Help stop the slow death of Japan's abandoned animals

Depressing news from Japan, this is taken from the Mayhew International website:

The situation in Japan is still in such turmoil and for the animals it just
keeps getting worse. The news does the situation no justice, they air
stories of rescues and only the occasional true glimpse into the hell that
the animals in the disaster area are going through.

In the 20km no-go zone around the nuclear reactors people were told they
could not take their animals with them but they would only be gone a couple
of days. It has been over a month, the animals were left inside houses,
tethered in yards and in the case of livestock left in small pens with only
a couple of days worth of food and water and no way to get more. Even with
ARK and a couple of other groups going around the barracades to reach these
animals tens if not hundreds of thousands of animals have died a slow death
of starvation and dehydration. This horrible scene is about to repeat.

With the threat of the evacuation zone being extended to 30km, at least one
other town is scheduled to be evacuated within a month and the authorities
have already told people they will not be able to take their pets with them.
We can not allow them to force people to leave their animals behind again.
 

We need the voices of everyone in the world concerned with animal welfare to
speak up and let the Japanese government know that this is unacceptable.

Please join us in pressuring the Japanese government to set aside housing
for pets to stay with their people. The Mayhew have prepared a petition, for people
and organisations to sign and send to the three people listed below. If you
could use your organisation's stamp or official letter paper to add to the
authenticity, it would have more effect. Please add comments if you like
too. Please could you post by express mail.

Mr. Ryu Matsumoto, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, 1-6-1 Nagata-cho,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8914

Mr. Yorihisa Matsuno, The Democratic Party of Japan, #240 House of
Representatives, 2-1-2 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8982

Mr. Kouriki Jojima, The Democratic Party of Japan, 2-27 Miyamoto-cho,
Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 210-0004

We are also working on getting property closer to the disaster area to house
animals and to use as a base of operation as our Osaka shelter is not only
too far away but also quite full with the animals we have already taken in.
We would like for this facility to become a place for all organisations
around the world that would like to help in this effort to work together to
rescue as many animals from this disaster as possible. If you would like to
join in this group please let us know.

Thank you in advance for your support, Elizabeth Oliver ARK, Animal Refuge Kansai - ARK

Here is the petition wording - please copy and print out:

P E T I T I O N date: ___ / ___/ ___

To: Mr. Ryu Matsumoto, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan 1-6-1 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8914
 Mr. Yorihisa Matsuno, Chairman, Democratic Party of Japan #240 House of Representatives, 2-1-2 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8982!
Mr. Koriki Jojima, Democratic Party of Japan2-27 Miyamoto-cho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 210-0004

From:
Address:
Purpose of Petition

To request that, when housing is provided to victims of the earthquake and tsunami that
struck eastern Japan on March 11, 2011, measures be taken to allow cohabitation with their
companion animals (dogs, cats and other pets, henceforward referred to as PETS).
Reasons for Petition
1 Housing provided to earthquake victims by the national or local governments generally falls
into the following categories:
a) Evacuation centers;
b) Existing public housing, such as municipal and prefectural housing, or housing built for national public servants;
c) Temporary housing
d) Newly constructed public housing.
2 Meanwhile, it is stated in Article 4 of “Basic Principles of the Environment Ministry in its
Response to the Tohoku-Pacific Region Earthquake” published on March 16, 2011, that
“adequate support will be provided to ensure that pets in the
disaster area receive appropriate care so that people and their pets
can maintain good relations while living within the disaster area.”
For pets to be banned from evacuation centers, public housing and temporary housing,
forcing earthquake victims and their pets to live separately, would therefore be in direct violation of
this stated aim of the Environment Ministry.

 signed _______________________________