JAPANESE RISK RADIATION EXPOSURE TO RESCUE STRANDED DOGS

By Debbie Bulloch



Preeminent German philosopher Immanuel Kant, author of Critique of Pure Reason, wrote: "We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." Writing more than 200 years later, Mohandas Gandhi, India’s political and ideological leader during India’s independence movement wrote: “The measure of a society can be how well its people treat its animals."

I was reminded of the writings of these two great men, who lived in two very different parts of the world during two distinct historical periods, by a story that appeared in newspapers around the world. The story was about a courageous group of Japanese people who risked exposure to radiation, and possible injury or death, to save a pack of dogs stranded by the earthquake and tsunami that recently devastated Japan.

Etsumi Ogino is a 56-year-old volunteer at an animal shelter in Chiba prefecture. While reading the local newspaper Ogino saw a news photo of a pack of shelties wandering through an abandoned town near Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear plant. When she saw the pictures, Ogino immediately thought of her own 13-year-old dog, Kein. "My heart trembled," said Ogino, “they looked just like my dog. I started searching for them right away."

She and others around Japan called Asahi.com, the website of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, which had run the photo. An Associated Press photographer had snapped that photo and others of the dogs on an empty street in Minami Soma city, an area evacuated because of radiation fears. A couple of days later , the AP gave Ogino details of where the dogs were spotted. Ogino then relayed the information to a team of animal rescuers called Sheltie Rescue. By then, the group had been getting emails from dog lovers around the country about the abandoned pack.

Through emails and Internet research it was established that the owner of the dogs was a breeder in Minami Soma. The group contacted the Fukushima city branch of the Japan Collie Club, tracked the owner down by phone at a shelter and got her go-ahead to rescue the dogs.

Early Sunday morning, seven volunteers left Tokyo and drove over broken roads and past demolished houses to meet three other volunteers in the ghost town that Minami Soma has become. Some had prepared radiation suits and others wore simple vinyl raincoats.

The first two to arrive found the pack around the Odaka train station, near the owner's home, where the AP team had last seen them. "They were waiting for their owner," said Tamiko Nakamura, a volunteer who went with the group from Tokyo.

It took a while to entice them with snacks, and six or seven were bundled into each car. The group saved 20 dogs in all.

Most were taken to a veterinary clinic in Kanagawa prefecture just west of Tokyo. Others are being cared for by individuals in other areas.

The owner, worn down by the disaster and worrying about her dogs, was "extremely happy," Nakamura said. She said the owner did not want her identity revealed.

Nakamura only regrets that some of the dogs in the pack ran away and countless others are still stranded in the evacuation zone.

"There are still some left behind," she said. "I'm concerned about them and want to pull them out."

In these days, when newspapers headlines and the evening news programs are filled with horrific stories about man’s cruelty to his fellow men, it is reassuring to read that there are still men and women willing to risk it all to protect the lives of helpless creatures.

Editor's Note: As some of you may have noticed, I wrote my last previous post on February 4, 2011. At that time I wrote that I was getting over a pretty severe bout of bronchitis. Well, recovery took a lot longer than I had anticipated. I spent most of February and a big chunk of March, feeling pretty darned sick. I am happy to report that I have made a full recovery and I am back writing. Thanks to all of you who contacted me inquiring about my health and wishing me a speedy recovery.

It is good to be back!!!