo courtesy of Hajime Honda
Jim (JEARS) and vet tech volunteer Alex Lane, along with Eija (not pictured) of JEARS, feed chickens abandoned at a large Namie coop. Photo courtesy of Eija Niskanen
Fukushima City: Local Sega san arranges a feline pick-up from a quake survivor with post-traumatic anxiety. The woman cries as we load her cats, including this gorgeous silver tabby Choco, for temp shelter. Alex Lane / Kinship Circle, Japan
Taro, 7, was rescued from Sendai animal control. When his elderly guardians were hospitalized, Taro lived with their adult children until displaced in the quake. Alex Lane / Kinship Circle, Japan
JEARS and Kinship Circle volunteers, with 60 or more animals at times, occupy two rented rooms at the Club Lohas Hotel in Inawashiro, Fukushima. Alex Lane / Kinship Circle, Japan
Alex and Sister Michael revisit a barn with 8 cats. There is no food. This sick kitty darts in-out of junk heaps, but shows interest in our stinky wet food. Sister scoops her up, when a second kitten peaks out of another junk pile. Alex catches this one. Alex Lane / Kinship Circle, Japan
You go girl! After Alex doses both kittens on 5-day antibiotics and feeds them high nutrient/calorie food, they recover from upper respiratory infections and grow little bellies. Alex Lane / Kinship Circle, Japan
A half hour after Mimii had three pups, Kinship Circle's Alex Lane finds a fourth buried under blankets. He's a curious runt, dubbed Magellan "the explorer." With him is Tom Tom. Kinship Circle, Japan
Puppy love or mind meld? Mimii's babies at Club Lohas, the hotel that doubles as our volunteer base and interim shelter for rescues. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
An abandoned hen sits atop her eggs in vacated Namie, 25km from the reactor. Police question us and record our license plate each time we feed these chickens. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kinship Circle's Sister Michael and Alex Lane, along with Selena Hoy of JEARS, drive to Namie to feed chickens, they are stopped by police patrols three time. License plates are recorded, but police let them proceed. Kinship Circle, Japan
Hundreds of chickens occupy a coop in vacated Namie where we feed them. This farm's owner is in an evacuation center. We hope to find him, to get permission to foster-home his abandoned birds. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
A wild boar bit off the back leg of this girl dog named Bill. SHe now safely resides with us at Club Lohas Shelter in Fukushima. Kinship Circle, Japan
These kittens are among 35 animals taken from a Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture Aigo Center — scheduled to be gassed that very day. The Sendai rescues return with us to Fukushima until foster or sheltering is arranged. Kinship Circle, Japan
We rescued 17 kittens from death row at the Sendai Hokenjo (animal control), between 6-10 weeks old. Photo courtesy of Hajime Honda, visiting Club Lohas Fukushima shelter with donated food, supplies.
Alex Lane and Sister Marie rescued these thin kittens with upper respiratory illlness from the 20-30km zone. Photo courtesy of Hajime Honda.
The 6-week old kittens were pillaging junk piles with no food in sight. Photo courtesy of Hajime Honda.
Kinship Circle's Sister Michael Marie, on her third Japan trip, inspects 2 of 7 rescued chickens, weak from lack of food or water in the Namie, Fukushima exclusion area. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Volunteers have fed and cared for some 100 chickens since evacuations stranded them without food or water in Namie.
The JEARS-Kinship team often cleans/feeds animals in the a.m. Alex Lane administers vaccinations and de-wormer to dogs. Photo courtesy of Hajime Honda.
Some track leads and canvass 20-30km radiation zone areas, while other team members remain at onsite with rescues like this dog. Photo courtesy of Hajime Honda, visiting Club Lohas Fukushima shelter with donated food, supplies.
Mimii-chin is a thin mutt who lives for treats. Volunteers find her legs crossed peculiarly one day. She won't budge. They find a newborn latched on to her, though the traumatized rescue had never lactated or grown a belly. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
With the first pup still damp, out pops another boy. Then a girl follows. A half hour later, a third boy arrives. More squeals lead us to a fouth little guy burrowed in blankets. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kinship Circle's Cheri Deatsch and Courtney Chandel with Shiba Inu mixes who were left behind when their family fled to Niigata. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kinship Circle volunteer Alex Lane is photographed in round one of an elusive rooster capture, in the vacated district of Yamakiya. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Near the exclusion zone border, a husky searches for food and people. He was someone's companion — docile and easily coaxed. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
At 60 pounds, the large-frame dog weighs less than his normal 75-80 pound range. Kinship Circle, Japan
Once inside the exclusion zone, a local guide leads us to a barn with dead cows. One cow is frozen over an empty water trough, her body twisted in its last pursuit of water. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
This "downer cow" is found on her side, struggling to breathe. Her organs have already begun to shut down. There is nothing but stroke and comfort her as she dies. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Toward the end her eyes, wide with fear, grow sleepy. In this tiny section of exclusion zone, there is scant evidence of government aid. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
A Kinship Circle/JEARS' team joins local man, Sega san, in Yamakiya — another Fukushima area to be sealed under mandatory radiation evacuation. We're here to get animals before they are trapped. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Some rescues, like this kitten with Kinship Circle's Courtney Chandel, temporarily live with volunteers in Sendai or Fukushima. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Rescued in Yamakiya, lactating Samu is frantic. She paces and presses against her kennel to escape. No one knows if her puppies are dead, but we return to search for them. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
From a shed on the grounds of Samu's former guardians, quiet murmers rise out of the floor. Samu dives beneath the wood. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
But the babies are trapped. No crawl space. We strip metal sheeting and tear down part of a wall. Still, plywood lining separates us from them. The interior wall is kicked in too. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
We root up more floor boards and we get all four lab-spaniel babies. Samu's kids are safe! Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kinship Circle's Lexie Cataldo is suited up in full Tyvec radiation protective wear, to canvas the 20-30km area around the nuclear plant for animals left behind. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
A call comes to pick up two dogs. Their person is overwhelmed, but now seems ashamed and upset over her dogs' deterioration. Both are emaciated. Lexie Boezeman Cataldo / Kinship Circle, Japan
We quickly provide food and give the woman information about Animal Friends Niigata, the emergency shelter where Kinship Circle-JEARS teams have taken animals since March. Lexie Boezeman Cataldo / Kinship Circle, Japan
Kinship Circle meets a Japanese rescue group, People-Animals Together (PAT), in the 20-30km sector. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
At the Kanko Evac Center in Inawashiro, Kinship Circle's Jackie Emard, a vet tech, examines cats with their displaced families. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
At the Kanko Evacuation Center in Inawashira, Fukushima Prefecture, Kinship Circle's Karen Pauli greets a friendly resident. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kinship Circle IC Ron Presley with 1 of 4 sheltie mixes rescued in Minamisoma. This dog's rear paw is injured. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kinship Circle's Kate O'Callaghan, with Tales Mello of JEARS, help give Tufty a second chance. The canine tsunami survivor is released from a Japanese Aigo center in Ofunato, Iwate, into our care. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
At Kinship Circle's volunteer house in Sendai, Rachel Becknell gets some love from this playful cat, turned over to us by her evacuating guardians. Lexie Boezeman Cataldo / Kinship Circle, Japan
Kinship Circle's Kate O'Callaghan, Lexie Cataldo and Lindsay Davidson drive to Minamisoma City, near the nuclear plant, to retrieve 12 bunnies, 3 dogs and 8 cats from an evacuated home. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Heading north toward Minamisoma 20km (exclusion zone), higher radiation readings prompt Rachel Becknell and fellow volunteers to pull on the protective Tyveck suits that Kinship Circle has purchased for each team. Kinship Circle
Kinship Circle's Dennis Pickersgill leads a sick, emaciated dog out of the 20km nuclear exclusion zone. Japan officials now bar entry and animals are dying. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Going home! Koro's person is ready to reunite, so the shy dog is prepped to leave his disaster home at Animal Friends Niigata. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
When Koro sees his human mom for the first time since disaster struck, the dog's eyes soften and he smiles. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Two hearts find their way back to each other. Kinship Circle volunteer Lexie Cataldo calls Koro's reunion the height of her day. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kinship Circle responders Ginny Striewig, Lindsay Davidson, Jackie Emard and Bonnie Morrison deliver animal food to no-pet evac sites in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures — where animals live outside, tethered, in cars or kennels. Signs lead us toward Miyako City, Nogiri Town Shelter. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Charolette, a pot bellied pig, is among rescues temporarily sheltered at Animal Friends Niigata. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Kinship Circle IC Bonnie Morrison hands evacuees food for their cats, living outside a no-pets human shelter, Tomon Village, Chikako Iwai. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
Rescues get radiation scans and quarantine, paperwork and photo ID, and physical/behavioral exam. They go to a decontamination area, are bathed and re-scanned prior to placement at Animal Friends Niigata. Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
SEPTEMBER - AUGUST, 2011: KINSHIP CIRCLE REPORTS An Uncertain Fate Awaits Japan Animal Disaster Victims
KINSHIP CIRCLE TEAM: In Aug-Sep, Sister Michael Marie and Adrienne Usher work from Club Lohas Shelter in Inawashiro, Fukushima with Susan Roberts, Selena Hoy, Fran Conigliaro, and more JEARS volunteers.
Kenny and his litter-mates lived near the 20km zone, where a feral pack slowly fed on the 5 pups. Kenny barely survived a head wound. The pups were rescued when residents alerted JEARS. Soon the resilient kids were playing in the folds of Sister Michael Marie's habit.
Kinship Circle's Adrienne Usher returns to Japan for animals still at risk. A Fukushima nuclear plant radiates hot-spots 20 to 50 kilometers away. Entire communities evacuate, stranding animals without food, water or care. In this photo from an earlier trip, Adrienne (second from lt) is with Susan Roberts (JEARS), Cheri Deatsch (Kinship Circle), Mary Kenard, Tim Exley (JEARS), Trixie, and Sister Michael (Kinship Circle, behind camera).Photo (C) Kinship Circle, Japan
OUTLOOK UNKNOWN: MANY UNASWERED QUESTIONS
In her September Japan trip, Kinship Circle responder Adrienne Usher calls similarities between post-disaster Katrina and Japan staggering. "A primary difference is that Japanese government declared an end date for aid, ironically on 9/11. But for animals, the crisis has barely entered phase 2." JEARS leader Susan Roberts and Selena Hoy oversee Club Lohas Dog Cafe — an Inawashiro, Fukushima hotel where the owner lets volunteers shelter animals as an interim refuge. Hundreds of abandoned, orphaned, or temporarily surrendered animals pass through… Miraculously, some 100 discarded chickens, whom JEARS-Kinship volunteers have fed for months in the evacuated 20-30km nuclear zone, are now adopted! With chicken digs underway in Sendai, trips into radiation hot zones focus on cats, dogs and other distressed animals. Adrienne tends to many sick animals. Volunteers are sparse, with a handful of JEARS' regulars for field rescue and 24-hour medical care.
Cassie was rescued in Yamakiya, Kawamata, a desolate area near the 20km no-go rim. Shop owners claimed to be feeding cats. By the time rescuers were allowed to take them, Cassie had given birth. Just 3 kits survived, Jesse, Lucky and Paul. Two died. Lucky clung to life until round-clock feedings brought her back.
Jessie (kitten on right, center photo) is 1 of 3 surviving kittens born to Cassie by the 20km no-go zone. He's been on meds and supplements for acute diarrhea and worms. Teeny Jessie walks with "wild west" swagger to match his name. Cassie and her brood are at Club Lohas Shelter in Fukushima.(C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake 2011
MIXED FATE FOR JAPAN'S ANIMALS
Domesticated animals need people to live. Thus the fate of companion and farmed animals is:
Temporary Surrender: A displaced caregiver will reclaim animals when resettled.
Surrendered Under Duress: Due diligence requires contacting animal guardians (if found) after a 4-month wait to confirm surrender is permanent.
Or, Abandoned-Orphaned: A formerly caregiven animal is rescued with no identification.
Disaster puppies and kittens, babies born post surrender or abandonment, bypass these categories and immediately up for adoption. While most others are available to foster, JEARS's Susan Roberts and Selena Hoy are reluctant to adopt out animals without verified consent from their original guardians.
A woman overwhelmed since the quake surrenders Choco, Koo, Lee and 3 kittens. Like many survivors, her anxiety worsens as her animals deteriorate. JEARS will revisit the woman — who sobbed as she handed over her animals — to see if she stabilizes enough to reclaim them. At the surrender, the woman led volunteers to a cluttered guest home that reeked of ammonia. The kittens (since adopted) and adults showed signs of fighting. Lee (top lt) was rescued with a bad tail injury and Koo (top rt) had a deep wound.Photo (C) Kinship Circle, Japan 2011
WHERE DOES DISASTER AID END & DAILY CARE TAKE OVER?
While caring for a nonstop stream of animals at Club Lohas Shelter, Kinship Circle's Adrienne Usher asks herself: When do disasters no longer directly affect animals? There is no definitive answer, as emergencies differ. One chain reaction, however, leaves Japan animals at risk: Fukushima's destroyed nuclear reactor is still not stabilized. Radiation zones are still evacuated with police blockades against entry. Wind driven hot spots still prompt new evacuations. "As long as people cannot return home, the disaster for animals is active," Adrienne says. "But the radiation threat is fluid. Minamisoma — a ghost town when deployed with Kinship Circle in April — is now functioning as it did pre-disaster. At the same time, some areas have literally just evacuated…which means scores of newly abandoned animals."
Lilly gets silly at Club Lohas. Lilly and her litter-mates were born inside the nuclear evac zone. Lilly's tug-o-war partner is Jenny. Lilly escaped injury from a ravenous dog pack near the 20km line, but nearly starved to death.
Sister Michael Marie and Alex Lane revisit a barn at the 20km edge. There, Dylan is a gaunt flash of white zipping under junk heaps. His eyes follow our stinky wet food. Sister scoops up the starving baby just as a second kitten catches whiff. Alex catches this one. Both are frail and sick. Dylan's infected eyes are treated daily and he's blossomed into a handsome blue-eyed flamepoint-siamese cross. Teeny Jon who was all-head atop a wisp of a body, is strong from antibiotics and high nutrient food. Both deserted kitties recover from upper respiratory infections and sprout little bellies.
Adrienne visited a Minamisoma woman who evacuated her 40-year-old farm after the nuclear plant blew. But she returned and won't leave her cows.
Stanley, rescued near an empty feeding station in Namie, is clearly someone's companion. But no one has claimed the orange tabby since reported to Google Animal Finder and animal control. After a 4-month hold, Stanley is adoptable.
Rescued with severe eye herpes, Princess and her two kittens healed under care of JEARS and Kinship Circle. Princess was saved from a deserted barn, hidden in junk piles. When she emerged to snoop-out our wet food, Kinship's Sister Michael scooped her up.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan 2011
AUGUST, 2011: KINSHIP CIRCLE REPORTS Kinsip Circle Sends Veterinary Trained Helping Hands
KINSHIP CIRCLE TEAM: In August, Sister Michael Marie and Adrienne Usher work from Club Lohas base in Inawashiro, Fukushima with Susan Roberts, Selena Hoy, Fran Conigliaro, more JEARS volunteers.
HOT AND HUMID AT CLUB LOHAS SHELTER…
In Inawashiro, Fukushima, where a hotel owner has generously let animals and volunteers live side by side for months now. JEARS has helped a Minamisoma citizen feed about 15 dogs whose guardian evacuated to Tokyo. Much to the person's joy, the dogs have been spayed/neutered and puppies adopted out. Two adults and pups from this group live at the Inawashiro Shelter with us now. These pups will find homes via JEARS leader Susan Mercer of HEART Tokushima.
A family visits Muku after 2 months apart (lt). Reo (rt) sees his family for the first time since evacuation.
PERMIT TO FEED CHICKENS IN 30KM ZONE! JEARS, with Kinship Circle's help, has fed chickens since residents fled the 30km nuclear zone. But on Aug 1, authorities sealed off an area. A 1-month permit has just been acquired. One volunteer in a registered vehicle may enter with assist "staff."
TRIXIE UPDATE: Fans of Trixie fell in love with the Shiba Inu mix found along a highway bound for Minamisoma, her front paw badly mangled. She was clearly someone's dog, forgotten or lost in the disaster. Despite pain, she had nothing but sweetness for Kinship Circle-JEARS rescuers. Today Trixie still happily resides with JEARS' Susan Mercer at HEART Tokushima.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan 2011
20KM RADIATION EXCLUSION ZONE UPDATE
The 20km exclusion zone has been sealed since April, with thousands of animals trapped. Evacuaees want their companions back, as evidenced by unprecedented complaints to Fukushima Prefecture offices… Individuals did enter the 20km zone at the end of July with news crews present. They accompanied the government-authorized Veterinary Association for Fukushima Animals (VAFA), a Japanese group formed to secure access to animals stranded in the 20km zone. JEARS and Kinship Circle are in communication with VAFA. On this trip, volunteers were only allowed to retrieve animals whose guardians had requested rescue. We are not at liberty to publish more details about rescue in the 20km nuclear zone.
Meanwhile, animals struggle in regions 30, 40 and 50km from the nuclear reactor. In evacuated communities, dogs roam. Every 2 to 3 kilometers cats wait along roads. With shelters full, volunteers do food drops. Police see animals daily. It softens them. At one roadblock, they handed over two kittens.
EMERGENCY SHELTERS ARE FULL
Animal Friends Niigata is now about 400 animals full. Director Isabella Gallaon-Aoki actively adopts out orphaned and permanently abandoned animals. Fellow JEARS leader Susan Mercer houses roughly 140 disaster rescued animals at her shelter, HEART Tokushima. In recent months, Susan Roberts and Selena Hoy — with JEARS and Japan Cat Network (JCN) — have tried to bring animals from the field to Club Lohas Hotel-Shelter in Inawashiro, Fukushima, and then directly into adopt/foster homes. Some cats go to JCN, but with volunteers still in the field for disaster affected animals, there are not enough hands back at the shelter. The juggle for space is ongoing, but no animals are overlooked.
FUTURE FOR JAPAN'S ANIMAL DISASTER VICTIMS?
Animals still roam disaster areas, especially communities evacuated due to high radiation levels. JEARS and Kinship Circle — along with kindhearted citizens, firemen, road and construction crews — leave food for them. We take those orphaned or discarded. Others are guardian-request rescues, boarded at Club Lohas Shelter until their people can care for them. Cows graze within the 20km zone. Roadblocks in are now concrete barriers, impossible to drive past. Some private citizens walk around blockades to reach any animals they can.
TWO LITTERS SAVED BY 20KM ZONE: Pups rescued near the 20km no-go line were threatened by hungry dog packs. Kenny, the black-white runt, barely survived a head bite from a feral dog. Lily (2nd from lt top row) survived starvation. Jenny (bottom row lt) also began life in desolate Minamisoma. Now healing, Jenny and Penny (bottom row 2nd from lt) nibble and tug at Sister's habit. Sachi Samu (bottom row rt) is mom to blonde pups saved by the 20km area. Sadly, others trapped in this sealed zone have died.
We try to save animals from no-go zones 20, 30 and 50km outside the nuclear reactor. As long as we can fund volunteers for animal care and field rescue, Japan aid continues. In photo, Kinship Circle's Sister Michael, a vet tech on her 4th Japan trip, holds 2 rescued pups.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan
JULY, 2011: KINSHIP CIRCLE REPORTS Every Animal Wants To Live. Each Craves Comfort, Love.
KINSHIP CIRCLE TEAM: Alex Lane and Sister Michael Marie working from Club Lohas hotel/base camp/animal shelter in Inawashiro, Fukushima with Susan Roberts, Selena Hoy, Fran Conigliaro, and other JEARS volunteers.
We're on a cat run in Fukushima City, arranged by JEARS volunteer Sega-san. A woman is overwhelmed since the 3/11 earthquake. She can't tend to her cats. As they deteriorate, her anixiety grows. It's the same scenario for many survivors. Nearly five months from the tragedy, their lives remain broken. We shelter their animals until they're ready to reclaim them.
Upon arrival at this woman's home, she bursts into tears. She leads us to the guest home where her cats live. The cluttered room smells of ammonia. A three-kitten litter and more adult cats are crated to return with with us. Among them is Choco, the gorgeous silver tabby in the ABOVE PHOTO. He is a lover boy.
FINALLY? INTO THE 20KM NUCLEAR EXCLUSION ZONE
The 20km radiation exclusion zone has been sealed shut since April. Rescuers cannot legally enter. A few try to slip in, but none get far. Others search the rim, to coax animals out. We have new information about a veterinary mission with clearance to go in. We hope to join them. Animals have been stranded for months. We hear about the farm with one living pig amid 1,000 dead pigs. A veterinarian describes another farm with 80 dead cows. Farmed animals are caged, stalled and roped, with the least hope for survival.
Still, there is life. A video shows nine dogs inside the 20km zone. We won't give up on these animals. Citizen requests have flooded Fukushima Precture offices. Evacuated residents want their companions back. We are told this is an unprecedented number of complaints...and perhaps the impetus behind overdue government permission for a large rescue convoy. We are on ready to go at moment's notice.
Choco is among dogs retrieved from Namie today. They've lived in junkyard grass strewn with sheet metal and old car batteries. Dogs bark frantically as we approach. We load a girl and boy, both skittish, with shaggy reddish-brown fur.Japan 2011, Alex Lane
EMACIATED, WORN DOWN, DESPERATE
July In Japan: Cats roam the 20-30km area around Fukushima's nuclear reactor. Dogs wait on porches for people who won't return. Food drops are scarce. Locals don't get here much anymore. On a routine trip to feed hundreds of cast off chickens in Namie, we see many cats at the road's edge. We trap 6 without the usual feline chase. Weak dogs come easily too. It's like they know there is nowhere else to go.
We find 4 chicken coops. All birds are dead but one. This hen survived in a 2 x 2 foot coop surrounded by corpses. We think she lived on overgrown clover that crept inside her enclosure. She is healing now. Kinship Circle-JEARS volunteers have rescued hundreds of animals at the 20km rim...to 50km away from the nuclear reactor. These deserted animals could have died without help.
A vet tech volunteer, Alex Lane, has been in Japan since May 5! Above, she holds a rescued hen with Jim, a JEARS volunteer. JEARS-Kinship have fed hundreds of abandoned chickens. Photo Eija Niskanen, Japan 2011
Some days, we must don full Tyveck suits like JEARS' Selena Hoy wears. Radiation levels fluctuate and can suddenly spike. When this occurs, we won't leave our vehicle unless outfitted in protective gear.
JEARS and Kinship Circle volunteers, along with as many as 60 animals at times, occupy two rented rooms at the Club Lohas Hotel in Inawashiro, Fukushima. Nicknamed "Fukushima House," this hotel is run by an animal lover. Above are a handful of our canine residents.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake 2011
MID MAY THROUGH JUNE, 2011: KINSHIP CIRCLE REPORTS Did Someone Hit A Crisis Rewind Button For Animals?
KINSHIP CIRCLE TEAM: Alex Lane; Sister Michael Marie; Cheri Deatsch; Courtney Chandel; Danica Stein; Karen Pauli; Amber Holly; Jessica Czepiel; Sandra McCormack; Brian Taniyama
FOUND IN THE RUBBLE.
JEARS leader Susan Roberts, with Alex Lane, rescue a nursing cat from a debris nest in the deserted Yamakiya district of Kawamata. Mama-san (Mama Cat) is trapped with her 4 kittens, some emaciated from insufficient milk. Below, the weaned kittens now sport potbellies. Mama is in foster care raising another orphaned litter. Top photo courtesy of Susan Roberts, JEARS.Photo below (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
KINSHIP CIRCLE EXTENDS JAPAN AID THROUGH JUNE
"Two disaster phases overlap now," says Kinship Circle executive director Brenda Shoss. "We are in emergency sheltering mode for animal victims of the earthquake and tsunami. But for the radiation part, it's as if someone hit the rewind button on 'crisis.' Each time evacuations empty a district, the area is police barricaded under nuclear emergency law. The 20-kilometer zone, sealed since the end of April, can be an animal death sentence. Many farmed and companion animals were trapped without food, water or care. They die from dehydration at a faster rate than starvation."
Since May, Kinship Circle-JEARS teams have rescued/fed animals in Kawamata,
and tracked expanding blockades from Hirono, Kawauchi, Naraha,
Iitate…to parts of Minami Soma and Iwaki City. Japan resident Hoshi
Hiroshi and his family have defied police orders to heroically reach starving animals inside the radius around the Fukushima Daiichi reactor. Other locals who ask to remain anonymous (some working with Kinship Circle-JEARS) also risk arrest to save animals in nuclear ghost towns.
Alex Lane is in an elusive rooster capture in the vacated district of Yamakiya in Kawamata. In Namie, people fled suddenly. We find half-eaten meals, cars in streets, bicycles overturned. Photo courtesy of JEARS, 2011
As recently as 6/11/11, four new areas — three in northern Ryozenmachi with homes nearly 50km (31 miles) from the Fukushima plant — have widened the radiation danger zone. Authorities report hot spots with levels from 20.1 to 20.8 millisieverts per year. Normally, urban residents are exposed to just 3 millisieverts per year. The Haramachi neighborhood in Minamisoma (33km from the plant) is the fourth area evacuating. Sister Michael Marie says that many residents leaving new hazard zones made arrangements for animals. "We've literally seen no large animals along the 20-30km circumference." Sister describes one dairy farm that trucked out every cow to safe pastures. Still, the land looks lifeless. Fragments of uprooted road are frozen where the quake-tsunami tossed them. Fields lay bare. The absence of planting seems symbolic of the area's demise. Conversely, at the 50-km border and beyond, lush rice paddies bloom.
Namie, Fukushima: Kinship Circle's Sister Michael Marie holds rescued chickens, weak from lack of food or water. Japan rescuer Fran Conigliaro brings birds home, near Tokyo, to recuperate.
A sick white kitten cautiously peers around rubbish in an empty part of Kawamata, 32km from the nuclear reactor. Tsunami-quake regions run nearly 500 miles along Japan's northeast coast. Further inland, exclusion zone cities cover a wide area. Transporting animals to shelters far south in Niigata, Tokushima and Shiga-ken can require 4-8 hour drives. Japanese tolls are sometimes as high as $240! Multiply that by three months on the ground and you can see why support for Kinship Circle's animal disaster fund is critical.
GONTA'S GOOD BYE & HELLO STORY:
Gonta's family is at a Nihonmatsu evacuation center that volunteer Alex Lane calls grim. "I am astounded at disparities between centers. Some resemble resorts. Others live in giant warehouses." Gonta's people sleep on floor pads, while Gonta lives outside in their car. When our team arrives, Gonta's guardians hand over a huge bucket of food, grooming supplies, treats and vitamin water. The dog's family can barely load their baby into the back of our van. Gonta cries the entire ride back to Inawashiro. GOOD NEWS FOR GONTA: After a short stay with us, he is transported to foster. In June his family moves into temp housing and reclaims him. At the reunion, Gonta and his humans are overjoyed.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake 2011
As of June 14, 22 cats rescued from Aigo Centers (where city Hokenjos, animal control, take animals) are under care of Kinship Circle vet techs Alex Lane, Sister Michael and JEARS volunteers. Some, like the 35 animals taken from a Miyagi Prefecture Aigo, were scheduled to be gassed that very day. The Sendai rescues — including 10 neonate kittens; 13 bigger kittens; 6 dogs; 6 adult cats — return with us to Fukushima.
Japan rescuers Fran Conigliaro, Shunpei Kombe (a large animal veterinarian), and Sister Michael return to a Namie farm to feed 100 chickens whom volunteers have aided since April evacuations stranded them without food or water. Wearing Tyveck protection suits and masks, they also venture to the 30km line in search of more animals. A police patrol
questions them, but lets them through. They leave food for stray cats who dart in and out of shadows. Fortunately, this area has spring-fed streams for animals to drink from.
4 TEENY SURPRISES AT BASE IN FUKUSHIMA
JEARS, Kinship Circle volunteers, and up to 60 animals at times, occupy two rented rooms at Club Lohas Hotel in Inawashiro, Fukushima. Nicknamed "Fukushima House," this hotel is run by an animal lover. Among canine boarders is Mimii-chan, a thin mutt who lives for treat time. But this day we find Mimii-chan pretzeled into a corner. Upon further investigation, we discover a teeny puppy latched on to her! Until now, the traumatized dog had never lactated or shown a distended belly.
The first pup is still damp, his umbilical cord dangling. Alex gathers towels, alcohol wipes, scissors and gloves to remove the cord. Within seconds, Mimi contracts again. Out pops another boy. Then a wee girl, who needs Alex's help to remove the amniotic sac. With her airways clear, she instantly cries for Mama. The placenta follows. Pretty gross. A half hour later, a third brown-faced boy enters the world. At this point, Mimii-chan is frantic to do her business. So we check on other dogs. We return to loud squeals. Alex digs out a fourth little guy buried beneath blankets. He's the runt, but also the most curious. We nickname him Magellan, "the explorer."
MAY 16-31, 2011: KINSHIP CIRCLE REPORTS We Are Witness. Inside The Radiation Exclusion Zone
KINSHIP CIRCLE TEAM: Cheri Deatsch; Courtney Chandel; Danica Stein; Jackie Emard; Karen Pauli; Amber Holly; Alex Lane; Jessica Czepiel; Sandra McCormack; Brian Taniyama
A local guide leads Kinship Circle Disaster Animal Response Team members into the 20km exclusion zone around Fukushima's nuclear plant. In full Tyveck safety suits, they hike past barricades along rural dirt paths. Army vehicles whiz by on a distant road. I am in Fukushima, Japan. Inside the 20km radiation exclusion zone. I am where I am not supposed to be. I am a witness.
She lies on her side, eyes wide with fear. Her utter is inflamed and bones protrude. She is dying. We have hay for her, but it is too late. Once a cow is "down" organs compress against organs and slowly shut down. She breathes in ragged spurts and her body shakes. I kneel down to stroke her beautiful and bewildered face. My voice calms her, so I ask if she'd been a mother. "It's okay, you can let go now. Please sleep, so it won't hurt any more." When I shift positions, the downed cow struggles to stand. Does she know my tears are for her? Does she know that in her final glimpse, she is not alone?
All cows in this barn had been stall confined until our local guide freed them during secret trips. The exclusion zone spans Futuba, Katsurao, Namie, Kuma, Tomioka…and segments of Minamisoma. We cannot imagine how many more have died like this cow. On weekends, the only time he can come, our guide brings hay. He parks some distance from the exclusion border to journey inside by foot or scooter. He lugs 30 liters of water. But it is not enough. One black and white cow is frozen over an empty water trough, her body twisted in its last pursuit of water. A dead bull rots on the ground. No one else has come to the aid of these animals…
Since this remote area is only accessible by foot, our reach is severely limited. The local man tells us there is not much life here. The few he sees are skittish. Ten water bowls and ten cat food bowls are found in one vacated home with open doors. Our guide has never seen the cats. Still, he refills their bowls each time he is here. A white dog is so spooked she bolts before the man can get within one kilometer of her.
In this tiny section of exclusion zone, there is scant evidence of government-sponsored aid. A stillness hovers here. Animal rescue feels like an afterthought.
Near the exclusion zone border, a husky wanders. He was someone's companion — docile, friendly and easily coaxed with food. At 60 pounds, the large-frame dog weighs less than his normal 75-80 lb. range. We don't know if he was lost or abandoned in the chaos of mandatory evacuation.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan 2011
RACE TO STOP DEATH CAMP FOR ANIMALS
Kinship Circle's Alex Lane, Jessica Czepiel and Karen Pauli, with JEARS' Susan Roberts, Selena Hoy and David Irek, meet a local man, Sega san, to search roads and homes in the Yamakiya District of Kawamata — the most recent part of Fukushima Prefecture under mandatory radiation evacuation. Thousands of animals are already trapped without food, water or care in Futuba District ghost towns closer to a nuclear plant damaged in Japan's 3/11/11 quake-tsunami. When Yamakiya empties under nuclear emergency law — along with Hirono, Kawauchi, Naraha, Iitate and parts Minami Soma and Iwaki City — a police-barricaded 20km zone widens to 30km. We race against the clock to prevent one more death camp for left-behind animals.
Today we retrieve animals from families with nowhere to bring them. The first dog is chained outdoors, his guardians nearby to surrender him. Then we collect Chiro, Sr., a friendly brown/white shiba mix; Mimii, a brown/white shiba mix with protruding hip bones and overgrown nails. There is Sakuro, an underweight 6-month white shiba mix; Konpei, a calico cat and Aimu, another calico girl. Pickups are brief; we have many to reach before the area is inaccessible. Sega san next leads us to a storage shed where Kuro, a traumatized white shiba mix, is tethered. Alex approaches Kuro slowly, with a handful of treats to preoccupy him long enough to loop a slip lead around his neck.
A MOTHER'S UNDYING LOVE FOR HER BABIES.
An evacuating resident hands us her dog. Samu, a black-white Spaniel mix, is lactating. The woman believes her puppies are dead. Samu, however, is frantic. She paces inside her kennel. So we return to the Kawamata home to look for her pups. While inspecting sheds, we hear quiet murmurs. Something stirs under the floorboards in a shed. Samu suddenly dives under wooden slats. She has found her babies. They cry out for her but are trapped in crawl space where we can't reach them.
We strip metal sheeting from the barn's exterior and tear down part of a mud wall. By now the floor ripples with panicky yelps. Team members kick in plywood and yank up floorboards. We finally pull out one wiggly pup. Her mates are beyond grasp, so we root up more floorboards. Finally, Kinship Circle's Jessica Czepiel is able to scoop up the rest of Samu's brood. The 3-4 week old lab-spaniels tumble over their relieved mother. We bring the reunited family to Inuwashiro where Kinship Circle-JEARS shelters and treat rescues.
Samu and her two girls (one chocolate, another tan) plus two boys (chocolate and black) are among the lucky. Thousands more companion and farmed animals remain stranded in Japan's radiation exodus.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan 2011
REALITY? ANIMALS TRAPPED IN RADIATION ZONE
Companion and farmed animals are stranded within a 20km radius around Fukushima's damaged nuclear plant. Animals are bewildered, starving. Please send letters to Japanese officials and embassies pleading for their rescue. Reality on the ground is this: Kinship Circle IC Cheri Deatsch tries to enter the 20km zone at Naraha. She acts upon information from Isabella Gallaon-Aoki, the Animal Friends Niigata director who gets daily calls to recover animals. A man wants his shiba mix, 14, picked up in Naraha. It is unclear how long his dog has been alone. Knowledge of back roads only takes you so far, as the area is heavily policed. Eventually the team is detained at a blockade. JEARS volunteer Selena Hoy is phoned to answer questions in Japanese. Then police recite a familiar script: "Without a pass you cannot go into the exclusion zone. You can get a permit at City Hall." But trips to innumerable city halls lead to the same place — there is no such permit issued to animal NGOs.
Four government-sponsored groups under the banner Headquarters for the Relief of Animals in Emergencies — Japan Animal Welfare Society, Japan Veterinary Medical Association, Japan Pet Care Association, Japan SPCA — are prepared receive animals" and provide pet food, but not enter the zone itself or take in strays. They defer rescue to Japan's Ministry of Environment.
However, a Fukushima emergency shelter for "owned" animals exists. When JEARS leader Susan Roberts, (Japan Cat Network) met with Fukushima officials in early May, she viewed photos of 50 exclusion-zone animals in a well-equipped warehouse shelter. Susan noted that many had been rescued BEFORE the 20km zone was sealed. An official told her they are now here to consolidate efforts. It was confirmed that no animal groups will gain permission to enter the sealed zone.
We have no proof that significantly more animals are now at this shelter. This does
not mean they are not there; we simply cannot verify their presence. Similarly, ground teams can't authenticate if government workers are rescuing/feeding in the 20km, though one unsubstantiated report says 27 animals were recently retrieved.
5/18/11: Japan Rep. Tamaki states that next home visit to Tamuramachi is 5/22/11, too long for animals to wait. With cooperation of JVMA, Tokyo and other prefectures, they plan to enter earlier. Rep. Tamaki also asks municipalities to feed and water animals. He says they are "moving forward to save lives."
5/17/11: The Japanese Veterinary Medical Association announces sign-up for veterinarians to enter the radiation zone, per request from Japan's Ministry of Environment. A pet rescue plan for Tamura shi, with JVMA, Fukushima Veterinary Veterinary Association and other voluntary vets, is discussed.
5/10/11: Fuji TV News Network reports that evacuees can retrieve cats, dogs and other companions when they temporarily return to homes in 9 cities, including Tamura and Minami Soma, vacated after the "Fukushima No. 1 Reactor Accident." Ministry of Environment and Fukushima Prefecture are to coordinate rescue of pets tied to ropes." Minami Soma pigs are to be transferred to a Tokyo University farm in Ibaraki Prefecture, presumably for radiation exposure animal experiments.
MAY 1-15, 2011: KINSHIP CIRCLE REPORTS Reunions, Goodbyes, And Time Running Out For Some
KINSHIP CIRCLE TEAM: Ginny Striewig; Jackie Emard; Lexie Cataldo; Lindsay Davidson; Karen Pauli; Kate O'Callaghan; Cheri Deatsch; Amber Holly; Alex Lane; Courtney Chandel; Jessica Czepiel; Sandra McCormack; Danica Stein; Brian Taniyama
SKELETAL SURVIVORS.
A call comes in to pick up two dogs in bad shape. Their person, evacuated in the aftermath of the quake, is overwhelmed. She has just moved from Minami Soma. We meet the woman in a yard where the dogs are tethered. She seems embarrassed and upset over the dogs apparent deterioration. Both girls are skeletal. One dog's rear is marked with open sores. We provide fresh water and food and give the woman a flyer about Animal Friends Niigata — the emergency shelter that Kinship Circle-JEARS teams have used since March.
These severely undernourished dogs also require vet care, so a clinic is found in Sendai near our volunteer house. Kinship Circle's Lindsay Davidson, a vet tech herself, and Lexie Boezeman Cataldo bring the dogs to a Japanese veterinarian. Lindsay supports one dog so weak she can barely stand. And Lexie pays for the dogs' medicine, as a donation to the animals and country she loves. Both dogs are now regaining strength at AFN. Kinship Circle, Japan 2011, Lexie Boezeman Cataldo
THE MIRACLE OF BELLE, CHAPPY, EMACIATED DOGS…
We visit another no-pet shelters, Jyorin Shrine. One animal caregiver there expresses concern for pets intermingling with strays to boost the incidence of rabies. Locals, wary of strays, sometimes throw rocks at them. Residents with no means to travel cannot vaccinate their animals with the mandatory yearly rabies shot that by law, must occur in their own district. Veterinarians are needed here... Another local leads us to homes that need animal care, food or supplies. We meet six families with 11 animals among them. They tell us about the change in animal temperament — very high anxiety levels since the tsunami-earthquake. A senior shihtzu clings to his person, refusing separation. Two more dogs who once fought incessantly are now best friends. At the last home we meet Belle. The German Shepherd is 11 and arthritic. Somehow, she survived the ferocity of a tsunami on a 6-foot lead, tied to her dog house. Belle is a miracle.
THE LONG ROAD HOME.
Japan's crisis left tens of thousands, if not more, homeless. This man lived in a no-pets evac site separated from Chappy, his 15-year-old Shiba Inu mix. For awhile the dog stayed near her old home. Chappy's person came by for meals and walks. Then he stopped when evacuated again to Tokyo government housing. No animals allowed. Frantic, he enlisted relatives to find Chappy. But the dog had vanished. Until Charles Harmison, an LCA rescuer in Japan, set the humane trap that found her.
When Kinship Circle's team met with Charles, Chappy was deeply depressed. We wondered how far she'd roamed in search of her person. As soon as the man learned Chappy was alive, he journeyed 220 miles for a reunion at Iwaki City train station. There, he hurried across a parking lot. Chappy had already spotted him. She jumped and danced in joy. Sadly, the reunion was short-lived. We headed out, with Chappy in tow, for the 250-mile drive north to Animal Friends Niigata shelter. At AFN, Chappy scanned low for radiation. Today Chappy is warm, fed, sheltered. But her stay is just a detour on the dog's long road home. Chappy is found, and her family will come for her as soon as they can.
A rescued cat awaits her next meal, while another plays with Rachel Becknell at the Sendai house where Kinship Circle teams are based. Rescued animals live with us until 6-8 (or more) hour transports to shelters are arranged. With Japan tolls as high as $150-300, and gas $8 per gallon, we urgently needs donations to rescue and relocate animals. In one several week period, we spent nearly $8,000 in animal transport fees!
At the Sendai house where Kinship Circle is based, a surrendered cat sneaks in some zzzz's atop blankets. Rescued animals live with us until 6-8 (or more) hour transports can be arranged. Kinship Circle is in critical need of donations to fund rescue and transport runs.
FOR SOME, REFUGE. FOR OTHERS, DEADLY WAITING
Kinship Circle's team stops at 7 evacuation centers in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture. Kate O'Callaghan and Jackie Emard, with Tales Mello and Nick Bowan of JEARS, leave animal food and flyers about temporary boarding. Many displaced locals continue to rely on evac centers for pet food. At Kesencho Tsumoroku Komikan, a woman surrenders her adored cats, A-chan and Hana-chan, for temporary placement.
While in Iwate, we work with a local veterinarian and Ofunato NPO to pull an anxious, defensive mama cat and her two kittens from city hall pound — where animals are usually destroyed after a brief hold. We also negotiate the release of an energetic young Shiba Inu mix dubbed Tufty. A second veterinarian entrusts two 8-year-old dachshunds to our care, per request of the dogs' guardians. These loved dogs will live at Animal Friends Niigata until their family secures permanent housing.
During the day, a breakout team navigates back roads, traveling further north toward the Minamisoma 20km (exclusion zone). We encounter another Japan animal rescue group, People And Animals Together, donned in Tyvek radiation protective wear. They carry a weak cat, wrapped in newspaper. They advise us about higher radiation readings here. Already in masks and gloves, we pull on the full Tyveck suits that Kinship Circle has purchased for each team. As we speak to them through Kinship's translator, Lexie Cataldo, we learn about their recent excursion into the sealed 20km nuclear exclusion zone. They show us iPhone photos of dead animals. There are few words to describe the despair we feel. Countless animals are trapped inside towns under mandatory evacuation. Most homes remain intact. The radiation crisis is invisible. There is stillness. A waiting. And with the accumulation of days, death.
At the Kanko Evacuation Center in Inawashiro, Fukushima Prefecture, Kinship Circle's Jackie Emard, a vet tech, examines cats who are with their displaced families. Rounds include ear/eye checks and basic physicals along with tick removal from one tiny patient. Jackie and Kinship's Kate O'Callaghan use gentle voices and touch to soothe stressed animals.
Jackie Emard, Karen Paulis and Kate O'Callaghan help evacuee animals at Kanko Evacuation Center.
5 dogs, 8 cats and 12 rabbits! Charles Harmison (Last Chance for Animals) calls Kinship Circle's Ginny Striewig to request pickup. Isabella Gallaon-Aoki, Animal Friends Niigata director, confirms the request. Kinship Circle volunteers Kate O'Callaghan, Lexie Cataldo, and Lindsay Davidson drive to Minamisoma City, near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, to retrieve the rescued animals. From base to disaster area to shelter requires more than 8 hours on the road, with expensive Japanese tolls. One rescue run cost $240 in tolls for a single day! Kinship Circle needs donations to fund rescue and transport runs.
GETTING ANIMALS OUT BEFORE NO-GO ZONE WIDENS
We head to Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture into the soon-to-be sealed 30km zone around the nuclear plant. We call it the 20-30 — cities and villages just beyond the 20km exclusion zone where access will be denied within this month. Kinship Circle teams work from a 30km no-go grid, to search for animals and distribute flyers about temporary shelter at Animal Friends Niigata. We enlist local businesses to pass out flyers during this pre-evacuation window.
Two black kitties and a tabby meow from hunger. An orange cat flees in fear. All roam within range of their deserted homes in Minamisoma. Wet cat food lures them within reach of Rachel Becknell and Lexie Cataldo. In earlier days we saw animals everywhere, but a lot less now. Later at a no-pets evacuee center, we meet dogs who live in cars or under outdoor awnings. Some are tethered. We leave blankets and animal food. Though windy and cold, no evacuees want to board animals. Lexie speaks to animal guardians in Japanese. We learn they are very grateful for aid. Most tell us they have animals trapped in the 20km exclusion zone.
GOING HOME.
Lexie Cataldo and Tim Exley go to Fukushima to get a dog near the exclusion border and reunite a second dog with his guardian. They are stopped at a police checkpoint, but find another way in. When Koro left Animal Friends Niigata shelter that morning, he had no idea his journey would end happily. Koro looked frightened.
In Haramachi, a mother and daughter greet us. The mother weeps at the sight of her dog. And Koro? He is a changed man. His tail perks up and a warrior stance returns. He jumps and twirls with joy before pausing to look at his family. His eyes soften. Then, Koro smiles. "To witness this is truly humbling," Lexie says.
GOOD BYE, FOR NOW. Tears flow when we pick up Chip for temp care at Animal Friends Niigata. Once Chip is inside our vehicle, his family has trouble letting go. They feel this is best for Chip, like others displaced by the quake-tsunami or radiation. But when will they see him again? Their grief is evident in the long goodbye. "This one broke my heart," says Lexie.Kinship Circle, Japan 2011, Lexie Cataldo
LIVES UNSEEN IN NUCLEAR GHOST TOWNS — Starving. Scared. Waiting. Animals are trapped in evacuated cities inside a 20km (soon to expand) radius around Fukushima's shattered nuclear plant. A 9.0 earthquake and tsunami crushed over 400 miles of northeastern Japan coast.
The damaged plant continues to emit inivisible rays. Residents are gone. But life is evident in these ghost towns. Some 4,000 cows, 31,000 pigs, 630,000 chickens, 100 horses — along with 5,800 registered dogs and an unknown number of cats — live unseen. They are without food, water, care or comfort. WHAT YOU CAN DO: Ask Japan officials for the humane recovery of exclusion-zone animals. CLICK HERE FOR SAMPLE LETTER
APRIL 16-30, 2011: KINSHIP CIRCLE REPORTS Solutions Sought For Exclusion Zone Animals
KINSHIP CIRCLE TEAM: Bonnie Morrision, IC; Ginny Striewig; Dennis Pickersgill; Jacie Emard; Lexie Cataldo; Lindsay Davidson; Ron Presley; Sister Michael Marie; Randy Kristall; Karen Pauli; Kate O'Callaghan
FEEDING ANIMALS AND BEFRIENDING POLITICIANS
Japan resident Momoko Minagawa drives Kinship Circle team members Ginny Striewig, Lindsay Davidson, Jackie Emard and Bonnie Morrison to Miyagi Prefecture to deliver animal food to human shelters in Matsushima and Tadaru. Displaced people are housed in a sports center, elementary school, agricultural center, and a town hall in Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture. At Tsukihama Shelter we are directed to Tomon Village, Chikako Iwai where we dispense cat and dog food for animals living outdoors. As we head out, Momo sees federal officials convened at the shelter office. We approach cautiously and ask to speak to Tatsuo Kawabata, Japan's Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Bonnie identifies Kinship Circle and explains our purpose in Japan. Minister Kawabata assigns a staff aide to gather more information from us. The Minister's aide promises to help us locate animals who need aid. About 45 minutes later, he calls to inform us that animals in his area are under care. We reiterate the plight of animals less fortunate and urge him to contact us or JEARS.
Kinship Circle's Bonnie Morrison speaks to high-level authorities at the Tomon Village, Chikako Iwai shelter, where evacuees have animals housed outside. Kinship Circle and JEARS have tried to negotiate with local/federal government from town halls to national dignitaries, to reenter the nuclear exclusion zone where animals are slowly starving to death.Photo (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
RESCUE, DECON, QUARANTINE…TO CARE, SHELTER, HOPE
Rescues undergo an intake process that includes immediate radiation level check and quarantine, detailed paperwork, photo ID, and physical/behavioral examination. Animals then go to a decontamination area, where they are bathed and re-scanned prior to placement at Animal Friends Niigata no-kill shelter. With the government sealing of a 20km exlucsion zone (to expand to 30km within May) around Fukushima's shuttered nuclear plant, we cannot enter areas where most animals are. We are working behind the scenes, with hope that larger organizations such as IFAW and HSUS/HSI can broker a compromise with Japan national government to authorize qualified rescue groups into the exclusion zone. In the meantime, we've managed to ferry some animals out of the zone by way of families allowed in on a limited basis.
STAGING PROTOCOL:
ID PHOTO/PAPERWORK
Field intake begins with radiation check and quarantine. Each animal is described on paper with an attached ID photo. At Animal Friends Niigata, we re-do radiation measurements and place each animal, with paperwork-photo, in the appropriate quarantine area. If an animal is sick — like one malnourished kitty with a respiratory infection who arrives today — she is scanned and taken straight to a vet clinic. We also bring contaminated debris, contained in the field, for appropriate waste disposal. A veterinarian from World Vets oversees protocol.
FIELD STAGING:
RADIATION SCANS, CLEANING, QUARANTINE
Animals from the exclusion zone are quarantined and cleaned in the field, before transported to Animal Friends Niigata shelter.
FIELD STAGING:
VETERINARY EXAM, TRANSPORT
Kinship Circle's Ginny Striewig and UK vet Stewart check an emaciated dog during field exams. Kinship's Dennis Pickersgill secures crates before the 4-hour transport from field to shelter.
SHELTER:
CLEANING, DECON, QUARANTINE
After field staging, animals undergo a second round at Animal Friends Niigata no-kill shelter. Kinship Circle's Ginny Striewig and Bonnie Morrison are pooped after the day's scans, quarantine, cleaning, decon, physicals and doggie walks. Ginny and Dennis Pickersgill bathe and rescan a new rescue.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
GOOD NEWS! A CHAINED DOG IS FREE AND SAFE NOW
After much worry, a chained dog (exclusion zone) is located. He has managed to work himself free and is running around. The dog is understandably skittish and sends Kinship Circle's Bonnie Morrison, Ginny Striewig, Dennis Pickersgill, and Randy Kristall on a two hour chase until caught. Once he hears friendly voices, the dog is all kisses and waggy tails, but not overly happy to ride in our carrier. Bonnie and Nick (JEARS) later transport four dogs, two cats and one rabbit to Animal Friends Niigata, the no-kill shelter doubling as a disaster shelter. They then take 10 disaster rescues from Animal Friends to the HEART Tokushima shelter in Ishikawa Prefecture. Each animal temporarily sheltered with Susan Mercer, director of HEART and a JEARS coalition group member, frees space for more rescues from the field.
ANIMALS STUCK IN NUCLEAR ZONE, IS THEIR FATE SEALED?
Japan activates nuclear emergency law for a 12-mile (20-km) radius around Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant — Authorities crack down on "sneak-ins," including almost 80,000 evacuated residents unable to get their animals. The new edict shuts out rescuers too, with dogs, cats, cows, pigs, chickens and horses trapped inside. Trespassers can incur up to $1,200 (100,000 yen) in fines and 30 days in jail. Efforts to save more animals inside the no-go area are now blocked by heavily policed checkpoints. We are researching means to gain government clearance, in hope that animal groups unite for long term shelter of exclusion-zone animals.
Many who left homes with virtually nothing thought they'd be back soon. By nightfall on 4/21, stragglers remain. Among them are farmers unwilling to leave their cows. News reports describe government attempts to convince them to leave. We urge Japanese authorities to focus on humane care for some 3,400 cows, 31,000 pigs, 630,000 chickens, and an unknown number of companion animals. As witnessed after Hurricane Katrina, humans risk their lives to stay with animals.
Kinship Circle's Ron Presley comforts one of 4 sheltie mixes rescued in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture before animal rescuers were barred entry into the exlucsion zone. As of today, the area is shuttered under nuclear emergency law. Evacuated residents rush back to their vacated homes to grab belongings, and in some cases, get companion animals.
Kinship Circle animal disaster response team members Cheri Deatsch (pictured) and Adrienne Usher bring a rescued beagle to the Minamisoma Public Health Center, where both animals and volunteers are scanned for radiation levels. Everyone measures well within a normal range.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
APRIL 6-15, 2011: KINSHIP CIRCLE REPORTS Kinship Circle Teams Find Dazed Animals In Empty Cities
KINSHIP CIRCLE TEAM: Cheri Deatsch; Ron Presley; Adrienne Usher; Sister Michael Marie; Randy Kristall; Ginny Striewig; Tim Exley
CAT WITH FAILING KIDNEYS GETS FLUIDS, CARE
In Haramachi, Kinship Circle-JEARS volunteers retrieve a dehydrated cat with breathing difficulties. A different cat at a nearby evacuation center has a chronic urinary condition that requires a medical diet or he could suffer a painful, even fatal urinary obstruction. It is not easy to find prescription SD food for this disorder — in Japanese and after a disaster. Kate Danaher, Kinship Circle Social Media Director, activates 20 volunteers to dig for a source of SD in Japan. This remote research leads us to a nearby veterinarian willing to deliver SD food to the evac center. The vet also examines the cat with respiratory problems and discovers she is in kidney failure. Subcutaneous fluids make her feel more comfortable and Susan Roberts, of Japan Cat Network, will bring this cat to the group's shelter for specialized care.
We visit an evacuation site housing over 2000 people. Administrators at the no-pets facility reserved a room for animals when some evacuees refused to part with their companions. One emaciated dog with diabetes is unlikely to make it, but nontheless happy to be with his person.
Kinship Circle-JEARS volunteers deliver food, animal bedding and cat litter — evacuees have nothing for animals. They also construct a large enclosure and a cat loft to give cramped animals more room. We then follow-up on a report from Isabella Gallaon-Aoki, director of Animal Friends Niigata shelter, to rescue two cats and three kittens at a vacated home in Haramachi home. Sadly, the kittens are deceased and the cat cannot be found. A neighbor tells us she feeds roaming cats and one fits the description the caller gave Isabella, so we will return. Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake 2011
NEED BASE CAMP CLOSE TO FUKUSHIMA EXCLUSION ZONE
Volunteer Randy Kristall constructs an interactive Google map to track field activities and improve operations, animal intake and recordkeeping. The disaster range is wide, with complex issues from radiation to heavily populated no-pet evacuation centers. Volunteer Judy Howland researches properties, as we urgently need a base near Fukushima. Later we visit Animal Friends Niigata. We're happy to see cats saved from an evacuated hoarder's home, but sadly, one severely dehydrated kitty has died. Other familiar faces populate the shelter: Howard the pit-hound mix, Trixie with her wounded front paw, Bernard the Lhasa Apso, Susie the cocker spaniel from the ditch, and the orange terrier girl spared euthanasia after surviving 11 days in the rubble.
"WHERE IS MY REAL FAMILY?" ANIMALS ARE CONFUSED. When funding permits enough volunteers on the ground, we ought to have:
SHELTER-IN-PLACE TEAM: Daily food/water drops and animal documentation.
EVACUATION CENTER TEAM: Collects and stores data for our interactive map about areas of need and resources; establishes contacts and liasions with area authorities; responds to animal pick-up requests; delivers animal food.
SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM: Responds to direct request rescue inside-outside nuclear exclusion zone and canvasses partially destroyed northern areas for viable structures that could facilitate animal survival.
After our the morning meeting, Team B leaves to find guardian-requested animals inside the exclusion zone. We meet a local family who gets us past checkpoint to retrieve their Shiba Inu in Narahamachi. They evacuated to a no-pets apartment, but want their dog "Chocolate" back as soon as possible. The woman is so distraught over releasing Chocolate, she almost can't do it. We reassure her that Chocolate will not go home with anyone else. We leave a flyer in Japanese that tells her exactly where to pick up Chocolate when the family is ready. Chocolate seems confused. Why does his family cry and nudge him toward strangers? Why do they leave without him? As we drive back to Niigata, an earthquake rattles the car. We've grown accustomed to steady aftershocks here.
We also find a white Shiba Inu mix and orange tabby living outside their vacated home. People left water running for them. A phone number is etched on a sign that says: "Gone to place of safety." More animals, temporarily orphaned. But they are in good condition. We feed them and jot down the number to call when we get cell service.
KATRINA-ESQUE: ANIMALS IN TOWNS NEAR NUCLEAR PLANT
An eerie drive along miles of tsunami-erased coast takes us to Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, just 15 km from the nuclear reactor. Further inland, the town still stands. Most evacuated, middle-class homes have escaped damage. The landscape is Katrina-esque — animals everywhere, some in packs.
Without government aid or a large shelter equipped with decontamination tools, we can only leave food and water to sustain them. We are not alone. A heap of fresh cat food indicates that other Japan groups and citizens have slipped inside the zone to feed animals.
A dairy farm is tucked into green hills on the outskirts of Namie. The scene is deceptively picturesque. Everyone has fled this radiation risk area. We nervously hike toward the farm, aware that cows within the exclusion zone have been found in the throes of starvation — their organs shutting down one by one. But here, cows are well fed and clean. A woman tells us she's run the farm for 40 years, with one brief evacuation after the nuclear power plant blew. Now no one will buy milk from her radiation-exposed cows. With no income, she struggles to care for the cows she refuses to leave. We exchange contact info so she can reach us for future aid.
From cows we turn to cats. About 50 of them, along with two tethered dogs. An animal hoarder has evacuated her home. Her cats range from robust to emaciated. Some have begun to cannibalize the dead. Tails and skeletons litter the grounds. We feed everyone and plan to trap some today and return for more tomorrow. A young beagle and elderly Shiba Inu mix are also chained in the yard. The Shiba girl is thin and weak. The beagle looks solid. Both dogs return with Kinship Circle's team to Animal Friends Niigata shelter.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
FOR THE LOVE OF THE LHASA — A WHOLE LOTTA LHASA
Susan Roberts of JEARS, along with Kinship Circle's Sister Michael Marie, Adrienne Usher, Cheri Deatsch, and Tim Exley search for life in a coastal town near the exclusion zone. A handful of people live here. Traffic is sparse. A police car with flashing lights speeds past us, deep into nuclear no-go land.
Then we see him… At first we are not fure if he is alive. The matted creature is frozen alongside a road. Cars whizz by, but he seems in a state of shock. All of his 15-20 pounds are encased in thick, crusty fur. Finally, he blinks.
He is weak, hungry and lethargic. When we approach the head-to-toe furball, he is uncommonly compliant. The dangling tongue, cartoon eyes, warrior-like stance and resemblance to an Ewok all suggest: LHASA APSO! The Lhasa look-alike makes a half-hearted "Grrrrrrr," then snaps at Kinship Circle IC Cheri Deatsch, who skillfully evades his teeth. "Bernard" overnights with us, deep within the disaster zone. By morning, in better spirits, he unsuccessfully attempts to detangle his pathetic coat. Only professional grooming will undo the gnarly mattes. Still, it's the effort that counts. The little guy will survive.
BERNARD UPDATE: A bath and hard-core grooming remove dangerously matted fur from this Lhasa Apso's entire body. A new dog emerges! [Let it be noted: The author of Kinship Circle field notes, Brenda Shoss, is a Lhasa-loving groupie.]
On a highway bound for Minamisoma, we pick up a Shiba Inu mix hobbling on three legs. We call her Trixie. She was clearly someone's dog, abandoned or orphaned in the disaster. She cannot bear weight on her mangled front right paw. Despite her discomfort, she is a sweet girl, now safe. Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake 2011
MARCH 28 - APRIL 5, 2011: KINSHIP CIRCLE REPORTS Kinship Circle-JEARS Teams Find Life In Deserted Cities
KINSHIP CIRCLE TEAM: Ron Presley, IC; Cheri Deatsch, IC-PIO; Courtney Chandel; Adrienne Usher; Sister Michael Marie; Randy Kristall; Tim Exley
DESERTED HOMES BY THE NUCLEAR PLANT…AND A DOG NAMED HOWARD
Split duties: Charles Harmison, Last Chance for Animals, and Yoshi with JEARS deliver food for animals at Niigata evac centers. Kinship Circle's Cheri Deatsch and Adrienne Usher join Animal Friends Niigata Founder Isabella Galloon-Aoki for a rescue near the nuclear exclusion zone. Each day, more evacuees call to ask Isabella to pick-up their left-behind animals. The closer we get to no-go zones, we see more police checkpoints. We also encounter quake caused landslides that force us to find alternate routes.
Neighborhoods that border the shuttered nuclear plant are deserted. A dog darts past a gas station, a thick chain looped around his neck. Cheri Deatsch, Kinship Circle Field Response Manager, tosses treats to the brindle-colored basset hound and pit bull mix. Gulp. Gulp. More please, the dog seems to ask.
Once full, the dog dubbed Howard jumps on Cheri and Adrienne. He is overjoyed to have human contact. We cannot leave Howard in this area recently deemed a mandatory evacuation zone. So the goofy boy comes to Animal Friends Niigata. Each day team members and animals are scanned for radiation exposure at public health centers to ensure that we are within safe exposure levels. Photo (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake 2011
A WHITE SHAGGY DOG ON HIS WAY TO NEW LIFE, WARM AT LAST
We set out on the 8-hour drive from Niigata to Kashima city in Ibaraki prefecture. Today's team: Charles Harmison (Last Chance for Animals); Susan Roberts and Yoshi (JEARS); and Kinship Circle volunteers Ron Presely, Cheri Deatsch, Adrienne Usher. Then we spot him: Large, white, shaggy. A pitiful silhouette on a mountain road between Fukushima City and Soma. A tattered collar circles his neck as proof of a former life. Now, he is filthy, matted, cold. The dog looks like a hodgepodge of Great Pyrenees, Samoyed, American Eskimo.
Yoshi offers her half-eaten Tootsie Pop. Then Charles shows up with dog treats. Ron and Cheri follow, food in hand. Soon the ravenous dog chows, sprawled center lane on an empty road. His anus is prolapsed. Fur is absent from his back. The gentle giant, too big for our crates, happily stretches across a back seat. Warm at last. Photo (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake
RESCUE IN KASHIMA-SHI, 30 KM FROM PLANT
Kinship Circle's Courtney Chandel and Cheri Deatsch head to Fukushima Prefecture with Charles Harmison from Last Chance for Animals and Yoshi from JEARS. First stop is Soma, a large city where the tsunami destroyed everything one mile inland. Our second car seats Kinship Circle's Ron Presley and Japan Cat Network's Susan Roberts with volunteers Lee and Judy. Ron's team travels north, while Cheri's goes south to Kashima-Shi, about 30 km from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Kashima-shi is a cross section of disaster impacts: Many have fled in fear of radiation exposure; others remain at home; and a third set are displaced by the tsunami. We meet a woman whose dog disappeared during the quake-tsunami. She returns here daily to look for her dog. We jot down a description and give her an Animal Friends Niigata flyer.
A man leads us to a house where two Shiba Inu mixes remain after a family fled to Niigata. Neighbors bring food and water. The dogs often confront other dogs on a pathway to the house. People fear that when animal control resumes, the dogs will be euthanized as "nuisances." We easily catch the older dog between a home and retaining wall, but the robust young female leads us on a chase. Courtney, Cheri and Charles try to stop her as she darts down city blocks. Residents join in, pointing the direction the dog last dashed. We finally corner her back at the house and slip a lead over her head. We leave flyers. Hours later, the dogs' family asks for one-week care of both dogs.
As we leave town, we notice glowing eyes. The cat runs into the woods to watch us set up a humane trap. Then we wait for the sound of a trap door slamming shut. Round one is a failure. But after a reset, the metal clank tells us she is in the trap! The frantic kitty relaxes once inside our warm car.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake 2011
STORIES OF COURAGE, LOVE, CONVICTION
Iwate Prefecture, Japan — Our three-vehicle convoy, including a two and a half ton truck stocked with animal food, travels eight hours to Iwate Prefecture where no U.S. animal groups have been. Three-story high rubble obscures our view. In the tsunami-overcome city of Rikuzentakatashi, a monster wave surged through a six-story hotel. A perfectly intact sixth floor sits atop five washed out floors. Here, north of Cat Island and Sendai Bay, we search for evacuation centers.
"For two weeks my dog lives on scraps. No food for dogs, nothing," a woman weeps as she walks her Shiba Inu outside an evacuation site in Rikuzentakatashi. When Kinship Circle's Ron Presley asks the woman if she needs dog food, her grief spills over. Many in this remote, icy area evacuated with animals who are now chained outside no-pet shelters. A few huddle in kennels. Some live in cars. We travel with a truckload of food and leave large stacks at each stop. We even scrounge up rabbit food for a teary-eyed teen's bunny.
A man gets too choked up to speak about his dog, who gets by with a small kennel and scrappy blanket in the frigid air. Kinship Circle's Courtney Chandel feeds and comforts the dog outside a no-pets evac center in Rikuzentakatashi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. The dog mostly waits on an outdoor mat for any glimpse of his person. We offer to shelter the dog, but the man is too upset to decide. We leave him with food and a number to call.
A woman tells her beloved cats good bye, for awhile. Kinship Circle's Ron Presley pets one of three cats living in an unheated car outside a Rikuzentakatashi no-pets center. We offer to care for them until the woman is back on her feet. Susan Roberts of Japan Cat Network, one of three local NGOs united as Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue-Support (JEARS), arranges shelter for the cats.
A rust-colored terrier mix survives 11 days trapped in rubble north of Sendai. A passerby finally frees her. But her guardians no longer want her, so the dog is impounded at a government Aigo center (animal control) in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. A Kinship-JEARS team goes there to save the dog from euthanasia. We jump through lots of bureaucratic hoops: An official requires a local resident and veterinarian to sign for the dog's release. Miraculously, a couple and a vet are willing to meet us at the center. Still not good enough. When it appears the dog will be killed, the woman present to sign for her bursts into tears. The veterinarian demands the dog in a raised voice. A scene ensues until the bureaucrat's boss intervenes. At that point the dog is ours and the underling is scolded! The "aggressive" dog is all of 30 inches long. She is timid, but joyous over treats. She even drinks water from our hands.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan 2011
GHOST CITIES WITH DOGS AND CATS Fukushima, Japan — Silence surrounds the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, except for the sound of barking dogs. Their yelps blend into a singular echo. We can't tell how many wait at evacuated homes. It is night time. Red flashes pop from unmanned posts that block the crippled plant. We scan empty homes, near the radiation zone.
TEN DAYS HAD PASSED SINCE A WOMAN LEFT HER WHITE SHIBA INO, NON, ALONE IN HER HOME. "10 days!" she cried on the phone. Most evacuees imagined a one-day leave from Fukushima Prefecture. "Can you rescue him?" Isabella Gallaon-Aoki (JEARS) and Courtney Chandel (Kinship Circle) wade through debris in search of Non. Hours pass. Smashed buildings loom in the shadows. Roads are cracked. Then, frantic woofs resonate from inside a home. Non is alive! Our catchpole guides the scared dog into a crate for the trip back to Animal Friends Niigata shelter. Before we depart we spot more dogs. Most are caregiven animals, now isolated in districts near the nuclear no-go zone. Residents thought they'd be home soon. We leave food and water everywhere we can.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake 2011
RESCUE OF DISORIENTED DOG IN MINAMI-SOMA
Kinship Circle IC Ron Presley, along with Susan Roberts of Japan Cat Network and rescuer Toby Weymiller head to Bandai-San, where they meet a family fleeing Sendai with everything they own. Their companion rabbit sits proudly in a roomy enclosure on the back seat, framed by dad, son, daughter, and mom. We give them a bag of rabbit food and then head south to Minami-Soma. There, Susan eyes a cocker spaniel curled into a ball and barely visible in overgrown grass. We comfort and crate him to bring to Animal Friends Niigata.
A Kinship-JEARS team rescues this forlorn cocker spaniel, concealed in tall grass in Minami-Soma. Like most we find, he wears a collar. We do not know if this dog is orphaned or abandoned, but reunion efforts are made for all rescues.Photo (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake 2011
SOME WAIT. OTHERS WALK. ALL LISTEN FOR FAMILIAR VOICES.
From 9:00am to 11:30pm, a Kinship Circle-JEARS team is in Fukushima Prefecture, passing through Fukushima City to concentrate search efforts in the coastal cities of Soma and Kashima. We're stunned. Tsunami waves have erased cities. Tractors are bent in half. Cars are crushed into cubes. Homes are swept away. We see animal tracks everywhere, but not the animals. The destruction here surpasses Hurricane Katrina.
As freezing winds whip, we spot a wounded dog between Soma and Kashima cities. The starving dog, clearly someone's companion before the tsunami orphaned her, limps alongside a road. Kinship Circle's Ron Presley gently grasps her nape for control while carrying her to a crate. Ron and Charles Harmison of Last Chance For Animals comfort, inspect and feed the injured dog.
While making our way to Kashima Citu, another frightened and confused dog emerges in the tsunami zone. We bring both dogs back to Animal Friends Niigata's shelter/animal boarding facility. As today's team — Kinship Circle's Ron Presley and Courtney Chandel, with Charles Harmison, Toby Weymiller and Katrina Larson — wander through a soggy rice paddy in Soma, they spot a live calf beside two dead calves. Unfortunately, our mini-van is full with rescues, so Ron will return tomorrow to transport the calf to safety.Photos (C) Kinship Circle, Japan Quake 2011
MARCH 20-27, 2011: KINSHIP CIRCLE REPORTS Kinship Circle 1st U.S. Group In Japan For Search-Rescue
KINSHIP CIRCLE TEAM: GROUND: Ron Presley, IC; Cheri Deatsch, PIO; Courtney Chandel, Volunteer Manager. Brenda Shoss, Executive Director; Bonnie Morrison, Disaster Management Director DESTINATION: Tokyo to Niigata, Japan
Kinship Circle is conducting search-rescue with Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue And Support (JEARS). We are canvassing remote parts of Fukushima, Iwate, and Miyagi Prefectures for stranded animals. We'll also overnight in the field above Sendai's coast. Pictured lt to rt: Charles Harmison; Kinship Circle PIO Courtney Chandel; Katrina Larsen; Animal Friends Niigata Founder Isabella Galloon-Aoki; Kinship Circle IC Ron Presely
STORIES OF SHANE AND OTHERS COMPEL US TO GO
In Sendai — a city in Miyagi Prefecture that shared the brunt of a 9.0 earthquake and resultant tsunami — a man ran to warn neighbors. He returned home to find his beloved Akita, Shane, missing from his backyard. With the tsunami in rapid pursuit, he fled to higher ground. Six hours later a dog was seen at the school evacuation site. Shane had plunged into chest-deep waters to find his guardian. He'd never seen this school, but somehow clung to debris and floated there. Cut and shivering, Shane was alive!
Fortunately Isabella, who co-leads Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support (JEARS), was at the school with a vet to show the grateful man how to treat Shane's wounds. After Shane and his guardian were seperated in the tsunami, the dog swam in rubble-swept currents to an evac center he'd never seen, and found his person!Photos: JEARS
For animals the disaster is trifold: A 9.0 earthquake, a tsunami with waves as high as 33 feet, and evacuations due to radiation risk from the quake-shattered Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Kinship Circle just returned from helping animal victims of Brazil's catastrophic mudslides and floods. In Japan, we face gasoline rations, vehicle shortages, power outages and more. But after talks with our contacts at Japanese animal rescue organizations, we decided to offer hands-on and remote support.
ANOTHER TALE OF LOVE AND SURVIVAL
A loyal dog won't leave his wounded buddy behind in the rubble of Japan's quake and tsunami. A video of the dogs' love and perserverance went Internet viral, but their fate was never confirmed.
MARCH 19, 2011: KINSHIP CIRCLE REPORTS ACTION: Let Americans Leave With Their Animals
TELL U.S. DEPT. OF STATE TO LET AMERICANS EVACUATE WITH THEIR PETS
With repercussions from Japan's quake-shattered Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant uncertain, foreign citizens are evacuating Japan. Americans may find that their animals cannot go with them. While difficult to imagine in a post-Katrina world, Department of State policy does not evacuate companion animals.
U.S. CITIZENS: Ask the State Dept. to let Americans leave with their animals. Stress that animals be allowed to join people now and all disasters. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton:ONLINE
or FAX, 202-647-1579
TALKING POINTS
People forced to evacuate who won't leave animals are at risk.
Abandoned pets are often roam streets. Others are confined indoors or chained and left to die by starvation.
Let people leaving Japan bring animals, without weight restriction.
Allocate resources for animals to join caregivers leaving disaster zones.
MARCH 2011: KINSHIP CIRCLE REPORTS Entire Towns Gone And Lives Undone
LOCATION: Northeastern Japan
UPDATES, NEWS BLIPS, RESOURCES
Surging water hit hardest along 420 miles of coastline from Erimo in the north to Oarai in the south. More desstructive than the quake, tsunami waves devoured whole towns. In Minamisanriku, 1,000 bodies had been found as of 3/14/11, with nearly 10,000 missing. Kuji and Ofunato were swallowed in sea waters. A three-story tsunami wiped out Rikuzentakata. More tsunami razed cities include Miyako, Tsuchi, and Yamada (in Iwate Prefecture), Namie, S oma and Minamis ma (Fukushima Prefecture) and Onagawa, Natori, Ishinomaki, and Kesennuma (in Miyagi Prefecture).
Minamisanriku, Japan — The tsunami washed away Minamisanriku, a town of 17,000 in Miyagi Prefecture, near the epicenter in Sendai. Some 9,500 people (over half of the town) remain missing and feared dead.
Kesennuma, Japan — Aerial footages in The Guardian depicts Kesennuma, in Miyagi prefecture 300 miles northeast of Tokyo, on fire and one-third under water. About 9,500 residents are unaccounted for.
Rikuzentakata, Japan — Kyodo News Agency calls the city of 23,000 residents "virtually destroyed." Initial tsunami waves smashed occupied homes. More waves reduced the harbor town to rubble.
CAT ISLAND (Tashirojima) on Japan's vulnerable east coast, is home to 100 elderly humans and hundreds of cats. The tsunami spared them, but the island sustained structural damage and food loss. After an 8-hour drive to north Sendai Bay, a Kinship-JEARS team tried to feed felines. But prior notice of ferries to the island proved false. Reports claim some access has since opened so we plan to return.
MARCH 2011: KINSHIP CIRCLE REPORTS Cataclysmic Earthquake And Tsunami Strike Japan
girl spared euthanasia after surviving 11 days in the rubble.
LOCATION: Northeastern Japan
girl spared euthanasia after surviving 11 days in the rubble.
OUR HEARTS GRIEVE FOR PEOPLE, ANIMALS OF JAPAN
On 3/11/11, an 9.0 earthquake causes a skyscraping sea wave to topple buildings, derail trains, and ignite fires in northeastern Japan. A water wall tears over cement, bricks and glass at jet speed. The human death toll is guesstimated in the tens of thousands with even more displaced. The ramifications for animals are unknown until humane organizations are allowed in disaster zones.
In Minamisoma city, Fukushima prefecture (population 71,000) there is utter silence. An aerial view shows structures underwater, as if the city never was. Nearly 10,000 residents of Minamisoma are still reported as missing. AFP/Getty
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