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Hundreds of dogs have reportedly died at a Ukraine animal shelter after the animals were left without care amid Russia’sattack on Ukraine, which continues after Russian forces launched a large-scale invasion on Feb. 24.
According to the Ukraine-based animal rights organizationUAnimals, 485 dogs were abandoned and left in locked cages at an animal shelter in Borodyanka, Ukraine, when the war first began. The group said that the canines were left without food or water for weeks until volunteers could gain access to the shelter on April 1 after Russian troops left the area.
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According to a release from HSI, animal shelters, veterinary clinics, and pet owners in Ukraine are having trouble finding the pet food and medical supplies needed to keep the country’s animals healthy.
In response to this animal welfare crisis, the Romanian Red Cross has decided to add life-saving supplies for animals to its humanitarian aid transport for Ukraine. HSI has donated over a ton of pet food to the Romanian Red Cross to help with these efforts. According to HSI, this is the first time the Romanian Red Cross has included aid for pets in its transports.
“In times like these, we know that not only people but also animals need help. We are happy and honored to have Humane Society International on our side, making sure that much-needed pet food will also reach Ukraine with our convoys. The first ton of dry pet food has reached our loading point in Sibiu, and it will be delivered to Ukraine within the next days,” Raluca Morar, the executive director of the Romanian Red Cross in Sibiu, said in a statement.
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“We are grateful that the Romanian Red Cross has recognized that the plight of animals in war is inextricably bound up with the plight of the people who live with them and care so deeply about their welfare,” Humane Society International/Europe’s Romania director, Andreea Roseti, added. “We have donated one ton of emergency pet supplies, the first of many to come, that the Red Cross will distribute within Ukraine to help avert a worsening animal welfare crisis. There are large numbers of pet dogs and cats roaming the streets who have become separated from their families; they are bewildered, traumatized, and in need of help.”
Roseti continued, “The tragedy of war doesn’t differentiate between two legs or four, and together with the Red Cross, we will get aid to those people in Ukraine desperately asking for help to keep their animal friends alive in this crisis.”
Dumitru Dragos/HSI
With NATO forces massing in the region around Ukraine, various countries have also pledged aid or military support to the resistance. Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyycalled for peace talks — so far unsuccessful — while urging his country to fight back.
Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the best security interests of his country. Zelenskyy vowed not to bend.
“Nobody is going to break us, we’re strong, we’re Ukrainians,“he told the European Unionin a speech in the early days of the fighting, adding, “Life will win over death. And light will win over darkness.”
source: people.com
