“If left alone, tens of them will die everyday. Unlike well-fed animals that can keep themselves warm with their own body fat, starving ones will just shrivel up and die,” said Yasunori Hoso, who runs a shelter for about 350 dogs and cats rescued from the 20-km evacuation zone around the crippled nuclear plant.
The government let animal welfare groups enter the evacuation zone temporarily in December to rescue surviving pets before the severe winter weather set in, but Hoso said there were still many more dogs and cats left in the area. [via boing boing]
I am constantly horrified by “rules” that say you must leave your pets when you are evacuated from a disaster. I don’t care what anyone in “authority” says to me — Diego will be firmly in my grasp if I have to evacuate, along with any other pets in my neighborhood.
