Tens of thousands of farm animals have been abandoned in the evacuation zone surrounding the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Many of them reportedly have already died.
Fukushima Prefecture authorities say there were about three-hundred livestock farms with three-thousand cows, 30-thousand pigs, and 600-thousand chickens.
A veterinarian who inspected barns and chicken coops on Friday last week, before the area was designated off limits, says almost all the chickens had died.
He says about 70 percent of the pigs at barns with automatic feeders were alive. But most pigs in other barns were dead.
Most of the beef cattle had been let out to graze, and were still alive. But about 60 percent of the dairy cows in barns had died.
Farmers are asking government to allow them to take the animals out of the area, or permit them to take care of their livestock.
Some farmers are requesting that they be allowed to euthanize the remaining animals.
The agriculture ministry says, however, it will be difficult to allow people to enter the restricted area to euthanize or feed the animals.
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