It has been one year since the war in Ukraine began and we started our mission of helping animals who were displaced, abandoned, neglected, or injured from it (see previous posts on Bored Panda regarding that by clicking here, and here). It is estimated that approximately 1 million animals have been badly affected and are now without housing since the war broke out.
Through my organization, The Red Shed, we have been fortunate to connect with real Ukrainians who are on the ground helping to save as many animal lives as possible. Along the way, we have learned about the struggles of these selfless individuals who have sacrificed and given their best efforts to keep as many animals as possible fed, sheltered, and taken care of in extremely difficult circumstances.
These are the ‘underdogs,’ excuse the pun. They are under the radar of the larger animal welfare institutes and organizations because they are too small, but in our eyes, they are legendary. The Red Shed helped as much as we could by providing funds, support, food, transportation, rehoming, and veterinary care. But the TRUE brave souls are the Ukrainians who have never given up on these animals.
If you would like to get in touch, you can email me directly at: [email protected]. For more information about donations, click here,
A year ago, we started helping animals in Ukraine with the help of local heroes who ensure no animal is left hungry, cold, or in pain while the war continues
These volunteers have refused to leave the animals without care or aid, and some have even built their own mini ‘shelters’ to keep a roof over the heads of those animals who have no home. These are REAL Ukrainians on the ground who have taken in displaced animals or constructed a ‘makeshift’ shelter to take in multiple dogs and cats with nowhere to go.
All of the volunteers in this story have struggled through a harsh winter, electricity and power outages, food rations, and most importantly, not knowing when this war will end, as it nears its one-year anniversary. I personally think every single person who, in the face of war, has been kind enough to help a distressed animal keep safe, warm, and fed deserves the highest praise!
Thank you to ALL of the rescuers across Ukraine who don’t make the big headline news, but in their towns and villages are champions to those animals they love.
Meet Olena, who now has 88 dogs in her shelter, up from 32 last year. All of these dogs were abandoned or neglected strays that came to her during the war
She struggles daily with the care of them on her own but has vowed to us, “I will never, ever leave them. They are my dogs and I love them all now”
She starts her day at 7:00 a.m. until midnight feeding, taking care of and cleaning out the kennels of all 88 canines
There is barely enough dog food to go around, so she buys bulk bags of oats and makes porridge to feed all of the dogs.
From midnight until 2:00 a.m., she spends time with the puppies. There are a LOT of puppies born here. Her shelter is too small for all of those dogs and sometimes the puppies get sick with parvovirus and need to be quarantined; which is nearly impossible.
Olena also takes care of soldiers’ dogs for them when they are assigned to the Dnipro area. We are trying to help her source a better plot of land to build a new permanent shelter away from the main Dnipro area of attack. This will mean that the dogs, particularly the puppies, will be better-taken care of and less sickness among them.
Olena cooks up large batches of oatmeal and porridge to help keep all of the dogs fed and nourished throughout the winter
Here she is with a recent shipment of food (and new wheelbarrow) to help feed all of the pups who have been left to her
“I love these dogs like they are all of my own, even if they came to me from strangers or were abandoned here. They are part of me and my life now,” she told us
Valentyna, founder of an eco-luggage bag company, now dedicates all her time to animal rescue work across multiple regions in Ukraine since the war began
She has been helping Red Shed put together shipments of food for delivery to animal rescuers in need
Valentyna has been a huge help to The Red Shed in connecting us with smaller, unknown shelters or individual rescuers as she has been contacted by multiple individuals who ask for help with food or medicines for dogs and cats.
The Red Shed was able to donate the van to the shelter she volunteers at (thanks to Bored Panda) to help them safely rescue injured animals
She has been on many rescue missions with this van for ‘Save the Lives’ shelter of Khmelnytskyi.
“Motion is life, and the most important thing is to never stop trying to do as many good deeds as possible”
Pictured are Valentyna’s chinchillas she rescued from one of her missions in Kharkiv.
Eugene, a former concert promoter in Ukraine for 12 years, was planning to resume his work after the pandemic, but then the invasion happened which left his future uncertain
He joined animal rescue volunteer teams in early March after seeing an ad, and soon realized how the war was going to displace helpless animals in need of human aid
In one particular occupation of Russian military, an animal shelter in Borodianka had only 150 animals survive out of 485 in total.
He noticed that many cats were not being taken in as much as dogs were and from this moment, he vowed to set up a shelter for cats
Eugene adores every single one of them and has worked so hard to ensure they are all taken care of, especially those who need urgent veterinary attention
He fights daily to improve the conditions of shelters around him and for his own so that it eases the suffering of innocent animals caught in this war zone
