The plight of Japanese refugees evacuated from disaster areas is well known, but less well known is the plight of abandoned animals, now starving and reduced to cannibalism.
The Minister of the Environment has belatedly requested efforts be made to retrieve abandoned animals from disaster areas, whilst charities have already begun rescue operations, but for some animals these efforts are far too late.
Rescuers encountered a number of pet cats which had been devoured by their fellows:
Starving cats and dogs generally eat any carrion available – there are even cases of unfed cats eating their dead (and in some very unfortunate cases, still living) owners on record.
Others were luckier:
Abandoned farm animals have also fared poorly where left indoors:
Cat loving Japanese are predictably distraught:
“What!”
“How did they get into locked houses?”
“They broke in if they got requests from pet owners.”
“If my cat ended up like that I would be so traumatised…”
“Poor things, abandoned by their owners!”
“They can’t help it, animals aren’t allowed in the shelters. Blame it on Tepco and the state.”
“Why weren’t they taken when they evacuated though?”
“The government said ‘You can come back in 2-3 days!’…”
“It’s horrible…”
“I wonder if they were eaten after dying or were killed and then eaten?”
“Shocking pictures. But it’s a given they’ll resort to cannibalism with no food.”
“Don’t dogs eat each other?”
“Dogs never resort to cannibalism no matter how starved. They never eat humans either. Maybe a stray will eat a human corpse, but in general they never eat other dogs.”
“Now I know how we should execute the staff of Tepco.”
“Cat’s aren’t cannibals! I’ve never seen a cat eat meat. They were probably eaten by dogs.”
“What…”
“Don’t stray cats spend all their time chowing on birds?”
“And mice…”
“I don’t know if it was alive at the time, but our cat happily chowed down on its own stillborn kitten…”
“Gyaaaaaaah…”
“That’s just like them eating their own placentas or something though.”
“Rabbits can reabsorb their own foetuses in times of crisis.”
“Seems it was only indoor cats who suffered this. The dogs all got turned out it seems.”
“It’s a bit sad it took a month to get to this… 2 weeks at least would have been acceptable.”
“If you’re going to take videos of starving cattle at least let them out of their pens…”
“To think these cats lived together as fellow pets! Animals in extremis really show their true nature!”
“It’s to be expected. There are plenty of cases of people forced to eat human flesh to stay alive.”
““Cat’s aren’t cannibals! I’ve never seen a cat eat meat. They were probably eaten by dogs.”
omg XD
> Dogs never resort to cannibalism no matter how starved. They never eat humans either.
Wrong.
> I’ve never seen a cat eat meat.
Have you ever opened a can of catfood?!
Some of these people are idiots.
Makes you wonder whether humans would do the same in a life or death situation
They will… Has already happened.
That’s so sad. The dogs they rescued are goregeous creatures though. I’d take them home to care for them in a heart beat if only I had the cash
And.. no one has even thought rats could be responsible maybe? Other humans also? Not saying that cats aren’t eaten by other cats but i don’t think all of them were cannibalized. There’s something ‘off’ about it all.