Doubutsu Aigodantai

Near our apartment, there lies and immense park. Next to the park, there lies a river. In between the river and the park and a little ways down the road, there lies Doubutsu Aigodantai (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) - I'm not sure if this is it's official name, or just a translation of the service.．It's an animal shelter and rescue place, one of only two I'm aware of at least in the Kansai region of Japan, the other being Ark (Animal Rescue Kansai).




There's a place where children can interact with various animals that have been rescued, a museum, a library and various other places where animals are being kept, rehabilitated and trained if they are pets - hopefully for adoption.


The place, when we went, wasn't at all crowded. Then again, it was on a weekday. There was a school group of elementary school children, all of them seeming to be as quirky as they were cute. The museum is small but it's interesting. There's also a message board in the main building listing those animals in need of a good home.

As a side note, it may be possible that this rescue place may be linked with the Japanese efforts to look like they care about animals. The Japanese, unknown or ignored by the Japanese, have a poor history of dealing with animals. Check out the Background section under Animal Welfare on the Ark homepage for more of an understanding of what I mean. I don't know too much about the animal welfare state in Japan, but this is helpful in giving some basic background information into the matter.

There's some debate between my wife and I as to where it's actually located, whether it's in Mukonoso, Itami or Takarazuka. I will update later on when I can get some better information - like their official website and directions and such.