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Remember the first weeks of the full-blown invasion, when the “survivor syndrome” woke up for many? When did people feel guilty about what they supposedly do little for our victory? Then everyone tried to find a place where he could be useful, for example, in sorting humanitarian aid, weaving nets or cooking in social kitchens.
Today, this problem has grown into another – burnout or fatigue. It doesn't have to be exhaustion from overwork. Rather, this is another psychological stage, during which people begin to lose their own resource simply because of the conditions in which they live.
However, based on the same psychology, resource is one of the most valuable components of our stability. There is a resource – there is a thirst to work and help others. Therefore, the preservation or restoration of one's own forces should be a priority for everyone who wants to contribute to the victory of Ukraine.
What helps to restore the resource?It can be any action that allows you to relax or change the focus of attention. For example, a walk in the park, a trip out of town for the weekend, painting or sports. However, there is another area that solves the problem of one's own benefit and at the same time recuperation – this is animals. Today, almost every shelter in Ukraine asks for help: with the war, the number of animals in enclosures began to grow. Therefore, some Ukrainians and businesses have made it a habit to visit regularly and keep them afloat. In particular, back in May, the Joker company did this, which, together with the Happy Paw Foundation, launched the Zalizni Paws charity campaign to help the Revival shelter.
However, how can you help at the level of one person? It is not necessary to collect thousands of hryvnia. You can gather your friends and come to the shelter for a day to help out its workers.
Therefore, what kind of support animals need, we tell on the example of the Revival shelter, which is located in the Obukhovsky district of the Kyiv region.
Day with animals
An icon on your navigator and voices of dogs will alert you when you are approaching a shelter. A few meters before the gate, the animals feel that guests are coming to them, so they begin to convey emotions of joy in the only possible way – by barking.
The fact that they broadcast exactly joy, you will see when you cross the threshold. From everywhere, as if by a wave of the hand, dozens of dogs come flying in the struggle for the first stroke. They jump on each other, run in circles and literally crawl under your hands to feel the warmth of the human body.
They lack attention so much, – Victoria, the owner of the shelter, immediately explains, which also welcomes guests.
Animals need human attention/Photo “Renaissance”
Visitors are welcome at the shelter/Photo “Renaissance”
Now about 250 animals – cats and dogs – live in the Revival shelter. Although more and more of them are being adopted lately, this balance is maintained, as the shelter is replenished with new residents almost daily. Only the other day they found “foundlings” in a box,” Victoria sighs.
Among the animals there are many who have lived in the shelter all their lives. One of these is the blind dog Ray. Unlike other dogs, Ray behaves very calmly: he moves smoothly around the yard and approaches visitors just as smoothly. In the human world, Ray might be called a phlegmatic, but the first contact with a dog changes this impression. When the dog touches your hand, the body begins to “goosebumps” – there is so much love in this movement. Ray doesn't have to jump around and beg for attention: he takes all of it as soon as that big head presses against your body.
Animals love to cuddle up with people/Photo “Renaissance”
The shelter dogs have a different fate: some were thrown out into the street, others were brought “for some time”, because there is no way to keep them around yet. The situation was strikingly affected by the war, because the shelter was replenished with dogs that the owners left during the evacuation.
Victoria immediately leads to the pit bull Kid, who recently got into a shelter. Its owner is a military man, now he is fighting at the front. The man left the dog in the aviary and asked the neighbors to take care of it. Once the neighbors got tired of it, and they released the pit bull to the mercy of fate. Frightened and alone, Malysh wandered around Obukhov. Because of this, the dog rushed at the animals. He was brought to the shelter by a Teroboronian and asked to find a family for the dog.
So, at first the pit bull was aggressive, but what else can you expect from a dog that has lived in the house, and then suddenly was on the street? Now he behaves calmly and reacts very positively to people, – says Victoria.
Pit Bull Kid was frightened because he suddenly found himself on the street/Photo “Renaissance”
Opposite the pit bull lives another dog whose life was destroyed by the war – a Doberman named Graf. He was brought to the shelter by a family from Chernigov after the enemy bombed their house. The owners promise to take the pet as soon as they find a new home, but for now, the Count remains in the shelter and howls sadly in the evenings, missing his past life. “
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Last, Victoria shows the white dog Archie, who was brought to the shelter by the owners. They were evacuated from Kyiv and for unknown reasons could not take the dog with them. They even left the shampoos and toys that Archie loves to play with.
When the owners left, they could not look the dog in the eyes. I remember how he barked long when he realized that he was seeing them for the last time. Archie is accustomed to people, knows all the commands, so we really want to find a new family for him, – Victoria says sadly.
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Help from the heart
Animal shelter is the whole world. They spend their lives here, hoping that someday they will have a home of their own. So, some are lucky, and they complement someone's family, but most continue to live in enclosures. Realizing this, I want to do my best to at least make it easier for the animals to stay in the shelter.
Help the animals in the shelters, it's easy/Photo “Revival”
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How to do this? The first is to bring food and help with building materials. The shelter is a conveyor belt in which you need to deliver food and make something every day. As proof of this, in the center of the “Vіdrodzhennya” shelter there are boards that were once an aviary.
“We need to build new ones,” the owner of the shelter explains the slight mess.
From here it follows the second way to help is physical labor. If there is no way to help financially, you can take out the trash, clean and repair the enclosures. The big problem of the shelter is the trenches that the dogs break through. If they are not covered and the ground is not strengthened, during rains or snow, the enclosures turn into a swamp.
Therefore, now we need a chain-link, sawdust, as well as strong hands that can make flooring on the ground, adds Victoria.
However, enclosures are not all. Shelter workers dream of clearing the kitchen, under the rubble of which there is a 13-year-old stove. To do this, according to Victoria, they really need men's hands, which “will remove the boards and other debris and help chop firewood from them.”
Of course, the shelter has needs that cannot be satisfied without money . Preparing enclosures for winter, insulating walls and floors – these are the things without which it will be difficult for animals to live in frost. In this case, Ukrainian businesses can come to the rescue. For example, the Joker company and the Happy Paw Foundation, thanks to a charity fundraiser, purchased a trailer in which they will equip a veterinary office to help animals. The collection was carried out through a separate page on the foundation's website and through thematic missions on the company's website, where players could donate while playing. With the money raised, the shelter is also renovating the house, which will house an isolation room for elderly and sick animals. We used to house them in our house, because there were no warm rooms on the territory of the shelter anymore. Now – it will be, – Victoria comments with joy in her eyes.
You can help the shelter in the fourth, probably the most important way. It's about having time with animals. They need love and human warmth. The touch of a hand brings a smile to their faces and makes dogs and cats literally glow from the inside. People are the most important need of animals, and nothing replaces for them hugs and the opportunity to feel like part of the family.
But if you don't know who you could get along with – with a cat or a dog – we offer an interesting test. Perhaps he will inspire you to replenish the family with a pet.
