Tokyo ( CNN ) -- The image was horrific : A whimpering beagle , ribs showing through its fur , tethered to a post inside the no-go zone around the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl . The scene was captured by freelance journalists who drove through towns within a few kilometers of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant , and who left food for the animal . But animal rescue activists who have braved the exclusion zone around the plant say there many others like it . `` I understand the nuclear danger and everything , but they 're just being left to starve to death , basically , '' said Isabella Gallaon-Aoki of Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support . Gallaon-Aoki and others like her have been slipping into the 20-km radius around Fukushima Daiichi to retrieve pets and feed livestock left behind when their owners were forced to evacuate . Pet owners have sent her group their addresses , accompanied by pleas to rescue their animals , left behind when they fled for what was supposed to be a short time . A month later , the volunteers are putting their long-term health on the line , putting on protective gear and entering the 20-km radius around the plant that was declared off-limits in the early days of the crisis . Hiroko Ito 's 5-year-old Shiba , Non , is among those rescued by Gallaon-Aoki 's group . Ito said she left food for the dog , but did n't expect to be gone a month . `` We tried to save him , but we could n't get in , '' Ito said . Radiation levels recorded by photographers Shuji Ogawa and Naomi Toyoda were not high enough to cause immediate illness , but would pose potential health risks with prolonged exposure . Gallaon-Aoki said she knows the risks , `` but I feel personally that the risk that there is is worth taking for what I can achieve by doing so . '' From the prime minister 's office to town halls , Japanese authorities told CNN they have no provisions for dealing with animals when their owners are ordered to clear out -- orders that have been expanded to other towns around the crippled power plant , which has been emitting radioactive particles since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that knocked out its coolant systems . Gallaon-Aoki called that `` unforgivable . '' `` I understand they have a huge problem as far as people are concerned . They are dealing with a lot , '' she said . `` But , I mean , there are people and groups who would be willing to help , and surely they could kind of set some sort of well-coordinated effort . '' The fate of the tethered beagle Ogawa and Toyoda captured on video was not known early Thursday .
Many people left pets behind when evacuations were ordered . ` ` We tried to reach him , but we ' n't get in , '' one says . He has no plans to retrieve pets from contaminated areas .