CAT ISLAND, TASHIROJIMA, LIKELY SUBMERGED BY TSUNAMI. HELP ANIMALS & PETS HURT IN JAPAN EARTHQUAKE, DONATE TO SHELTER.
Sigh. I’ve spent the day snuggling with my Scottish Fold cat, Basil Farrow. Japan’s Tashirojima, also known as Cat Island, was most likely destroyed by the tsunami.
Tashirojima is a small island in Miyagi prefecture, famous for its large stray kitty population. Hundreds of cats live here, outnumbering the humans on the isle! more than humans. In Japan, cats are known to bring wealth and good fortune (the Maneki Neko, or beckoning cat statue, is seen everywhere). There are at least ten cat shrines and over 50 stone cat monuments on the island, which is known as a peaceful and magical place to visit.
Sadly, the small islands off Northeast Honshu (Miyagi prefecture) were near the epicenter of the 8.9 magnitude Japan earthquake. Cat Island was definitely hit hard by the tsunami. And… brace yourself… the isle was most likely completely or partially submerged.
I am doing my very best to find 100% definite news about the status of Cat Island. I’m scouring the Japanese media and eyewitness reports for accurate information — and will update you here and on Twitter.
Let’s hope for the best. And please keep in mind the animals that were stranded and hurt by the Japan disaster.
Here’s a list of animal rescue organizations you can donate to.
The Animal Rescue Kansai is located in Japan, and relief goes directly to the animals affected.
Stay strong, everyone, and give your pets a hug. I’ll keep you posted on the status of Cat Island here and on Twitter.
UPDATE: Promising news! A few sources (see the comments) are saying there much building damage at Tashiro-jima. But the cats and people seem to be okay; the island is not submerged. However, they desperately need human and cat food, and officials aren’t putting much attention to this island. So please donate to organizations that will help the cats (see links above).
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LA CARMINA
18 Comments
Horrible! We have yet to hear about the devastation to the animals in all the affected areas! So sad.
nooooo :.(
it’s so sad
oh no!
Cat Land!!! ): the poor country right now….
T_T so sad
OH NO!
I wanted to make a stop there someday…
All those poor cats…
,>x<,
Wow… A whole island submerged. I can’t even imagine…
Even with everthing else going on, it did occur to me a lot of stray cats and dogs were probably drowned! I didn’t even know about the existence of Cat Island though! I love cats so much, so sad!!! :(
Such a huge tragedy so sorry my heart crys for The loss of life human and animals alike, my prayers for you all, keep us updated Basil we love our felines!!!!! Xxxxx ty Mummy too x
Hi, I join to all of you in the sorrow of this tragedy, but I have a question, some twitter rumor says that Naoko Takeuchi (sailor moon creator), Karuho Shiina and the Full Metal Alchemist creator, are gone or dissapeared, do you know anything about this???
I saw on a list on a forum that supposedly Hiromu Arakawa (FMA creator) is fine – not sure about the others. Follow this link and go to post #2218 to see the list:
http://www.narutoforums.com/showthread.php?p=37577208
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it seems that the cats and people on tashirojima are okay. i got this info from the tashirojima community on mixi. the island sunk 30cm (not sure how to say that, i am not a native english speaker) but they are all good. i am really glad that the cats and the people are doing well.
It’s hard to tell from Google Translate but I’m getting that the people of the island are with family and they think the cats are fine. Photo and source below.
http://twitpic.com/4942b1
http://syggnya.blog26.fc2.com/
http://twitter.com/tok0818
That’s wonderful to hear! I’ll add it to the blog post!
From World Vets:
I have a friend in Japan who managed to get in touch with people who knew about Tashirojima – people and cats are said to be okay, but there was a lot of building damage and they need bare necessities for humans and cat food… The Japanese organizations said they couldn’t help at the moment (my friend was very frustrated) and he’s checking for some other foreign organisations which maybe could help. He also found out that a Japanese defence forces’ helicopter landed there this afternoon. So that’s hopeful. Lots of volunteers are going to be needed there to help rebuild the island.
Even with everthing else going on, it did occur to me a lot of stray cats and dogs were probably drowned! I didn’t even know about the existence of Cat Island though! I love cats so much, so sad!!!