Naoto Matsumura is Japan's hero: he stayed in Fukushima to save the animals (photo)

FUKUSHIMA ABANDONED ANIMALS

In Japan, he is a true symbol, a contemporary hero . A former construction worker, Naoto Matsumura , 56, was born and raised in the heart of the Fukushima radioactive area, devastated by the rupture of a power plant in March 2011. He was one of the few who wanted to stay to save the animals living in the area.

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NAOTO MATSUMURA ​​FUKUSHIMA

Since then, Naoto, unlike his 17 fellow citizens, has never left the red zone. He remained at the epicenter of the disaster with one goal: to save thousands of animals abandoned by entire families fleeing the danger. Dogs, cats, but also sheep, horses, and squirrels. Naoto cares for them, offers food and assistance, and looks after them in an area he has equipped as if it were a giant zoo. In Tomioka, one of the areas hardest hit by radiation.

(Image source: Facebook )

ANIMALS ABANDONED IN FUKUSHIMA

When a BBC journalist visited him to tell his story, Naoto was unfazed, and commented on such a radical life choice: " I had no other option; I couldn't let thousands of abandoned animals die. My risks? I don't think, and I hope, I'm in any particular danger, especially because, for example, I only eat food that comes from very far away. And then they told me that radiation could hit me in 30-40 years, but by then I'll still be dead..." Wishing you a long life, dear Naoto, in the company of your animals , whom you saved from a horrible death.

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