An animal welfare group is asking for volunteers and donations to help them care for pets and wildlife rescued from inside the Fukushima exclusion zone.

Yomiuri Online reports that United Kennel Club (UKC) Japan is looking for the families of the almost 350 homeless dogs and cats they’ve brought out from Fukushima to their Kanagawa animal welfare volunteer centre.

“It doesn’t matter if they’re wild animals or [domestic] pets; these animals are all victims. Until we find a new owner for the last animal [we’ve rescued] we will keep caring for them,” UKC Japan representative, Yasunori Hoso, said.

A man talks to an evacuated dog at an evacuee center, Thursday in Fukushima, Japan. Pic: AP.

“When dogs are returned, many owners are really grateful and a limited few are not so grateful. But when it comes to dogs, all of them, without exception, become really ecstatic when they get reunited with their owners.”

UKC Japan has rescued over 800 animals since they began going into the exclusion zone.  The roughly 250 dogs and 100 cats still in their care are pets whose owners cannot care for them or whose whereabouts are unknown.

It costs roughly 300,000 yen ($3900 US) a month to care for the 350 housed at UKC Japan.

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant engineer, Toru Akama, placed his 14 dogs in the care of UKC Japan when he was evacuated, last year.

“I was really happy for my dogs. They are part of my family. There was no way I could abandon them,” Akama told Reuters.

UKC’s calls for help come after growing concerns for the welfare of Fukushima’s forgotten pets over the winter months.

Hoso fears malnourished animals who have survived in the wild up until now, will struggle in the snow-covered countryside.

“If left alone, tens of them will die everyday. Unlike well-fed animals that can keep themselves warm with their own body fat, starving ones will just shrivel up and die,” he said.

UKC Japan’s chief vet, Yasuo Minagawa, said time has also taken a toll on the animal’s personalities’.

“[The rescued animals] don’t trust humans anymore so they’ve become emotionally unstable,” he told Yomiuri Online.

Rescuers told the BBC that while the animals used to willingly approach their would-be human helpers, now, almost one year on, they watch from a safe distance before running away.

Minagawa says the animals brought to UKC Japan’s centre need to be rehabilitated before they can settle in with domestic life once more.

The day-to-day work of rehabilitation falls to five volunteers who walk and feed the animals daily. But given the uncertain future facing so many pets, the centre says it needs more help.

For information on how you can volunteer with or donate to UKC Japan, visit their website in English or Japanese.