Hero rescues pets from Fukushima nuclear wasteland

ITN, 5 nov 2013

A man who refused to leave when Japan's Fukushima nuclear plants melted down is now caring for hundreds of abandoned animals in a wasteland. As fears of radiation grew following the meltdowns of March 2011, tens of thousands of people fled their homes, and the area was put into lock-down. Even now, more than two-and-a-half years after the disaster, those who enter must leave again before nightfall. But one man never left.

Keigo Sakamoto, 58, started an animal sanctuary over a decade ago in Naraha, fewer than 12-and-a-half miles from the Fukushima plant. After the disaster, he was ordered to evacuate, which would have meant abandoning some 500 animals including chickens, dogs, rabbits, geese, goats and guinea pigs. Sakamoto refused to leave. The government blocked access roads with concrete blocks and he was trapped inside, cut off from supplies. For months he and his animals ate anything they could find, explaining here that he feeds cat food to his dogs.

Twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, Sakamoto makes the one-and-a-half-hour supply run to the nearby town of Iwaki. He receives some monetary support and bags of animal feed from his supporters, who send it to a pet shop in town. A supermarket provides him with discarded vegetables. Sakamoto says he is not scared, because he is protecting hundreds of lives, and plans to continue doing what he is doing. Report by Mark Morris.

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