Trading lakes and faces

This is a kitty from Kesennuma, one of the hardest hit seaside towns in Northern Japan. Her guardian is being evicted this week because she has been hiding her cats in no-pets housing, and she had no one to turn to but animal control. Luckily, they called us to see if we could help. We're expecting all six kitties at the JCN Inawashiro shelter on Thursday. We'll be fostering 5 and finding a new home for one. Please contact us, if you are able to help us create more space in the shelter by fostering any of this group or by adopting/fostering one of our shelter kitties waiting for homes.

I've been in Shiga all week, meeting with the accountant for our NPO year end report, and working on other organizational details. A whole new set of faces greet me here everyday, some of them my old pals. I love seeing Teddy and Albert...2 feral buddies that have been living outside the shelter for around 10 years. These two boys are inseparable, and even though we cannot get nearly close enough to touch them, they are still our boys. Sometimes they visit us out on the ledge of the second story window, which is a favorite sunny nap spot. From there they hop up onto the neighboring temple roof.

 Lots of other sweeties to see at the Hikone shelter...I was surprised to see how friendly Leeland and Emily have become. The last time I visited, these two little Fukushima rescues acted like they had never seen me before. Now, I couldn't go anywhere near the play area without one or the other asking for attention. Leeland remains as big a fan of David as ever.

Fosters Aimu and Konpei have loved life in the enclosures. They can often be seen showing off, in a good place to get attention from passersby. Zelda has grown into a sleek upper story lounge cat.

I always think how nice the outdoor enclosures are for the kitties, especially in the warmer weather.  Everyone enjoys being out and about, and they get so much more exercise than our babies in Fukushima do. Now that we have a new little outdoor enclosure there, too, hopefully that will change!

The biggest thrill has been seeing how happy Temperence is. This is a kitty that once broke my heart, at first sight. Trying so desperately to survive all on her own in one of the restricted evacuated areas, she showed up one day at one of our feeding stations. Look at her then and now! 

She is doing so well, and seems to be a happy healthy cat--playing with toys and basking in the sun. Whenever I see her, I am so grateful that we were there to find her, in time. I'm reminded again why we are there, and how many others depend on us for their survival.

No matter where I am, I seem to end up at the vet! This time I went with Moonshadow and Celeste. Moonshadow was there to check how her mouth was doing after her surgery and biopsy. Happy news--not cancer. Celeste continues to recover from her upper respiratory infection. On another day, our vet, all around nice guy that he is, helped me fill out some forms in Japanese. 

Back to Fukushima soon...have been checking into Inawashiro happenings, via Takumi's blog. New puppies and more! It is always hard for me to leave either of these amazing places. What a strange and lucky life I have, going back and forth between 2 animal shelters. At the end of the day, I may be tired, and some things may have gone wrong, but I never doubt that I am making a difference. I never doubt that the animals in Fukushima still desperately need us there, as well as their guardians. And somehow I board another bus, train or car to head back out. (More photos in my May album on Facebook)

 

Today is the first day of the rest of my blog

Spring is here in Fukushima Japan, and with it, finally snow-less days! The dogs at the shelter are all loving the fresh warm air, filled with interesting smells. Kitties, too, thanks to the new mini outdoor enclosure that was paid for by a volunteer and built with a team effort.

  

With spring comes the ever persistent problem of unwanted new births, and we are doing our best to help limit the impact in the already troubled evacuated areas, via another spay/neuter day at the shelter. This time 17 cats were spayed by our kind vet, who travels over 600 kilometers/8 hours, and has covered all of the costs himself.

Many of these cats are picked up within the restricted area of Namie, and at evacuee requests. It's been reported and commented upon that the animals remaining in the restricted and evacuated areas are all feral and can or should be left on their own. This is simply not the case, as anyone who regularly goes into these areas can report.

Though there is indeed the usual feral population, there are still many pets living in these areas, that have been left behind for a variety of reasons. The tough question that animal welfare groups, government officials, and pet guardians face is what to do about it now. One thing is certain, when you see their faces on a regular basis, and you hear their cries...you're the one who cannot give up on them.

Japan Cat Network, the group that I volunteer for and helped to found, is addressing the issue with controlled feeding in some of the areas, combined with continuous rescue, spay/neuter, and placement in shelter/foster care. With extremely limited animal welfare resources here in Japan, and little shelter space available, it is not possible to safely remove all of the pets immediately, without placing them in cramped uncomfortable living situations.

The JCN shelters aren't large. Our goal has always been to focus on the human element of the equation, helping people help pets.

Over the last few weeks, we took in a mother cat and 3 kittens from the 20 kilometer zone, and we placed them almost immediately into a local foster home. We placed another mother cat and babies into a Tokyo foster home, and we sent two 6 month old kitties to foster care in Saitama. All have lots of comfortable space and the loving care that they need. All of this was done by a large number of people working together, to give these animals a better future.



This week we went into the evacuated areas several times, and were stopped by the local patrol. They recognize us now, and know that we're willing to help with any animal related issues. This time they had a baby owl that they had found by the side of the road. That was a new one for us, so we called in help, via Skype! The baby owl was returned to a tree near the location at which it was found, as wild life rescue advice told us this would give it the best chance of survival.

We were able to alert a local farmer to the owl's situation. Then we continued on.

We released one of the spayed feral kitties that was in a cage, acclimating to a new safe location, and we filled our feeding bins.

Lots of faces peeked out at us as we went along...friendly or unfriendly, it's difficult to tell for sure until we get them to the shelter. More space by adoptions and fosters means more rescue--we are so very grateful for every good home that we find!



Happy days when pets get to return to guardians who now have homes that can keep pets. Our much loved Reo was one such lucky pup, recently. She is doing well with her family!

On the same day that Reo left us Chachamaru joined us...found near an evacuated farm in one of the restricted areas, he was thrilled to see a friendly face. A vet check revealed two dislocated legs, which the vet believes happened when he was trying to escape confinement. We left our info, in case his guardian is still looking for him.

He loves his new life with long walks and love from volunteers like Caroline.

We have the best volunteers! I have met so many amazing people and I continue to look forward to the new and old faces that show up at the shelters on a regular basis...we have a wonderful time working together for the animals.

I'm now in Shiga, to work on some organizational issues for our NPO refiling. I already miss the wide open spaces, tall trees, and rolling mountains of Fukushima...cannot say enough what a beautiful place it is. Please come out and join us soon! More info, via volunteer@japancatnet.com More photos on Facebook, in my May and April albums.