About 180 pet dogs and cats were sheltered at a facility in the city of Fukushima as of the end of March after they were rescued from no-entry zones near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and surrounding areas.
The owners of about 60 percent of the animals are known, but many of the original owners are unable to pick them up as they themselves have taken refuge due to the March 11 quake and tsunami and evacuation over the nuclear crisis.