Animal shelters in Ukraine are overflowing with abandoned animals. Many people had to flee and were unable to take their pets with them. Other animals were found injured under the debris of houses. The New York Times was able to determine how precarious the situation is for the many animals in need and spoke to the owners of several shelters: “We urgently need help”.
Orest Zalypsky’s Domivka Shelter started as a shelter for injured wild animals such as foxes and owls. But since the war, the shelter also shelters injured and abandoned pets. Their enclosure is a quickly furnished shed with wooden and metal cages, discarded blankets, and towers of sacks of pet food. Before the war, the shelter had about 200 animals. Now there are more than 500.
The shelter is full of injured animals: from Chip a dog from Cherson, who went blind after an attack, to Bonie, a large black dog who broke his spine in a gunfire. There are even a few puppies that were found in a garbage can in Lviv.
On another property about an hour away, the New York Times journalist sees 170 sheep, goats and llamas cared for by volunteers on donated land. The animals belonged to a petting zoo in Zaporizhia that was evacuated.
Fewer adoptions
There was a short period after the start of the war when animal owners and rescuers were allowed to bring animals across borders to other European countries without the usual requirements for things like vaccinations. Busloads of volunteers from Germany and Poland came and brought back dogs, rabbits and cats. Nearly 5,500 pets were rescued and found new homes outside Ukraine. Another 1,500 were adopted within the country.
At the moment, however, adoptions have slowed down tremendously. Anyone outside Ukraine who wants to free a pet from the misery of the war has to pay about 200 euros and then collect it yourself. “When it comes to dogs, most people want puppies,” one volunteer reported to The New York Times, “But most abandoned dogs are older and bigger. Some are injured.”
“The shelter urgently needs more staff, housing and food,” Zalypsky told The New York Times, “Concerns grow every day as the number of animals increases.”
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