There are about 300 animals in the shelter: volunteers from Dnipro evacuate dogs and cats from the front

Since February 2022, volunteers have been evacuating animals from the Kharkiv, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions. Now animals need owners, financial assistance, meat products, vaccines, and medicines.

Shelter administrator Iryna Kosenko says that sometimes animals are brought to the shelter by the army.

“It often happens that the animals feel sorry for them, they cannot find a place and the paramedics take the injured boys to the Dnipro and leave them in the hospital. We also come and pick them up,” says Iryna Kosenko, the administrator of the “Kowczeg” Shelter.

A volunteer tells how a woman with sixty animals was evacuated from Severodonetsk. In addition, mini-shelters with exotic animals were taken from the Luhansk region. After the detonation of the hydropower plant, volunteers evacuated ten dogs and several cats from the Kherson region.

— There was panic from the first day, but we understood that we need help, and somehow it so happened that calls and requests to evacuate the animals began. For the evacuation of people with a lot of animals – says the woman.

As the administrator of the shelter says, since the beginning of the war, people often leave their animals alone because they are going abroad. Not only homeless people were in the war zone, but also pets.

"Sometimes people say they fed a dog nearby who brought puppies. 'Volunteers help.' They bring puppies to us in Dnipro, they bring a dog, we sterilize her, and they take their “fighting friend” because they can't live without her," says the administrator of the shelter.

Animals urgently need help

Animals from the frontline areas are brought in with injuries, says Iryna Kosenko. A dog named Dean was brought in by the military with a concussion. And her neighbor Rocky was rescued from Toreck in Bakhmut District. Another dog named Achilles was evacuated from Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region. Due to the complex injury, an amputation of the front paw was necessary.

“We have a dog Chara here, without two hind legs, who was taken from Kostiantynivka. We are currently treating her for heartworm. We have a blind dog Gulliver, he can't see, only hear these explosions – the animals start hitting the paddock, the ladder” – says Iryna Kosenko.

The shelter was created by a group of enthusiasts in 2012. With the beginning of the war, its needs increased significantly, says Iryna Kosenko.

"We are not supported by the state in any way, we are a private shelter. We do not have any sponsors, etc., we live at our own expense and at the expense of caring citizens", said the administrator of the shelter.

Currently, there are about two hundred dogs and seventy cats at the shelter. About 40 percent of them are evacuated from the front-line areas, says the volunteer. Now animals need owners. And also – cash assistance, meat products, vaccines, medicines and household items. You can help them.