Saved from war and cold: over 22,000 dogs and cats were warmed in two months – Publications

On average, there were 60% more animals in shelters in Ukraine with the start of a full-scale war. Such data were made public in the “Sotsioinform” center. The number of cats and dogs that ended up on the street increased.

In total, 510 shelters take care of homeless animals in Ukraine. They usually function with the funds of volunteers and benefactors.

“The greatest fear of a volunteer is that the animal will be thrown away or put to sleep”

Because of military operations, people primarily care about their lives or the lives of their loved ones and leave. Therefore, since the beginning of the war, domestic animals end up on the street more often than in 2021, says Anastasia Abolesheva, PR manager of the Happy Paw Charitable Foundation.

“We are trying to convey to people that shelters are very overcrowded and cannot provide animals with the kind of life they would have in a family. For a domestic cat or dog to suddenly find themselves on the street or in a shelter, it is a huge stress that can cause irreparable damage both physically and mentally animal health.

That’s why it’s better to try to place the pet on your own among friends or through posts on social networks and give it a chance for a decent life in a new home,” says Anastasia Abolesheva.

“She was found in the ruins of a house that was shelled with “hail”

Currently, Happy Paw takes care of more than three hundred shelters throughout Ukraine. In particular, the shelters of the “Virnist” animal protection organization in Dnipro. There are four of them, 90 dogs and 260 cats live there. More than fifty of them were brought by volunteers and soldiers from the front-line territories or directly from the front.

Dog Oksana, who was found in the ruins of a house in Marganka. PHOTO: SHELTER “LOYALTY”

Oksana’s dog was found near a house that was “hail-destroyed” by the Russian military in Marganka, Dnipropetrovsk region. And Oksana’s owners left, like all the people from their street.

“Cats and dogs were left to live in the ruins. Oksana was stressed from the shelling and from the fact that she was abandoned, but she immediately took care of herself,” shelter coordinator Valeriya Kovalyova said.

According to Valeria, the mass evacuation of animals during the full-scale invasion began in Kharkiv, followed by Kherson, Donetsk region, and Zaporizhzhya. Cats that “served” together with the military at the front are often brought to the shelter.

Mazepa’s cat, which was brought from the front. PHOTO: SHELTER “LOYALTY”

“Mazepa was a cat, she was a very small kitten, her legs were broken, both paws were completely broken. And they couldn’t take her out for two weeks. The place was so hot that they couldn’t even evacuate the wounded people. The bones had already grown incorrectly, they had to be broken. “She was treated for a long time, she walked in boots and tubes. We recently placed her in a family,” Valeriya Kovaleva recalls.

During the day in the shelters “Loyalty” only dogs eat 60 kilograms of fodder, separately they cook porridge. Funds for food are collected on the pages of the shelter in social networks, or food is received from volunteers.

More than 22 thousand animals are warm thanks to “Holidays with a tail”

With the onset of cold weather, shelters have increased expenses not only for food or care and medicine, but also for heating animals. There has also been an increase in the number of cats and dogs found on the streets with frostbitten paws, according to “Virnosti”.

“It is very difficult for shelters to close large gatherings. It is always more interesting and understandable for people to donate money for the treatment of a specific animal. But dogs and cats who live in the shelter for a long time need not only basic conditions, but also improvements to the infrastructure of the shelter: new kennels, enclosures, support comfortable temperature, etc.

They need to survive the winter in comfort and warmth so that they do not develop chronic diseases,” says Anastasia Abolesheva, PR manager of the Happy Paw Foundation.

To meet the needs of shelters in winter, the Happy Paw Foundation and the EVA store line are launching the “Holiday with a Tail” animal rescue project for the third year in a row. There were two ways to help the shelters: make a donation at the cash desks of various EVA stores or online on the website.

Funds were collected for everything necessary for the survival of animals in winter: materials for heating, equipment, firewood, fuel briquettes, heaters, stoves, huts.

Over 2,300,000 hryvnias were collected in two months. Almost two million of them are contributions from customers of stores through cash registers. 260,000 hryvnias — from EVA, 100,000 hryvnias were raised online through the website.

“This year, we almost doubled the results of the previous initiative both in terms of the amount of funds collected and the number of shelters that received assistance.

More than twenty-two thousand happy furry friends is one of the best KPIs that can only be imagined,” said the head of EVA’s PR department Oleksandra Hnatyk.

Thanks to the project, in 2023, 74 shelters in 17 regions of Ukraine received assistance. They bought booths, firewood, coal and fuel briquettes, couches, electric convectors, stoves and electric heating mats.

They chose shelters and distributed aid based on requests to the fund.

“The figures we received after the completion of the project shocked us – it was very unexpected and very pleasant, because we understand that every hryvnia goes to help animals.

Last year, in 2022, the project collected half as much money — almost 1,200,000 hryvnias. This year it’s a big number, it’s hard for me to even imagine these scales,” shares Happy Paw Foundation PR manager Anastasia Abolesheva.

Clients from Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv and Odesa regions helped most actively through donations at the cash registers. The largest one-time contribution is 1,078 hryvnias.

The fifth anniversary project for EVA (and the fourth joint project for Happy Paw) is planned by the partners at the end of this year to help warm more animals in shelters in Ukraine.