Watch: A Soldier’s Plea to Stop Violence

Update (June 20, 2023): Teams have rescued nearly 300 traumatized dogs, cats, chickens, and other animals from the deadly flooding in Ukraine. Here are many grateful animals after arriving at the Global Compassion Fund–supported clinic in Kharkiv:

While the team members are reuniting flood victims with their guardians and finding loving homes for those who need one, they’re also busy restocking supplies for another trip back to Kherson later this week. The military has requested their help to rescue the animals who are trapped on the front lines as fighting in the region intensifies.

These dogs may have been spared by the floodwaters, but they are all deeply affected by the sounds of the conflict nearby. Watch how Animal Rescue Kharkiv helps them escape:

Update (June 15, 2023): More than 200 dogs, cats, chickens, and goats (and even a turtle) have now been pulled from the floodwaters and are receiving the care they need, thanks to the strong network of rescuers, volunteers, veterinarians, and shelters supported by the many recent donors to PETA’s Global Compassion Fund.

The team from Animal Rescue Kharkiv is still busy navigating the debris-strewn water, scaling destroyed houses, and swimming through the muck to reach as many animals as they can.

Watch as senior dog Kai calls out for help from a rooftop when he senses the approaching rescue boat:

Water levels are slowly receding, and what lies beneath the murky surface is now creating new challenges for rescue crews in boats—who  must also contend with water-logged structures that may collapse.

Teams on solid ground are also working to reunite guardians with their animal companions who went through the unimaginable: becoming separated without a moment’s notice and not knowing whether one another had survived. These two were grateful to be with each other once again:

Heavy Rain and Military Shutdowns

Afina was found hungry, frightened, and alone on a floating metal roof. Watch what happens after “Capt. Afina” alerts her crew to other animals who need their help:

Rescuers put on ponchos when the heavy rain started beating down. Visibility was sometimes limited, but knowing animals were still out there—having gone several days without food and clean water—the team carried on to reach them.

Strong currents likely displaced this turtle downstream. The team spotted her when she was able to clamber atop a roof, and they scooped her up and took her to safety.

When the military sealed off the area, teams backed by PETA’s Global Compassion Fund raced their boats to another location and kept rescuing dogs, cats, and other animals. They were later the only group given permission to continue working.

Update (June 9, 2023): Over 100 dogs, cats, chickens, and other animals have been saved from dangerous flooding in southern Ukraine so far. Watch as a team supported by PETA’s Global Compassion Fund whisks traumatized animal survivors onto their boats and away to safety:

Each moment counts for exhausted animals trapped on rooftop “islands” or desperately trying to escape the murky floodwaters.

Update (June 8, 2023): Teams supported by PETA’s Global Compassion Fund are carefully navigating the floodwaters in Ukraine to find cats, dogs, chickens, and other animal survivors and rush them to dry land, where they’re provided with food and water. Volunteers are transporting them to a nearby veterinary clinic and animal shelters.

Everywhere the rescuers steer their boats, they find animals at risk of drowning. Here are a few of the dozens of lives they have saved so far:

This dog was desperately treading water to survive after someone left him tethered to a roof. Rescuers got to him in the nick of time. He was so exhausted that after the team rushed him to dry land, he couldn’t even stand on his own.

Rescuers eased this terrified dog onto a boat:

This overwhelmed dog clasped his rescuer’s leg for dear life until he was pulled from the water.

Countless other panicked animals are stranded on rooftops or desperately trying to survive in the bacteria-laden water as rescuers risk their lives navigating around military explosive devices and broken power lines to save them.

Teams supported by PETA’s Global Compassion Fund (GCF) are navigating the murky waters of flooded streets to save frightened animals clinging to rooftops or struggling to reach a patch of dry ground after the destruction of a major dam in southern Ukraine.

Animal Rescue Kharkiv set out for the devastated region with food, medical supplies, and boats soon after news broke of the flooding, and the group was shortly joined by another GCF-supported rescue team out of Mykolaiv.

“This catastrophe transcends any dramatic situation we have experienced side by side with our local partners since the outbreak of war.”

—Sylvie Bunz, Special Projects Senior Manager, PETA Germany

The floodwaters are challenging, and broken power lines and military devices are making the situation even more dangerous. Rescuers are risking their lives to reach as many stranded and traumatized survivors as possible. Teams are whisking the animals they save to a nearby clinic for any necessary veterinary care, while others are being transported to local shelters in the hope of reuniting them with their guardians.