Evacuation with Pets: East SOS Supports People and Their Furry Friends in the Hardest Times
During evacuations, people often leave their homes with their pets. The East SOS team emphasizes that no one should refuse to evacuate out of fear of leaving an animal behind.
At the same time, there are situations when people cannot continue their journey with their pets due to health conditions, resettlement requirements, or the need for inpatient care. In such cases, decisions are made individually – with the owners’ consent and in close cooperation with volunteers and partner organizations.
“The hardest moments are when people have to say goodbye to their pets because of circumstances beyond their control. It’s impossible to watch without tears,” says Diana Yakovleva, Evacuation Logistics Manager at East SOS.
Sometimes, during evacuations, animals abandoned at the frontline and rescued by people fleeing danger end up in transit centers. When this happens, our team helps coordinate the search for temporary or permanent care for these animals together with the volunteer community whenever possible.
This was the case with Dina, a dog evacuated in critical condition with tumors. Diana launched a fundraiser for Dina’s treatment, and thanks to the support of caring people, the dog underwent two surgeries. After her recovery, Dina found a new home with a volunteer from Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Resettlement conditions often determine the fate of animals evacuated together with their owners. In one case, a couple who required accommodation in a residential care facility was forced to leave their pets behind. They had two cats and a dog. The cats were eventually rehomed in Ivano-Frankivsk and Pavlohrad, while the dog found a new home in Odesa.
In another case, in Lozova (Kharkiv region), our partner organization evacuated a 71-year-old woman, Vira, from Druzhkivka (Donetsk region). She was scheduled to be placed in a residential care facility and arrived with a cat and four kittens. The cat had once been given to her by the military and had long since become a member of her family. When the kittens were born, Vira evacuated with all of them.
Daryna Bukhova, a Lawyer at East SOS, helped organize the animals’ resettlement. She shared information and reached out to thematic groups and channels. One kitten was taken in by the military, another by a family from the Zmiiv district of the Kharkiv region. Two kittens traveled with Daryna to Kharkiv – by the very next day, one had found a family there, and the other was adopted in Chuhuiv.
Every new home we find is one more life saved.
If you or your loved ones need assistance evacuating from dangerous areas, you can register for a free evacuation by calling our Call Center from Monday to Saturday (8:00 AM–6:00 PM): 0800 332 614.
You can also contact us via messengers:
Viber: +38 (099) 710 48 72
Telegram: +38 (096) 108 60 48
Recently, we have exposed some fakes about evacuation spread by the enemy.
