For example, many older people wish to take care of and send off their pet as they near the end of their own lives. However, their own advanced age and infirmities may prevent this, which must be a terrible worry. But what if there was a support system? Imagine if they could spend their last days with their beloved pet in happiness and without that worry. Statistics show that a major reason for pets being given up is the increasing number of owners growing too old. Behind the statistics there is obviously a great deal of sadness. We should be able to do more for the realization of happy society where people and pets can live together till their respective ends.

So, alongside the actual support work during the crisis, the ‘Always Be Together’ project has been examining the question of ‘what makes up a society in which people can be with their pets all the time?’ We intend to work towards such a society as we continue on with support work.

It has been one year and five months since the Great East Japan Earthquake. On that day many people and animals lost everything including their daily livelihoods all at once. The trauma of losing so much has never gone away and still remains. The animals have suffered these traumas as well. The stress of changed living environments and moving from refuge to temporary housing must have been almost unbearable. Both people and animals have been in great need of help and support.

The temporary housing being supported by the Ann Project reaches two cities and one town, namely Ishinomaki City, Higashi Matsushima City and Onagawa Town in Miyagi Prefecture. Fortunately the temporary housing in those places does allow for pets living together with owners. However in reality, the people living in those temporary houses originally come from different neighborhoods. So they have had to cooperate with strangers in day to day life and inevitably encountered concerns such as the barking of animals. So many owners are feeling the stress. The animals themselves have, in many cases, become highly nervous about the changed environment and people around them. They too have experienced the terror of an earthquake and tsunami so there are many instances of behavioral problems such as barking, uncontrolled excretion and an aversion to being separated from their owners.

On the other hand, it is also true that for people to be with their animals brings psychological support and comfort to both the animals and the people living in the temporary housing. The Ann Project is providing therapy and counseling to those people and their life companions, helping to rectify or improve the problematic behavior. They also provide manners classes, trimming services and supply support products. The project wants to make daily life within temporary housing a happy and positive experience and, by the meeting of new people, expand a network that supports a better, more comfortable lifestyle. From now on people will begin to move into restoration housing. Sadly, it may be that some of them are not able to live with their pets because of the likelihood of causing nuisance (complaints about poor manners etc. and so on). But it is important for the animals, and for achieving a comfortable living environment for them, that they are accepted by the pe
ople around them as friends they can live with together.
So we aim for temporary housing that is filled with liveliness and happiness!

We are creating a network to alleviate problems that people sometimes face when living with pets in temporary houses, both the people who own the animals and people who don’t. Through such support activities we seek to help people overcome their difficult situation and ensure that people can remain with their animals together in these places.