A recent evacuation mission was completed in which rescuers Volodymyr Bratushenko and Oleksandr Pohrebnyi transported 26 dogs from a shelter in Mirnograd, Donetsk region.
Before the full-scale invasion, Svitlana Ostapkova’s shelter had a little over one hundred animals; now there are more than 300. “Mostly, these are animals that our military evacuated or that people who are leaving have given up. Here are dogs from Kostiantynivka, Chasiv Yar, New York, Toretsk…,” Svitlana lists.
The shelter’s head plans to evacuate the entire shelter to the Cherkasy region, but moving so many animals is very difficult. Therefore, Svitlana is looking for opportunities for at least temporary shelter for the cats and dogs during the relocation.
The 26 dogs, along with UAnimals rescuers, traveled to the village of Bryhydivka in the Vinnytsia region to Tamara Pastukh’s shelter. They are already settling into their new place.
There are still 280 dogs left in Mirnograd, 28 of which have spinal injuries, and nearly 60 cats.
“Now, I receive dozens of calls every day,” says Svitlana. “People don’t want to look for housing where they can stay with their animals, live in worse conditions but with their dog. They want to leave the animals and go. They ask me to take Rottweilers, Alabais… Even if I wanted to, I have nowhere to take them.”
It’s even harder because the shelter has no territory. “There was supposed to be some; I made a down payment for the land, but it was directly hit two months ago,” says Svitlana.
Shelter workers will live in the Cherkasy region, while Svitlana wants to stay in Mirnograd to transfer animals to the new shelter from the frontline areas.
If you are ready to take in an animal, please contact the shelter.
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