Please Join Tracie supporting this GoFundMe campaign!
If there’s one image I can't forget from this brutal ongoing war in Ukraine, it was of a family trying to flee with their dog. It was early on in the war, when the Russians bombed an extended family in broad daylight as they tried to cross a bombed-out street with their small suitcases and a little white dog on a leash. How could we not see ourselves in that multi-generational family reduced to hand luggage - and their beloved doggy - all trying to flee danger?
Scenes like that have been ongoing month after month, as Ukrainians have fled the Russian onslaught in their towns and cities. Some have been able to take their dogs and cats in carriers, but most have had the heartbreak of leaving their pets behind. The animals were mostly not spayed and neutered, so now there is an explosion of puppies and kittens facing the dangers of fatal diseases, starvation and violence. The dogs and cats are contracting rabies and spreading it amongst other animals and endangering humans.
Daniel Fine co-created the Ukrainian War Animals Relief Fund and is about to make his FIFTH personal volunteer journey (supported by Humane Society International) to bring supplies for spay/neuter, vaccinations and tons of food for the pets being looked after by local Ukrainian samaritans. Daniel has also enlisted the help of friends at Microsoft to create facial recognition software for the pets so displaced Ukrainians can find their pets and eventually be reunited.
If you have already made donations to some of the non-profits looking after Ukrainian pet casualties of this war, thank you. If you can give a little more, even any little bit, please chip in for this fundraiser. If you haven't given any donations before now (as I had not) because you were unsure that your donation would wind up in the right hands and go directly to helping animals in dire need, look no further. I interviewed Daniel Fine on DOG TALK (and Kitties, Too!) this week and he is the real deal: he has had “boots on the ground” four times he has gotten himself to Ukraine to pitch in where the suffering was greatest. In August he will embark on his fifth mercy mission to Ukraine, knowing the enormity of the suffering there while also being encouraged about the positive impact he can make with every penny he raises. The PetFundR campaign has lots of photos and information. Please join me in giving material support to someone brave, generous and determined enough to go into harm’s way again and again on behalf of pets and their people a universe away.