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Japan Paper: “Horses became weak and died, one by one, from an unknown cause” at farm in Fukushima — Farmer: “There is something seriously wrong going on… This country is going mad, I‘m sure something grave is going to happen” — 14 out of 15 newborn horses died last year (PHOTOS)

ENE News

Kyodo News, June 14, 2014: Tadao Mitome feels a duty to continue capturing images of the area to document the effects of the nuclear disaster [...] Mitome, 75, published a photo book titled “3/11 Fukushima: Hibaku no Bokujo” (“Stock Farm Exposed to Radiation”), documenting a farm in the village of Iitate and its dying horses. “People should do whatever they are capable of doing,” Mitome said [...] Iitate, about 40 km away from the wrecked power plant, [farmer Tokue Hosokawa] defied the central government’s order to evacuate. [...] After nearly two years, horses became weak and died, one by one, from an unknown cause. Some horses in Fukushima were also put to death and sent away for autopsies. Mitome said he felt as though the eyes of the killed animals were trying to tell him that they would never let human beings forget about the nuclear disaster. [...] “There are things that I must let people in the world know,” he said.

World Network For Saving Children From Radiation, Feb. 27, 2014: Mr. Hosokawa again lost three of his horses this summer. [...] “Since then, three more horses have died. This village is reaching its end [...] I don’t feel good”, he said.

Evacuee from Iitate: “University of Tohoku dissected the dead horses [...] there were apparent abnormal results from the analysis of the blood [...] 3 more horses have died here this summer. Hosokawa must be in shock [...] I have demanded the Ministry of Environment to inform us of the results. But they keep saying, ‘we don’t know anything yet’ [...] why can’t they at least publish the results so far? Surely there must be something wrong if they can’t publish.”

World Network For Saving Children From Radiation: “There is something seriously wrong going on” -Hosokawa [...] According to him, horses have fallen ill one by one within these short weeks [...] a white miniature horse, had the worst condition. Its skin was badly damaged. The veterinarian doctor who accompanied us saw it and indicated the symptoms of damaged liver [...] It had jaundiced eyes. The doctor was wondering why its knees were so wobbly. [...] 15 foals have been born since the beginning of this year, but 14 of them died within a month, sometimes within a week. “I have lived with horses since I was a kid, but I have never seen anything like this. It’s not normal. I think radiation is responsible for this”. Hosokawa stresses the effect of radiation as a cause. [...] we asked a public health control centre to check the blood of the miniature horse. The results were negative for transmitted diseases or nutrient deficiency. [...] We were overwhelmed by Hosokawa’s ghastly expression on his face and stunned with a shock by the grave situation, which was beyond our imagination. “This country is going mad, I‘m sure something grave is going to happen”.

See photos of the horses here

Published: June 15th, 2014 at 12:32 am ET
By ENENews

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