01/01/2025
Animals Saved - 40
Animals Helped - 10
Food Distributed - 40kg
Leashes Recovered - 1
The Faces From Pokrovsk (18 December 2024)
18 December started out rather nicely. It was cold outside but thankfully we did not have snow or rain. This was also going to be an opening for the drone activity we have learned to fear in the Donbas. The rain and snow normally keeps the drones from flying, as does high winds. We did have high winds when we left Kharkiv, but were unsure what they would be like in Pokrovsk four hours later when we arrived.
We split up into two teams again. Matt and Maks (M&Ms) were in the Nissan, and I was in the van solo. The plan was to split up for the first part of the trip and then go jointly on the second part. The van would work the outskirts of Pokrovsk in the morning, while M&Ms went into Pokrovsk where they van would certainly be destroyed if we took it there.
My first stop was to pick up fifteen puppies and three dogs. That stop took almost 45 minutes because we had to catch the puppies, and only one of the momma dogs was willing to be caught. M&Ms went to the southernmost part of Pokrovsk to extract Skype, an Alabai who was in an area only a few hundred meters from the Russian advances. I will get his story posted soon. I prepared sedation drugs for them to use on Skype, as it had been reported that he was a guard dog and refusing to leave his yard. The person caring for him had evacuated a few days previously, which left him alone with no food or water unless we went to get him.
After we had the first half of the requests completed, we came together just north of Pokrovsk to unload the Nissan and transfer the animals to the van. We then headed back into Pokrovsk as the FPV and artillery activity was intensifying in the city. All around us, artillery was coming into the city, and the animals we were trying to evacuate were scared to death. Owners who were packed and ready to evacuate were standing by for our arrival so they could leave immediately after we took their animals. Reunions were already be planned, but getting them out was the challenge.
We also had to go to another house to rescue a left behind member of the team. A valued member that has been with us since the war began, and who has participated in thousands of rescues throughout Ukraine. Maks was bitten on 10 December when we were in Pokrovsk, and in the process of getting the bite treated, a pink leash was left behind. After more than a week of sitting on a bench waiting with uncertainty, the reunion took place. Unfortunately, the woman who we evacuated 6 dogs from and who said she was leaving did not leave. She had collected herself even more dogs and was still there. It is just a matter of time before the call comes in that she wants to leave and cannot with her animals. Then we will risk our lives to evacuate the animals and she will still not leave. Then the process will start all over again.
We finished the day at a reasonable hour and were able to get out of Pokrovsk before full darkness set in at 1600. We had a few stops to make on the way back to Kharkiv and arrived back before midnight to unload our precious cargo of innocent lives with Порятунок тварин Харків / Animal rescue Kharkiv, Ukraine. A few hours later, we were in ready for bed after a relatively short 19 hour Donbas day.
We will continue to travel dangerous roads and go into harms way helping those in need when they need it the most. We are Global Animal Rescue And Response, and helping those in need is what we do.
www.globalanimalrescueandresponse.org
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