Town’s Animals Have A Weird Mutation That Are Leaving People Concerned

towns animals have a weird mutation that are leaving people concerned but before we start please take a moment to give this video a like subscribe to happy world and hit the bell so you'll never miss these great stories there's a lot of perks in growing up on a farm none however top the animals being able to feed an ostrich milk a cow and cuddle a cat all without leaving the property is all anyone can ask for that doesn't come without some serious emotional attachment though that's why one japanese man couldn't stop thinking about his animals after a terrible disaster forced him to flee his home determined to see his friends again he defied laws and headed right for the trouble he nor the scientists that studied the spot years later could believe what they saw when he returned as nyato matsumura fed his beloved kittens in 2011 he was acutely aware that he was breaking japanese law he didn't care though his animals meant everything to him in fact caring for them was literally cutting years off his life see naota didn't exactly live in a normal community he lived in tomika japan which after 2011 wasn't a beautiful cherry blossom-lined village the 50-some-odd year-old farmer had fallen in love with over the past five decades because on march 11 2011 a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck the pacific ocean just a few miles off japan's eastern coast one of the most powerful quakes in history the aftermath proved devastating to naoto's hometown the great east japan earthquake stirred up tsunamis that smashed into the fukushima prefecture cutting off power to three nuclear reactors in the area a meltdown that rivaled chernobyl ensued the fallout making it all the way to naoto mutsumoros tomika public officials wisely demanded citizens evacuate the fallout area so naoto took his parents and went to iwaki unable to bring his beloved farm animals with him he needed his pets but he was only supposed to be gone a few days after evacuating naota started kicking an idea around in his head what if he just went back to the radioactive exclusive zone the thought of radiation-induced leukemia terrified him but the fear of losing his animals hurt him just as bad so leaving his parents in iwaka now to return to tomica i was born and raised in this town he said when i die it's going to be in tomica whether he lived for two weeks or 40 years he didn't care he wanted to be with his animals he arrived in domica where he was immediately bombarded by about 17 times the amount of radiation a person can safely be exposed to japanese law required his home and village be closed to the public how could anything survive there somehow though the animals on his family farm were all alive and doing well by the look of it so as if a nuclear reactor had not just melted down all that far from home naoto went to work feeding the animals soon he realized something after feeding the dogs the neighbor's dog started going crazy he said i went over to check on them and found that they were all still tied up everyone in town left thinking that they'd be back home in a week or so that wasn't the case so naoto untied the animals and fed them these were only a few of the suffering animals in town however everywhere i went there was always barking he said like we're thirsty or we don't have any food he couldn't feed them all could he he could with a renewed sense of purpose naoto started caring for animals all over the exclusion zone scientists told me that i wouldn't get sick from radiation for 30 to 40 years he said i'll most likely be dead by then anyway operating off donations from locals inspired by his bravery the guardian of fukushima's animals continues caring for the town's pets even though the government forbade it no one could stop him still he did have some concerns like for instance what would become of the other animals caught up in the nuclear fallout tomica was a small town there were still miles upon miles of evacuated territory full of animals both domesticated and wild that naoto couldn't tend to well the university of georgia had similar questions nearly a decade after the earthquake and ensuing fallout researchers went to the exclusion zone armed with only a camera and a sense of curiosity what they found seemingly defied science numerous species of wildlife are now abundant throughout the fukushima evacuation zone despite the presence of radiological contamination said james beasley a uga wildlife biologist how could this happen incredibly while scouting an environment devoid of humans and heavily contaminated with all fallout uga researchers snapped photos of 20 thriving animal species one animal population seemed to be doing really well wild boars which normally found themselves at the wrong end of a hunting rifle flourished with the nuclear fallout government officials reported the hogs had moved into abandoned homes and farms these discoveries of course came with a caveat there wasn't any evidence that these animals were completely healthy or wouldn't suffer long-term genetic damage still scientists were baffled by the idea that even in the midst of a nuclear fallout animals thrived without humans around to further build their theory uga scientists looked to another famous exclusion zone on april 26 1986 the number four nuclear reactor at the chernobyl nuclear power plant near pripyat in the former ukrainian ssr exploded during a routine safety test and the effect on animals proved just as bizarre in the wake of the disaster over 300 000 people were evacuated from the surrounding areas forced to leave their homes belongings and even pets behind many believe they'd be allowed to return shortly after the accident though unfortunately this wasn't the case sound familiar three decades later the exclusion zone remains almost completely abandoned a ruined relic of the past completely frozen in time but although the human population here has been reduced to near zero animal populations thrive the descendants of the pets left behind during the initial evacuations still reside in the exclusion zone and continue to proliferate despite the high levels of radiation the clean futures fund which has worked to care for these animals over the years estimated that more than 600 strays call this area home along with stray pets the exclusion zone saw a dramatic increase in the number of wild animals in the area in fact some scientists believe that the local animal population is actually greater now than it was back in 1986 elk deer foxes and bison are among the various groups of animals that have been spotted roaming the area and with a lack of human interference their numbers have exploded in recent years even the european brown bear a species not seen in the region for nearly a century has been spotted in the zone taking this phenomenon into account conservationists are now making attempts to use the exclusion zone as a means to protect endangered animals after releasing a herd of rare przewalski's horses in the area scientists have seen a steady increase in their numbers as well but it seems that the native gray wolf population has benefited the most from the absence of humans without any natural predators wolves of econ the most prevalent species in the exclusion zone scientists believe that the wolf population here is actually seven times larger than those of most uncontaminated reserves in fact wildlife ecologist jim beasley once estimated that the wolves of the exclusion zone outnumbered even those of yellowstone national park yet while it's certainly a good thing that these animals have done so well there's still the question as to what kind of long-term effects the radiation will have on them thus far scientists observations have been mixed despite their large numbers most of the stray dogs in the exclusion zone are struggling to survive they primarily rely on scraps left behind by visitors for food and very few of them live beyond the age of six smaller animals like birds fish and rodents have also begun to exhibit the damaging effects of radiation such as the development of tumors and cataracts albinism and other genetic disorders are also common and the rate of growth abnormalities is spiked as well even the insect world has been rocked by this radiation most spiders that reside in the exclusion zone can no longer spin geometrically perfect webs and the lifespan of most bugs has decreased due to a higher susceptibility to parasites there's also fear that the animals will begin to venture beyond the exclusion zone contaminating other areas and passing down their mutated genetic code to future offspring this fear is especially true of the area's birds who can cover much larger distances than their four-legged counterparts yet wolves are also known to stray to other parts of the region most often in search of a mate given their large population and ease of mobility this could pose an enormous threat to neighboring ecosystems to study this risk scientists tracked these wolves and found that their influence may not be limited to just neighboring areas one wolf traveled a staggering 250 miles in 2018 though to some this was actually a positive according to anders mahler a scientist at the university of paris stud this wolf traveling such a great distance proved the effects of radiation on animals may not be as devastating as once believed in fact some have asserted the populations of the exclusion zone may have actually adapted to the radiation though the long-term effects of this radiation remain to be seen there's no question that the animals at the exclusion zone are more than capable of surviving [Music] you