The world is full of all kinds of people but there’s a certain kind of people, the good kind, that make everything worth it.
A decade ago, Sakae Kato stayed behind to rescue cats abandoned by neighbors who fled the radiation clouds belching from the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant.
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 4, 2021
He won’t leave https://t.co/E4LxHvHmWP 1/7 pic.twitter.com/ZxUsIFIysQ
Sakae Kato who lives in a contaminated quarantine zone chose to stay behind just to care for his cats. He also mentioned that:
I want to make sure I am here to take care of the last one. After that, I want to die, whether that be a day or hour later.
As per sources, Sakae Kato made this decision a decade ago when the neighbours fled due to the radiation clouds from the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant.
He did all that just so he could rescue abdanoned cats.
So far he has buried 23 cats in his garden, the most recent graves disturbed by wild boars that roam the depopulated community.
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 4, 2021
He is looking after 41 others in his home and another empty building on his property 2/7 pic.twitter.com/IOaY0wpb8K
Till now he has buried 23 cats in his garden itself and has been looking after 41 others who reside at his home or other abandoned places.
‘I want to make sure I am here to take care of the last one,’ Kato said from his home in the contaminated quarantine zone.
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 4, 2021
He leaves food for feral cats in a storage shed he heats with a paraffin stove 3/7 pic.twitter.com/djcGoQFR4p
He heats up the food using a paraffin stove and leaves them in the storage shed. As there is a lack of running water, he fetches water from a nearby mountain and drives to reach a public toilet.
He has not just rescued cats but also recused a dog named Pochi.
Kato has also rescued a dog, Pochi.
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 4, 2021
With no running water, he has to fill bottles from a nearby mountain spring, and drive to public toilets 4/7 pic.twitter.com/7xhbBcGnLI
What moved him to stay when 160,000 people chose to leave was the fact that he uncovered dead pets while demolishing houses.
Sakae who is now 57-year-old used to be an owner of a small construction business before.
The 57-year-old, a small construction business owner in his former life, says his decision to stay as 160,000 other people evacuated the area was spurred in part by the shock of finding dead pets in abandoned houses he helped demolish 5/7 pic.twitter.com/QvDprLmmMH
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 4, 2021
The same source mentions that his budget rounds up to $7,000 a month for his animals.
Kato is one person who never gave up on our dear animals when just about everyone was leaving them behind.