In Fukushima, abandoned pets are multiplying
With authorities' hands tied, NPO takes up challenge of spaying, neutering cats and dogs
BY LOUISE GEORGE KITTAKA
SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES
DEC 30, 2013

It isn’t only humans that are suffering in the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Scores of feral animals are eking out a precarious existence in the surrounding areas, including cats and dogs that were once somebody’s pets.

Left behind in the chaotic exodus, many pets are still unable to join their owners in temporary housing, while others have simply been abandoned. The luckiest animals get occasional visits if and when their owners can find the time and the means to visit their former homes, but most rely on the goodwill of volunteers or have to fend for themselves. Those that are hardy enough to survive the harsh Tohoku winters do what comes naturally and breed, resulting in a sharp rise in feral cats and dogs in the region.

More often than not, the media chooses to focus on feel-good stories about the efforts of volunteer groups to reunite pets with their owners, or to secure loving new homes. However, Hiro Yamasaki of the Animal Rescue System Fund (ARSF) wants the public to realize that there are other sides of the story to consider, too.

Since setting up the Fukushima Spay Clinic in 2012 in the city of Shirakawa, about 100 km southwest of the nuclear plant, Yamasaki and his team of volunteers have spayed and neutered 1,448 animals economically and safely, based on proven methods introduced from the United States.

“Sterilization is the most practical and humane way to curb the growing population of feral animals, and research backs this up,”...