Not many people would willingly enter a nuclear fallout zone after everyone else had evacuated. But Naoto Matsumura is no ordinary person — he is a hero.

When Japan’s Fukushima disaster struck, everyone fled — including Matsumura, at first. But this brave man returned to the evacuated zone to help his own animals, which he had been forced to leave behind, and ended up staying to take care of the other abandoned animals, too.

When asked about the radiation, Matsumura said experts “told me that I wouldn’t get sick for 30 or 40 years. I’ll most likely be dead by then anyway, so I couldn’t care less.”

We hope Matsumura lives a long, happy life in the company of the animals he so lovingly risks his own health to help.