A fire early Wednesday killed dozens of dogs at a breeding facility on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
It took firefighters about four hours to extinguish the blaze that began around midnight, resulting in the death of 34 small dogs of various breeds, said a fire station official at Hokkaido’s Chitose city, AFP reported.
According to the official and local media, around 70 to 80 canines, including dachshunds and poodles, were being kept at the facility.
While the cause remains unknown, the breeder told investigators she “added some wood” to a kennel stove Tuesday night.
A woman passing by the area called the emergency 119 number at around 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 25 to report that “there is a pillar of fire” at the facility where a breeder was raising dogs. A total of four wooden one-story buildings were burned, and the fire was extinguished about four hours later. There were no human injuries.
According to the Hokkaido Prefectural Police’s Chitose Police Station and firefighters, there is information that 30 to 50 dogs, including miniature dachshunds and toy poodles, were being raised at the facility. The body of at least one dog was discovered in the ruins of the kennel.
The facility’s manager was in a separate building on the premises at the time of the fire, and has reportedly explained that they had “added firewood to the stove” inside the dog kennel.
