Peetie is pregnant.
Dazed, hungry, alone
And left to die.
Even now, many wait.
Kinship Circle DARTIn Aug-Sep, Sister Michael Marie and Adrienne Usher work with JEARS from Club Lohas Shelter in Inawashiro, Fukushima.
OUTLOOK UNKNOWNPeetie is the cat atop a rock, surrounded by overgrowth and a sign that warns: This area is restricted due to high radiation levels. We find Peetie pregnant and hungry in Kawamata, 25km from the damaged nuclear reactor. Peetie's abandonment in a radiation-risk zone is hardly unique. In her September Japan trip, Kinship Circle's Adrienne Usher notes similarities between post-disaster Katrina and Japan, with one primary difference: Japanese government declared an end date for aid, ironically on 9/11. But for animals, the crisis has barely entered phase 2. JEARS leader Susan Roberts and Selena Hoy oversee Club Lohas – an Inawashiro, Fukushima hotel where volunteers shelter animals. Hundreds of abandoned, orphaned, or surrendered animals pass through. Miraculously, some 100 discarded chickens whom JEARS-Kinship volunteers have fed for months, are now adopted! With chicken digs underway in Sendai, trips near radiation hot spots focus on cats, dogs and other distressed animals. Adrienne tends to many sick animals. Volunteers are sparse, with a handful of JEARS regulars on constant duty.
