Japan tsunami anniversary: British woman fights to save Fukushima animals "This is going to be a big problem for the government as they have gone feral and, as it will take 40 years to clean the zone, according to the government, we're going to have packs of feral animals roaming around in there until then," she said. All the dogs that ARK has been able to rescue are suffering from heartworm, none are neutered or microchipped and "the majority have never seen a brush in their lives," she said. In the first six months after March 11, the ARK veterinarian single-handedly neutered 638 animals, many on-site in the affected areas. After the government made it illegal to enter the exclusion zone around the nuclear plant, Oliver and her ARK colleagues have focused their efforts on rescuing animals from hard-pressed government facilities across the region. "Lots of organisations went in there immediately afterwards and brought pets out, but they local authorities lacked funds so the animals were warehoused," she said. "They're pretty awful places for them to end up," she said. Is it better to rescue a dog from the zone and then put it in a small cage? Is that much of a life for them? I think warehousing animals is cruel. In late January, the government told 195 pet owners that they would be permitted to go into the evacuation zone to collect their pets, although none were found during the few hours they were allowed to visit their homes. Even if they had found their pets, it is possible they would not have been able to catch them, Oliver believes. "Many dogs and cats left behind are very wary and nervous now, making them difficult to catch," she said. And their progeny will be feral since they will never have had human contact. And the few evacuees who were reunited with their pets in the early days of the crisis faced new problems as many temporary accommodation units would not permit them to keep animals. For farm livestock, Oliver says that beef cattle have apparently been able to forage and seem to be faring well, although dairy herds that required constant care will have been "wiped out."