Put on paws: how injured animals are rescued in Kursk region

Thousands of animals - cats and dogs, livestock - were left abandoned in the border areas of Kursk region after the Ukrainian invasion. They are trying to save them, and each such trip can serve as the basis for a poignant movie. Stories about people who returned to their homes under fire for their pets, and how Kursk veterinarians put them "on their feet" - in the material "Izvestia".

Thousands of abandoned

After the August invasion abandoned, alas, were thousands of domestic and farm animals. It is extremely difficult to save them, given the situation.

Nevertheless, says Denis Trubnikov, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the Kursk State Agrarian University (KSAU), it is possible to help those who have been removed, primarily cats and dogs. Medics and students focused on this work immediately after August 6.

Izvestia was told about the animals left behind in the war zone by members of the Akhmat special forces reconnaissance unit. Horses, cows and goats frightened by nearby explosions appear on video broadcasts from copters that monitor the line of contact. There are many feral pigs.

Soldiers often take to themselves abandoned or lost cats and dogs, feed them and even treat them. A curious episode: the scout group was attached to the boar Boris, who went with the soldiers on guard duty. When an unknown person approached, he notified the soldiers - he grunted loudly.

With a toy under the bed

The medical room for animals is located in the department of KSAU. Next door on the territory there are dormitories, which after the August events turned into temporary accommodation centers: students and refugees live in them side by side.

During educational procedures, a resident of the TAC - with a black kitty in his arms - comes into the office.

- For injections," he strokes his wary pet. And he tells me his story: "I myself am from Korenevsky district. My name is Alexander. When the AFU attacked, we left for Kursk. Like everyone else, we thought - for two days. Luckily, we managed to untie the dogs in the yard. We live here in a room in a dormitory. Morally it's hard, we're worried about how we're doing at home, what's going to happen next? And then we found this black cat in the street," the man holds the cat close to him. - She immediately came to us. She's affectionate. Purrs all day long. Helps with the stress. She got sick the other day. Good thing there's a clinic nearby. They took us in, told us the cause of the illness. Now we're on treatment.

The clinic has accumulated a lot of stories recently. One woman, for example, brought a British lop-eared cat for examination - the unfortunate animal spent three months (could not be taken out at once) on the street, under bombardment. Then, when there was a gap, my husband went, found and took away. When the cat saw its owner, it howled for a long time and hugged him with its paws. Another resident of a border village, when it was time to evacuate, sat in the car, and a neighbor's sheepdog, left by the owners, jumped in, and they drove off together - how could they leave the dog! And how many animals, veterinarians say, are left locked up in homes, in enclosures, put on a chain, doomed to die ...

- Pets that depend on us are like children," says Yaroslav Brylev, a fourth-year student at KSAU. Our teacher used to say: "Always feed your pet. Even if you don't eat enough yourself. One of my acquaintances got under fire in the Rylskiy district, immediately left the house, and, as it happened, left the dog. But after a couple of days they came back and took her back. All this time the frightened animal was hiding with a toy under the bed.

The dog was worried about us

Among the refugees from the frontline areas there are representatives of the veterinarian dynasty - the Martynenko and Kravtsov families. Nikolai Dmitrievich, 70, has worked for 30 years as the chief veterinarian of Sujansky district. He followed his father into the profession.

Nikolai's daughter Tatyana is a laboratory assistant. Her heiress - 18-year-old Angelika - this academic year also entered the veterinary profession (she decided on her future specialty at the age of four). At the end of August she was just preparing to go to Kursk to get a hostel. But - had to leave early, in an emergency, without things, and - the whole family.

- We managed to take with us only our dog Aika, a Toy Terrier," Angelika says. - She was two months old at the time, just a puppy.

Unfortunately, the girl says, over the past two years, she had to get used to the shelling: it happened regularly. But on the morning of August 6, it became clear that something extraordinary was going on: everything from cluster munitions to rockets was flying at the heads of the residents. We sat in the basement for several hours. All this time little Aika licked the hands and faces of the owners.

- She was worried about us," Angelika said. - Dogs feel pain. She understood - we are bad, scared, and there is trouble all around. She felt sorry for us and tried to calm us down as much as she could.

Participation and skill

Oksana Karpukhno, a doctor of the treatment room, says that both residents of temporary accommodation centers and just Kurians come to them. The main list of ailments of tails - otitis, infections, injuries, fractures, dermatitis (due to changes in diet).

The doctor gladly shows photos of those animals that once lived in the medical room. In each story there is both pain and overcoming - thanks to human participation, and an example of medical skill. For example, once a puppy was brought here after being hit by a bus, its paws dangling on scraps. Oksana sewed them together, took the baby out, and the result was that he lived for 16 years.

At home she also has a continuous meowing and barking. Six cats. Four dogs. Also with difficult fates. Mongrel Dusya - without a paw. Chihuahua Martha - without an eye: she was brought from Donetsk.

Among the unusual patients Oksana once had to treat was a bear Masha in the local circus: the squinty-eyed one was shaking her head all the time. The doctor immediately determined - inflammation of the ears. She recalls: to approach a dangerous animal should have been only from behind, and the trainer had at the ready triple cologne to immediately fill the wound in case of a bite and extinguish the smell of blood.

Softness and patience

Oksana Karpukhno has raised more than one generation of veterinarians. When I visit her, she is assisted by several guys from different courses: some have a "window" in their schedule, others have just dropped by for a little extra practice. Right there on the windowsills are the local resident cats. Under the counter with tools - shaggy, polite dog.

Guys under the guidance of the doctor fix the method of primary examination - on the table they have a red cat. The first thing - to pet and calm the patient: the main thing in veterinary work, they explain, gentleness and patience. Then come the procedures themselves. Checking the mouth - no damage to the mucosa. Examination of the eyes - if they are leaky. Probing the kidneys: if they are enlarged, there may be an infection. Check the lymph nodes. Listening with a phonendoscope.

Some people start assisting from the first year. Treat wounds, take temperature, give injections, help in surgeries. "A sick animal can not say anything, it just looks at you, often - begging eyes - say trainees. - Our task is to promptly find the cause of ailments".

The whole country

Earlier "Izvestia" wrote how pets from Belgorod and Kursk regions are rescued. The whole country helped to take out animals. From near Kursk, the first cars with animals were sent to Moscow and St. Petersburg on August 10 last year.

Thus, in the Leningrad region farmers took small farm animals and birds, and about 30 cats from Belgorod came to the shelter in Penza.

The Moscow Zoo also helped in sending the animals to a safe place. Its staff quickly responded to messages on social networks asking for help.