When Yuriko Koike was elected as the first female Governor of Tokyo in 2016, she publicly pledged to end killing of dogs and cats in Tokyo by the Olympic year 2020. She has a political intention to give the international community a good impression -'Tokyo is a cultural city. Human and animal are living together peacefully.'

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However, her pledge is suspicious.

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On April 12, 2017, we visited the Tokyo Animal Shelter. A female government veterinarian shared the following information with us:

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1. 'All dogs and cats are euthanized in the gas chamber as if they were sleeping.'

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-This statement is completely a lie. Rather, almost all dogs and cats are suffocated in agony for more than 15 minutes in the gas chamber. Later, bodies are burned in the incinerator (though some of them are still alive).

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2. 'Governor Koike told us that Tokyo cannot end killing of dogs and cats in the shelter. There are still many animals. Also, some of them should be euthanized in the gas chamber.'

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-This is completely against her pledge. She will have ended killing of dogs and cats by 2020. However, she means Tokyo will have killed ALL dogs and cats in the shelter. She and officers of the shelter do not have any idea of stop killing of dogs and cats right now.

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3. 'In 2015, 20 dogs and 724 cats (total 744 animals) were killed in the Tokyo Animal Shelter. (In 2016 (last year), almost the same number of animals were killed).'

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-Finding out foster-parents for 800 dogs and cats in a year is not difficult at all. The population of Tokyo is estimated 13.491 million. It means Tokyo can end killing of dogs and cats RIGHT NOW.

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Do you really think Tokyo is a cultural city?