Saving Pets From Radiation in Japan - NYTimes.com

Eight months after the nuclear crisis in Japan, emergency workers are still struggling to understand the effects on the thousands of dogs and cats left wandering the streets in towns and villages near the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. Many were left behind in the rush to evacuate by families who did not expect to be away for more than a short period.

As Ian Robinson, a program director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, told PBS this week, workers have been hobbled by confusion over whether animals in the radiation hot spots are safe to handle and how they should be tested for contamination. Mr. Robinson?s group convened a group of experts and wrote a report for the Japanese government:

Among the recommendations, they suggested that each team be equipped with protective equipment and a real-time dosimeter to measure radiation, that animals be bathed with soap and warm water, and that feeding stations be strategically placed to coax animals out from restricted zones.

As long as the animals are appropriately cleaned and quarantined, they should be ultimately safe to handle and adopt, said Timothy Mousseau, a professor of biological sciences at the University of South Carolina, who has extensively studied animals ? mostly birds and insects ? exposed to radiation?.

Animals will eventually eliminate the radioactive material from their bodies, Mousseau said, though that could take anywhere from a week to four to five months, depending on their size and the degree of contamination. ?Since it?s cesium, it will get cleared from their bodies,? he said.

Mr. Robinson told PBS that his group is hoping its report ?frees up the ability of the government and NGOs to remove animals.? To some extent that is beginning to happen, he said, but it has not gone smoothly.

To learn more about the animal rescue operations in Japan and the associated radiation concerns, read the full PBS NewsHour report, ?What?s the Fallout for Dogs Near Fukushima?? and then please join the discussion below.

Source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/saving-pets-from-radiation-in-japan/

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