Two Men Continue To Live In Japan's Nuclear Disaster Area Just To Take Care Of People's Pets
When Japan's Fukushima disaster forced more than 100,000 people to evacuate, many families had to leave everything behind in a hurry, including the pets and livestock they loved.
The 2011 earthquake and tsunami triggered one of the worst nuclear accidents in history, and the danger made it impossible for many residents to return for their animals. That left countless pets stranded in the exclusion zone, waiting for someone to care for them.
Two men chose to stay behind for the animals, and their quiet decision says a lot about what compassion can look like in a disaster zone.
After the nuclear meltdowns, people were evacuated for their own safety; however, there was no plan in place for the animals in the area.
Without sufficient food and water or anyone to care for them, many would assume that the animals left behind had very little chance of survival. However, a decade after the accident, researchers discovered that wildlife populations were actually thriving in the area.
The most surprising part is that someone was actually taking care of them.
After the evacuation, two men stayed behind in Fukushima to care for the abandoned animals there.
These two men are Sakae Kato and Naoto Matsumura, who are unrelated to each other. They live within the 12.5-mile exclusion zone of the damaged reactor, and from there, they take care of the stray animals that were left behind when the people evacuated the town.
This is similar to the brave rescuers risking it all to save two horses stuck on a frozen lake.
Initially, Matsumura also fled with his family, just like everyone else.
“I didn’t mean to stay at first. I grabbed my family and escaped,” he recalled.
Unfortunately, he was turned away by relatives who lived in other cities because they were afraid of possible contamination. The evacuation camps were also unappealing, as they were filling up quickly and resources were running short.
So, he returned and realized that his family's animals were still waiting to be fed.
“Our dogs didn’t get fed for the first few days. When I eventually fed them, the neighbors’ dogs started going crazy. I went over to check on them and found that they were all still tied up. Everyone in town left thinking they would be back home in a week or so, I guess,” he recalled.
Realizing that these animals had no one to look after them, he decided to stay and care for them.
Since then, he has been feeding the cats and dogs in the area every day and has become one of the caretakers of the animals in the abandoned city.
After returning, he was also concerned about the effects of radiation on his body. After all, exposure can cause cancer and other health problems, but these days, he's not too worried anymore.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency informed Matsumura that he probably won't get sick for a couple of years. They estimated that the effects of the radiation would manifest only after 30 or 40 years.
To this, he responded, “I’ll most likely be dead by then anyway, so I couldn’t care less.”
A lot of people wonder why he decided to return and stay given the risks, and his answer is because of rage.
“I’m full of rage. That’s why I’m still here,” the farmer said. “I refuse to leave and let go of this anger and grief. I weep when I see my hometown. The government and the people in Tokyo don’t know what’s really happening here.”
On the other hand, Kato chose to live in his home in the mountains. From there, he takes care of more than 40 cats and a stray dog he adopted.
He also feeds abandoned animals that pass by his place, including local wild boars.
“I want to make sure I am here to take care of the last one. After that, I want to die, whether that be a day or an hour later,” Kato said.
Watch the video about them here:
These two men are definitely heroes. Despite the danger, they're still willing to risk their lives for what they believe in and to care for the animals that have been left behind.
Not everyone would easily do that without something substantial in return; that's why these two men are admirable. For them, the animals' lives simply matter.
Hopefully, people can learn a lesson from them.
Just like the firefighter who found a cat alive 32 days after the earthquake, this rescue story is unreal, too. Read the firefighter’s cat-alive discovery.
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