Vets to enter evacuation zone to deal with abandoned animals

That´s good news. But since there is no hope of livestock getting fed for the next few months, they should kill them all, unless they can fend for themselves. (I suppose pigs and chickens might do OK roaming around?)

and if they can't find the owner ? Already too late , most have already died of dehydration or starvation. Still alive cattle let out to forage will most likely die of bloat.

About time.

"The government is considering euthanizing some of the dying animals, officials said."

I really hate to say this but in most, if not all cases, this needs to be done -- for those animals still living, that is. My guess is they'll find very few still alive, save for cats and dogs who were out in the open, maybe. Or chickens. But those animals will that ARE still alive might have no owners still alive, and even then they're likely so contaminated they'll suffer greatly in the future. I'm glad they're finally doing this, though.

Extremely sad. TEPCO officials should be forced to go in with the vets.

better late than never I suppose, forget about getting owners permission just do the right thing, god not that hard to figure out, shud have been in there 2-3wks ago!

The government is also considering euthanizing dying animals, but only after getting permission from their owners, said Yutaka Kashimura, an agricultural official in Fukushima.

Permission shouldnt be needed. Euthanise them - any farmer who does not agree and wants his animals to continue suffering should either a/ return to the zone to feed and take care of them or b/ be charged with animal abuse. (however this is possibly not a crime in Japan?)

I don't think anyone wants animals to suffer, but I cant help but feel that the cries of "This is too late" are unfounded.

The evacuation area is there for a reason - that its not safe. I would argue that it would be more irresponsible to send vets in without knowing what they are going IN TO (and put their lives at risk) to end the suffering of animals. Farmers will obviously object (naturally too - its normal to hope everything will be fine in the end) but these animals will die anyways, sooner or later, so It seems kinder to put them out of their misery.

Im sorry to offend, but I think the lives of humans should be prioritized over the lives of animals. But yes. If these vets want to go, then send them in. Now.

I saw pix of animals dead and some rotting in their barns a couple wks aggo in the weeklies (FRI, Flash). Very sad. I thought that roaming cows and pigs etc. would be ok, tho, they'd figure out where water was and find grass. If there's no ppl living there, do they really need to kill them all? I mean for one thing, with hundreds of thousands of animals, presumably wandering about, it would be hard to find them.

I do not think they should just euthanize them w/o farmers permission, though. Besides just being messing with someone else's property, there could be untold reasons for not doing it, or for selectively doing it that only the farmer would know. (age and health of animal, for breeding future generations or not, rare breed, sentimental reason, under contract to hand over to a third party, others unimaginable to someone not in that field.)

What does loose cattle "dying of bloat" mean? (revilo)

I am glad to read that a coordinated effort is now being undertaken to take care of another of the things that need to be done. I hope that a coordinated effort will be undertaken also to rescue the pets that were not taken because either the evacuation centers did not allow pets, or the people were told they could return in a few days, so their pets would be safe.

However, the way this article is written, it sounds as if the farmers were irresponsible when they "hurriedly fled". From other articles posted, people were angry that they were "misled" and told by the officials they could return in a few days (of course the gov couldn't really know how bad this would turn in advance, nor would they want to spread mass hysteria).

I do understand the necessity of this action, however, I have not seen any mention of what the Gov't intends to do about the dogs, cats, pets who have been left behind without food or water. Many organizations and private volunteers have been entering the 20km zone trying to save as many animals as possible, but they are now restricted from entering the grounds. Many petitions have been started and messages are being sent to the Gov't to ask that they grant special entrance permission to the many volunteers and organizations to be permitted to enter the restricted zone to continue rescuing the abandoned animals.

@kittyjump

Cows have been bred for centuries to provide more and more milk than necessary. Without human intervention (or lots of baby cows) they continue producing milk with no method of removing it. I don't think the whole cow "bloats", but the udders do. When they rupture, dead cow.

After Chernobyl they had hunting squads to kill all cats, dogs and livestock because they were all contaminated by drinking water, eating contaminated food and etc. Putting all the livestock down now is the only thing to do, we can't eat the meat or the eggs. Moot point really, can't understand why you need the owners request. Tepco will have to cough up.