The shelter “Sirius” is located in the Kiev region, about an hour drive from the city centre, hardly you will be able to stumble upon it unintentionally. Now in the shelter, there are about 3000 dogs. And each of them needs a house. Recently, a new help program has been added to the shelter of animals, “Help the tail”, with the help of which people can do different kinds of donations, ranging from cash, volunteering, advertising, all methods to help the dog find new owners. Also created a special site on which you can find all information about the dogs and their life story. “A lot of animals come to us in the shelter crippled, with deep injuries, with great fear before the people. And we are trying to do everything to help restore their trust to us.
“- said Alexander, volunteer of the shelter for 3 years. Walking through the shelter, you may think that there is complete tranquillity or even peace in the air. You are asking yourself, “What’s wrong with one of these dogs?” But the closer you get to the barriers, you realize that “wrong” can be too much. Wooden cages, iron bowls, dogs barking on the side of the cage, sticking out their cute faces to meet a passing person. And only in this woof – the pain will be heard, and only in their eyes will be seen that betrayal. “Being abandoned” does not mean losing a chance at having a lovely home and a real family. It means that everything should happen differently. “In the shelter, there are a lot of dogs with certain defects.
For example, Nona does not see at all, Oxy has problems with hearing, and the Tornado does not have one foot at all, but when they see people they become the happiest in the world, start jumping and rejoicing. And then you understand that these are not defects, but their features”, says Elena Lyashkevich, the new volunteer of the Sirius shelter.The problem in Ukraine is that the government allocates too little a budget to help homeless animals. Most of which goes to people’s salaries and the smaller part already to help dogs.Therefore, people do not see another option as to declare stray dogs – dangerous for their lives and children’s lives. In 2016, a mass action of the killing of dogs in Irpen took place, then doghunters killed more than 150 dogs. They wrote about their actions in the social network Facebook, thereby urging more people to help themselves, indicating that stray dogs are a threat. It is worth noting, according to the law of Ukraine, “Any propaganda of cruel treatment of animals, calls for cruel treatment with them, as well as hunting propaganda in the system of preschool, general secondary, vocational and higher education is prohibited.
“”The whole city turned into a place for the pleasure of sadists! The city is strewn with corpses of animals. All the animals died in terrible agony. Convulsions, a heart-rending scream, shattered heads from the cramps on the asphalt .
.. Do not let the dogs die for nothing! Do we want to live by European standards? Then let’s talk about the European approach! ” – says Lyubov Golovko, an animal rights activist in Ukraine. And now, come back to Poland. After a survey among dog owners in Warsaw, one can come to the conclusion that dogs from shelters have been accepted. And it’s amazing.
Among the respondents, the majority stated that “there is no difference what kind of dog to love, and if you also take the dog from a shelter and thus save her life, then why not to do so.” It’s not about people, but about their respect. Attitudes towards dogs from the shelter here is equal to the relation to any other dog, if there is not even better. But everything depends on personal views and choice of a person. In dogs from the shelter – there is nothing wrong, in dogs from the breeder – there is nothing wrong. The only thing that fluctuates is the attitude of people about them. Most of people condemn the catching of homeless animals, in a huge number of roaming the streets, but on the other hand we all understand that they can be dangerous for people. A wild dog, offended at all, can simply bite a person or even infect him with a deadly disease – rabies.
But all the same, homeless animals remain victims of human cruelty, because it is people who turn their pets outside without thinking about their future destiny. It does not matter where you are, in Poland, Russia or Ukraine. The problem of stray dogs concerns the whole world. And the choice is primarily for you, human qualities are determined by the attitude towards animals. Do not be indifferent, think about your actions. And if you have the opportunity – help, because they need you!
