A Ukrainian’s Stories of Saving Animals during War

Transcript

[Julie]
 Welcome to the story of my pet podcast. I'm your host, Julie. Marty Pearson. It was my passion for animals that fueled me to start this podcast, and I'm so glad you're here to join me along the way. Today, we'll hear from another guest telling their tales of their amazing pets from yesterday and today we'll be able to talk about rescue and adoption and so much more about our amazing animal friends. Don't forget to stick around at the end to hear about the organization we're highlighting in today's episode.
 
 [Julie]
 Hello. Hello, my friends and fellow animal lovers. Welcome to another episode of the Story of My Pet podcast. I'm so excited for this episode. It's very special. I have my friend Karin Olson back again. Some of you will remember her from episode one, and she's here because she's introduced me to her friend Natalia from Ukraine. Hello, Natalia.
 
 [Karin]
 Hi, sweetie.
 
 [Nataliia]
 How are you? Hi, Karin.
 
 [Julie]
 Hi, Natalia.
 
 [Nataliia]
 I'm Natalie
 Hi. How are you guys?
 
 [Karin]
 We're good.
 
 [Julie]
 We're doing great. We're so happy to talk with you today.
 
 [Julie]
 Okay, I'm going to tell our listeners a little bit more about Natalia before we get into our conversation. Natalia is 19 years old and from Ukraine. She's a student of international relations at Lee University and also a CEO, assistant and manager of the fundraising in a non governmental organization called the Ukrainian Volunteer Service. She is an animal lover and currently at home, has five cats and a dog that they've rescued that have been left behind or needed a home after the start of the war with Russia. So she's doing her part as an animal lover by helping the animals in need. Okay.
 
 
 
 [Julie]
 Hi, Natalia.

Thank you so much for being here.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Thank you for inviting me.
 
 [Julie]
 Let's talk about your love of animals. Have you always loved animals since you were little?
 
 [Nataliia]
 Yeah, so, well, my story, I think, is very usual because when I was little, my parents didn't allow me to have any animals, cats or dogs. We had a little parrot, but that's it. For all my childhood, I was asking my mom to get a cat, and unfortunately, then my mom was really I don't know, she was really scared of this responsibility, I guess. So we didn't have any animals. And then when I was in the 7th grade, I said to my mom, like, okay, so if I win this competition, it was a competition from all Ukrainian levels, so it was kind of really hard to win. We will get a cat. And my mom said she was sure, I'm not going to win any competition because so many participants, well, she didn't believe in this thing, so she was like, okay, sure. And then one day, I just came in the house and said, mom, I have on the competition. Let's get the cat. That was her promise, too. My grandmother, she lives in the village and she has cats there. So when her cat gave birth to the kittens. We got a kitten. So that was our first kitten. Well, I have thought it will be the last, but it's not. My mom, actually, she was, like, in the forest week. She was crying on this cat. She was, like, struggling him, giving him a boss and so on. And she couldn't believe that the cat live in our house. And now cats are everywhere in our house. My father always says, like, what did you do with our mom? Why would you do that? So my mom, then she started feeding the homeless animals on the street. So I helped her with that. And she started doing it when I left to the US. For the year. So that was like her hobby. Instead of me, she's helping the animals. And it is very cool. That summer before I left to the US. We also had the cat. Somebody threw a cat out near our apartment here. And when I was living to the US. My words were, mom, you when I will be in the US. You will get this catholic. She was like, no. And then I think in October when I was in the ass, my mom sent me the picture with this cat on our bed. And I think she was treating her. So she's living here almost. She had been living here for a week, and I'm like, okay, you didn't tell me. We have apartment here, and we have garage quite far from the house. Not near, and it's like a block of garages. So there are a lot of people and there are homeless dogs there. So when I came, my mom was like, oh, we also feed homeless dogs, like, twice in the garage, and they're like five or something. Okay.
 
 [Julie]
 Your Mom really was a totally different person.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Yes. When I came back, I was like, okay. And I loved it because I could help her with this, and it feels like a new mission. And then our next two cats, the dogs in the garage, found one cat somebody threw out a kitten, and then the other one my mom found on the covers, the building, the roof.
 
 [Karin]
 Yes. Okay.
 
 [Nataliia]
 One kitten my mom found on the roof of some old house. So then we have two more kids, and the last one we got this autumn, somebody again. Well, I think that people know that here we feed the cats and they just throw the cats out because we get them here, so they know that they will be kind of in a good place. Yeah. So it was October, but it was quite cold because it was raining and really wet and cold. And my mom was coming home and she saw this little kitten that was sitting on the bench near our apartment, and she couldn't just leave her. And the last step is to disable it. My father, because my father, he loves them, but he is a strong man asked yet she likes to climb on our shoulders. She is very cheerful and playful. And my father.
 
 [Julie]
 I wanted to say, you mentioned a couple of times when you were in the US. So that's how you and Karen know each other. You did a year here in the US. You lived with a family here in Bakersfield.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Yes, so I lived with Jason and Saul, Karin's friends, and that's how we met with Karin.
 
 [Karin]
 We were so lucky to be able to share that experience. So our good friends Jason and Sauel are very close family friends. And Natasha, we call her Natasha came to live with them. And so we got to benefit from having a whole year of holidays and parties. And I still have a picture of a French braid that Natasha did on my hair. And my goodness, I've never had such beautiful braids in my hair. So, yes, your English has stayed very good. Do you practice English every day?
 
 [Nataliia]
 I'm just curious. Not really well, at work we have partners. Like, for example, we have Peace Corps and volunteers come from the US. So again, we are partnering with them or we partner with National Endowment for Democracy or USAID. So when on the meetings yes, but other than that, I was actually really scared when I came back. But my English will get worse, I will admit.
 
 [Karin]
 Your accent is coming back a little bit. That just means you have to come back and visit us again soon.
 
 [Julie]
 You mentioned that some of the groups you work with so you work with the Ukrainian Volunteer Service. How long have you been working with them?
 
 [Nataliia]
 I have been working with them since October. So it's like, I think it's maybe, I don't know, seven or eight months. And I was an intern there for National Volunteer Platform. And then I accidentally got to the position of Seal assistant. It was a really interesting story because I created my resume in the morning during 15 minutes and just sent it and I don't know, it was just a connection between me and the CEO. She's also a South Carolina, so it was just a connection. And I'm a co assistant.
 
 [Karin]
 That's so cool.
 
 [Julie]
 That's cool. It sounds like an amazing job. I'm sure you guys are very busy with all of the volunteers that are needed in Ukraine right now.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Before the invasion, we were developing the volunteer culture for almost five years and we did lots and lots of projects which were educating volunteers, advocating volunteering in the country, spreading the culture, volunteering. And we had lots and lots of projects. Before the war, I was actually so I got into this media project and we needed to do a podcast about Ukrainian volunteers. But unfortunately we haven't had a chance to do that because the invasion started and we needed to respond to new challenges and help civilians more. So we created new directions. And right now we are coordinating lots and lots of volunteers all over the country because help is needed everywhere and we have lots of projects and things for which we fundraise the money, work with partners and so on.
 
 [Karin]
 Natasha, I was wondering about how your animals have helped you during this time.
 
 [Nataliia]
 I live in the city that was occupied for the first two months. We weren't occupied, but I guess I think this word is besieged. So like, Russian troops were all around. They weren't inside, but they were all around. So there was no connection from us to outside. Yes, and the first day was very traumatizing because we had a battle with Russian troops were coming into the town. And I lived near the military not apartment, but military office where my boyfriend works as well. So they were coming I live like ten minutes from their big office. And when the Russian tanks were coming to the town, they were aiming to bomb and battle for this big office because it's a military goal, right? And again, very close to us, they were coming through the street that is right near the garage apartments that I told you about that we have all those homeless dogs, right? And I was sitting in a shelter when all this battle was going on and we could hear it perfectly and it was very scary. But the next day we got a call and the person that was calling said that one of our dogs is injured. So when the battle was golden, they were lying somewhere near on the street, very near, and probably well, she was injured because of this battle. This dog, we call her Tapa. So all her body was injured. And so it's the first days of the work. Veterinary clinics don't work. Nobody wants to operate, nobody wants even like they looked at it, they kind of cleaned it, but not really. So together with my mom, she did all the work and I just helped her and we treated her and cleaned all these injuries because they had a lot of doors in them and it was very scary and difficult. When I was in the shop, I remember I was really scared because how would be the animals, because I knew where it was, the bat I could imagine, and for me that was like it was extremely scary. But now Daba is okay. She has a trauma, so she's very scared. The dogs in the garage, they live, they have other little homes there, we feed them, so it's a safe place for them. But we can't let her out because she's really scared. So she's scared of the sounds, she's scared of the people, of all the stuff. So she lives with us here. She's really friendly. She wants to make friendship with all the kids, but unfortunately, they are really rude and they don't they feel like they are main characters here, not yours, so she spends only with our last little kitten so they play around and we also have a lot of dogs when we go out with her. We have a lot of people who go out with their dogs for work as well so she makes friendships with them. That's good.
 
 [Julie]
 Well, it sounds like you guys really went above and beyond to help her. I can't even imagine you and the dog and everyone how traumatizing it was but I'm so glad she had you and you have her now living with you. I think that must be really important connection to have with everything that's been going on.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Yeah, it is. It means a lot to see her happy right now because she has a family now even though I feel like it's not her space. She's not used to the house because she loved to be on the streets and run and so on so she's getting used it but again, we can't let her because we saved her and she went through a lot. I can't imagine what she has sold there, what she has seen there.

She was used to the street. She's much more protected and safe with you guys now, a healthier place for her to be in terms of helping animals. What has been the biggest need that you have seen since the Russian invasion?
 
 Yeah, so in our city, the problems in our little town in the city the problems are the same because they are not as big as in occupied cities. For example, I'm going to tell a little bit about everything because it is really important. So when the Russian troops came in, a lot of people were running and a lot of Ukrainians took their animals with them. We have pictures when people hold all these big dogs because the dog is old and she needs to cross the border and she just walks with this big dog on her hands and it's like this woman are superstars and when blessed. When it was occupied we had this I don't know. Maybe you have seen this picture when a girl with a lot of dogs and those dogs. Some of them didn't have legs so it was a special shelter. There was a special shelter for those dogs and the girl, she was rescued them because the city is occupied it means no water, no food, no possibility to come because occupation is really difficult and cruel, I would say. Yeah, but then one of the biggest problem is that some people overwhelming and they didn't have an opportunity to take that with them. So for example, I don't judge those people because everybody has different opportunities and possibilities so we cannot judge them and some of them didn't take the animals. So even in our town where we didn't have bombings or big attacks or occupation inside the city but still people went abroad and they left the cats, the dogs and we had the dog here that we found a new owner for him new family. We also right now have a beautiful cat that was thrown again apartment because the person not she called us. But we're again looking for the owners and we have all the volunteer organizations who are helping to rescue the animals that were closed or left by their owners. We have organizations that also evacuate shelters and even zoos because even if it's not possible and we have for example there was a zoo in Kivoplas again that was occupied and I was reading an article that the people there, they stayed there, the workers in order to clean the animals, help them with all this stress and constant sound. Yeah, it was really stressful for them and people are caring for them. The situation in occupied cities where people are evacuating and they're just running because there is no opportunity to evacuate. For example. If we say about Mary upon it is quite cold now there because military from as of February. They are in Russian Federation now but before that there were some constant bombings and people were running and they left their cats. Their dogs. They couldn't just take them because they didn't have a chance even to evacuate because they walked without water. Without food in order to get to Ukraine and territory somehow.
 
 [Karin]
 Natasha, I wonder if maybe you can let Julie know what some of the names of the organizations are that are rescuing or the zoos that you were talking about and Julie can put the information in the show notes if people want to donate to those causes.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Yes, absolutely.
 
 Yeah. So we have one of the biggest organizations is UA Animals. I will send you some links.
 
 [Karin]
 Great.
 
 [Julie]
 Any organizations we mentioned, I'll put direct links in the episode description for the listeners to learn more about.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Yes, so we also have a lot of pressing groups. I will send you links because there are a couple of them organization called Plat so they also help in different regions of Ukraine. Okay. Those are the organizations that are the biggest in helping animals in Ukraine.
 
 [Julie]
 Okay, that's great. Yeah, I know people want to do anything they can to help and especially to help the animals that are defenseless. And like you were saying, I can imagine people had to just stop what they were doing and run and they may not even have been at home, they could have been at work so they didn't have the opportunity to go home and grab anything let alone to bring their pets with them. I can't even imagine being in that situation. So it's amazing what you and your mum have been able to do but yeah, the larger organizations that are trying to help all of the animals impacted.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Yeah, so for people, as for myself, for example, I don't know why but I don't cry when I see some results of the bombings. I try to feel really strong and keep strong. But when I see some animals left and all these results of the occupation, it makes me really cry because I think about how weak they are. They don't have anybody, and they really defend that.
 
 [Karin]
 As you said, I think Julie and all of her listeners and of course, we completely identify well, one of the more heartbreaking things because they're completely innocent. They can't defend themselves.
 
 [Julie]
 Well, like you said, even the dog that you rescued, the trauma that he went through, how he got wounded, any of the animals, they're hearing and seeing things that they don't understand. We don't understand it either. It makes no sense, the horrible things that are happening. But as people, we can talk and we can learn. And as animals, it's so important they have people to protect them and help them, because they're all going through trauma themselves. I can't even imagine. So amazing what all of these organizations.
 
 [Karin]
 Are doing, and your mom coming from not having animals at all and not wanting animals. And then I know that you were telling me that she's kind of self taught as a healer and has learned different medicinal and healing remedies for these different animals. That's incredible.
 
 [Nataliia]
 I don't know why she just has it. Well, she calls she has some friends or acquaintances that know the medicine and that they give her some advice, but she does it herself. And I just helped her, I don't know, with something because, for example, with light, because we didn't have the storage days. We weren't allowed to turn on the lights in the houses at night, and so we had this flashlight. My mom had a splash light on her head. The whole procedure.
 
 [Karin]
 It's incredible. Thank you. Yeah, you guys are angels.
 
 [Julie]
 It's amazing. And I know people, we cope in our own ways, but I'm sure it helps you and especially your mom, to feel like she's doing something to help somebody and by taking care of the animals. And obviously, she's amazing that she's learning how to care for them herself. I can't even imagine being in your home and not being able to turn the lights on, and you're trying to take care of your family and your pets. So it's just amazing what you've been through and what you guys are still doing to help them.
 
 [Nataliia]
 It was hard at the beginning because we were also thinking about the creation and what if we will get occupied and stuff like that. And I couldn't think, like, how can we, I don't know, grab all the cats and dogs and leave? I don't know. It's a lot of cats and dogs. When I was talking, well, people are panicking. My mom was panicking as well, and I was like, well, everything will be okay. We won't leave. And I hope it will stay, because now in our region, it is okay. We have at least in our city, because we are really close to border. And the towns that are a little closer to the border in my region, they are getting bombed every day. So we have everyday threat of air missile strikes again and it feels like it is cold, but when you think about your previous five, it is not really that cold. Right.
 
 [Julie]
 Even though nothing's happening, you have the constant threat and worry that something could happen any day, at any time.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Yeah, so, I mean, we have sirens all over the town and we have this threat, it's called air danger or something like that. And we have the sirens, which means to go to the shelter, or we have this rule of two walls, so like a safe place in the house. So we also try to keep that in mind if we have a threat.
 
 [Karin]
 So at this point, your town is not occupied by the Russians. There's no Russian military presence.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Yes, they left. So our military, they live in our service. We're born ingredients, they left the whole region. But again, we are really close to the Russian border and it is extremely easy. So you can imagine. Okay, so I will show you like this. But Sumi is north, so that's where my region is. And maybe you heard about bombings live is in the complete west of Ukraine. And when they bomb very often and it is very far from the border and we are extremely close. So it's the easiest way to bomb us because we are one of the first features. As I said, the towns that are closer to the border than my town, they are bombed like every day. Every morning we get the news about Russians again bomb to this town. The towns that are really, really close to the border, they even shoot from the territory. So it's not even like bombs, they can just shoot and the houses will get destroyed and the people will get hurt as well.
 
 [Karin]
 I'm thinking about the animals again, and the sounds of the sirens, of the trucks, of the gunshots. We think about our pets here in the States on 4 July and want to protect them from that one night or few nights of those sounds. But yeah, that can lead blessing trauma.
 
 [Nataliia]
 For all of the people and the animals. It's such a shift in what, like you said, your normal life, that I think sometimes people see the news, say, oh, the troops aren't there anymore. Like you said, every day you're getting up and hearing more about places close to you that have been bombed or shot at. So it's constant, it hasn't changed, it's always happening. I think that's important for people to realize.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Yeah, absolutely.
 
 When the war is going. So you have the thread every second. When I talk sometimes to my friends or my boyfriend, I like to say, like, I live my life because every second I get a bump on my head. And it's true, because we have this information. For example, we had again two bombs were flying to our town, but they were destroyed on their way, for example. So we have lots of disinformation and it's thanks to God that our town like only on the fourth day we had this big battle, scary and planes were flying and all that stuff, but we hadn't suffered what, for example, keyboard had suffered. So we had to say but our town was lucky comparing to the others that were occupied or besieged or bombed. Now it is calmer in our territory because the main forces, the biggest amount of military, they are in the east and on the occupied territories, because they're fighting for these territories and not for all Ukraine as they wanted. So those territories are in much bigger danger. But again, the bombs are flying every day to all different rich.
 
 [Karin]
 Natasha, are you aware of how much the whole world is in awe of your country?
 
 [Nataliia]
 Yes, I think so. I'm really thankful for all the help that we get. As I work in governmental sector, I see how many humanitarian aid we get from other countries, for example, as well as military help with countries, as well as informational support. I quite understand that when the time goes, it gets forgotten. So because I see even in our society, because people are getting used to the fact it's not a nonsense anymore, it's the fact that it's continuing and people are getting used to it. People are donating less. People, as I am managing the fundraising campaigns, I see that Ukrainians are donating less because they don't have money or opportunity. It was abroad in the first month, but now it's a lot of news are happening and as it was in the first month and it is normal because when I think about it, I think about how I reacted to the worst in other countries and I was like, well, I didn't think about it, so why am I looking for support from other countries? So that changed my mind completely. And I'm saying that now, I'm not going to leave calmly when the world's.
 
 [Julie]
 Going well, I think that's really important. What you're saying is that when Ukraine was first invaded, it was on our news in the US every day, all day long. And then over time it kind of became less and less. They still talk about it every day, but we've had our own issues. I mean, we've had a lot of horrible mass shootings every day ourselves. But I think that's one of the reasons I was so excited to have you on the podcast, because I think it's important for people to realize that it's not over. And I would never say it's gotten better, it's changed because they've changed where their focus is, like you've said. But you guys, everyone in the Ukraine is still under a threat constantly, every day, all day long. And it's so important for people to realize that now the aid is less, the money being donated is less because time has passed. And so it's important for those who want to help you, help the people and the animals to really step up and give or donate whatever you can. Even $5 can make a difference. I mean, how many animals can be fed with $5? That's how I like to think about it. So I really appreciate you coming on with me. I know it's not easy for you to talk about it, especially because you are literally living it. But I think this is such an important thing for people to realize what's going on. It's still happening, it hasn't gotten better, it's just changed. And you all need our support.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Yeah, that's true. We are thankful for all the support that we get. We have lots of donations and our organization, for example, about our directions, we help the elderly with some addresses, packages and also help the occupied territories. And it is very important because big foundations and big organizations, for example, like some international organizations, they can't help unoccupied territory because it is a zone of conflict and literally nobody helps them. So our organization took that risk and the challenge to have up there, because we have contacts with a lot of other organizations. So we try to help them and we fundraise money for that and for the elderly. Again, we have a lot of successful stories. For example, the ex director of Peace Corps in Ukraine, Michael, he has a band and last week he organized a full charity concert and all the money he needed, $2,500 to us. And it is a lot of money for the help. That's all of him.
 
 [Karin]
 I wonder, Natasha, could you just say out loud maybe the website of Ukrainian volunteer service? And then of course, Julie is going to put that in the show notes. But if people could you repeat the.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Name of the website? The name of the website of the organization is Volunteer Country. But I will send you a link to the social pages because there we publish and post more material and they will send you the links on the nations. So we have fundraisers for the elderly and we have a new fundraiser that we launched today for the occupied territories.
 
 [Speaker B]
 Okay, that's great. And I think that's important. Talking about the elderly like animals, they are defenseless. I know so many people, they can't leave their home for whatever reason. They have medical needs. So your organization being able to help them, that is very important. And any links you send me, not only will I put it in the description of this episode, but when I post about the episode being available on social media, Instagram, Facebook, all of those, I'll link them all there. So I'll try to get them as much publicity as I can.

Ukrainian Volunteer Service — that is the organization I work in 

Collecting donations to help the elderly: https://bit.ly/3xXKEUp

Collecting donations to help the occupied territories: https://bit.ly/3NNcs2

 UAnimals: https://www.patreon.com/uanimals

GladPet: https://gladpet.org/charity

[Julie]
 Thank you so much.
 I know Karin will share it all too.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Yes, we have. Launched this new fundraiser and I haven't talked about it yet on my social pages, but yeah, I'm keeping my mind on that because I need to get some storytelling or emotional things right. Yeah, for the elderly. I wanted to say that when the closet started, our organization started and this project for the elderly is still going on and we have volunteers who talk with the elderly and people who find themselves alone every week. So this is the project that stayed and it's working successfully and we have lots of new volunteers and lots of new people in need to talk and find a new friend as well.
 
 [Julie]
 Awesome.
 
 [Karin]
 That's great. I'm so proud of you
 You're incredible.
 
 [Julie]
 Yeah. I'm so glad to meet you virtually and I know someday you'll be back here to visit and I'll get to meet you in person. But between your own work, helping animals on the street and your job, working with an organization that helps all of these volunteer groups and projects is just amazing. Sounds like you've really been able to put your focus there to help you in dealing with what's going on around you. And that's so admirable. I don't know that I could have done that at my age at 44, let alone as a 19 year old in a country being occupied and besieged. So I just want to thank you again for being here and sharing your story and allowing me to share it with people so that they can learn more about it.
 
 [Nataliia]
 Thank you. Yeah, it's a job of every Ukrainian now to not only work and volunteer, but also to fight for the country because everything that we're doing now is contributing to our victory and we're tired and we have a lot of everybody of us is really tired, but we know that we can't stop.
 
 [Karin]
 Well, you've got our support and we're going to do everything we can until Ukraine is free and safe again.
 
 [Julie]
 Thank you so much.
 
 [Julie]
 Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Story of My Pet podcast. Special thanks to my guests for being here to share the love of animals with me, tell stories of their amazing pets and help me spread awareness about animals in need around the globe. You can learn more about the guests and the rescue organization we discussed in this episode in the show Notes. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at the Story of My Pet podcast and visit our website to learn more about being a guest on an upcoming episode by joining our email list. Want to support the podcast even more? Then head to www.buymyacoffee.com. You can buy us a cup of coffee and for every cup bought, 40% will be donated to a rescue organization to help animals in need. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you at the next episode.