We are in charge: how abandoned pets are rescued in the Kursk region

One of the sore points in any territory where fighting has swept through is abandoned pets. In the Kursk region, when it was attacked by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, many four-legged people found themselves on the street, without food. Last year, local activists in the Korenevsky district began feeding dogs and cats, taking them to shelters and looking for new owners. This work has not stopped until now. A correspondent of Izvestia visited another volunteer expedition to help our younger brothers.

Remove from the chain, pour water

"The critical barrier has been passed, but the problem remains," is how the Kuryans describe in a nutshell the situation with pets left unattended by their owners. I am traveling to the border region with Alina Popova and Ivan Naumov, activists of the volunteer movement "Help to the Korenevites". Both were forced to leave their homes in their homeland and move: Alina to Kursk, Ivan to Rylsk. Both joined volunteer activities almost immediately after the attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Ivan Naumov is a firefighter in the Ministry of Emergency Situations. When his neighborhood caught fire, he took out almost 200 civilians on his own within two months. After each dangerous raid, he returned back: for another evacuation or to drop off humanitarian supplies collected by the group members. He explains that he wasn't going to stop.

— Helping people came first. But it immediately became clear that animals needed to be helped somehow," says Ivan. — You drive quickly to Korenevo, and if possible, you try to run into the yards, untie the dogs — dozens of them were chained up. You pour water into pots and basins if there is a well. You scatter grain to geese, ducks and chickens. Gradually, targeted requests began to arrive — please take our pet out. Animal welfare funds have been activated. For example, the Bruno Foundation in Moscow once sent us 3.5 tons of dry dog food, which was enough for a long time.

One pack

Alina Popova has two German Shepherds left in her yard in the village of Korenevo — Nisa and Archie. Quick—witted Nisa managed to get out - then she would be found shot dead. Archie was still inside. When Alina was able to get home for the first time, she found a faithful friend on his last legs. When he saw the hostess, he howled for a long time, and, according to the girl, natural tears were dripping from his eyes. Alina took the dog to Kursk, it took a month to heal. Archie is healthy today. However, he turned out to be broken psychologically — when the owners leave the house, he whines, rushes and does not let go.

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One day, Alina and Ivan were asked to take out alabai, who was locked in the courtyard. Ivan climbed over the fence, where an emaciated, huge dog attacked him. However, not with sharp fangs, but with a licking tongue and still crying.

— Huskies and huskies turned out to be the most tenacious — hunting instincts, obviously, did not let them starve to death, — says Alina. — Many frightened dogs often did not touch other people's cats and lived nearby, moved around the streets in one pack, and at the sounds of explosions they rushed together into the nearest cracks. There were many dead animals. Somewhere we found live dogs and dead owners.

Volunteers began to send some of the animals to the Kursk shelter "Right to Live". Once they took out a whole box of kittens, which the military handed over to them. Another time, the cat started giving birth on the way — in the car, right in their arms. There was a case when a Marine with the call sign Doctor asked to pick up his fighting friend, the shepherd Gerda: she joined the military, lived with them in positions. The dog was wounded during the shelling. Doc carried her out in his arms. And then I paid for the treatment.

Response from all over the country

The shelter of the Right to Live Foundation has been operating since 2019 and is located in the village of Lobazovka, 30 km from the regional center. Today it houses about 300 dogs, as well as cats. Ekaterina Zhilnikova, the head, tells me that after the attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, some of the tailed ones had to be evacuated to other centers and overexposure points: during shelling, explosions, and the popping of air defense shells, some of them began to tear open enclosures, bend bars, and literally went crazy, such was the fear.

— And what did those who found themselves in the heat of the moment feel? — Ekaterina shakes her head.

Almost immediately, the "Right to Live" began to look for future owners for the four-legged animals rescued from the battle zone through public sites, chat rooms, and communities.

"From the village of Kremyanoe, near Korenevo, the military once asked us to take away the Moscow watchtower, otherwise they would die," the woman says. — Our catchers (the foundation's volunteers who pick up the animals. — Ed.), two girls, tried to get there. It didn't work out — we spent two hours in the basement. As a result, the military took her out themselves, and the dog was very angry — it growled and wouldn't let her in for a long time. We performed an operation on her at the shelter, she had severe inflammation. By the way, she turned out to be very affectionate — you still have to look for such kind people. They found a new home for her in Novorossiysk.

In the neighboring Windy, Ekaterina says, alabai and a little mongrel (as in Tolstoy's story "The Lion and the Doggie") wandered and wandered together for a long time, becoming friends by misfortune, they also managed to be evacuated. The tiny dog was handed over to its former owners, and new ones were found for Alabai. In the Glushkovsky district, a dachshund got attached to the volunteers, caressed them, asked for their hands. They took him away and handed him over to a shelter. Now she lives in a newfound house in Tver, travels a lot and sleeps on a pillow, says Ekaterina. People are responding from all over the country.

In search of shelter and safety

We have three 15 kg bags of dog food, 10 kg of cat food and serving bags in the car. The task is to visit the village of Korenevo and the village of the same name. The drone detector periodically signals —FPV in sight", but everything goes well.

Point No. 1 is Alexey Plekhov's house. The man is known for the fact that he almost never left the village, only once he got to the hospital after being injured. The compassionate pensioner took in 17 cats and several dogs, all of whom went to a human in search of warmth and shelter. He meets us with one of his charges, Mars, a Siamese cat. Big-eared cautiously peeks out of his jacket.

—Marsic's concussion," he explains. — Now, if there are ruptures, his epilepsy hits.

We leave a portion of the feed to Alexei Plekhov and his motley family.

Further along the way, we slow down at certain points (places where animals congregate) and pour food under the canopies. Immediately, as if from the ground, the tailed ones appear and rush to an unexpected meal. We jump into the next street, Larisa Chertkova lives here: we hand over the bag of food to her.

The last point is the village of Korenevo. Alexander Perepelkin lives here, and after the attack, he was the only one left on his street. And he also fed and cared for stray animals: in 2024, more than 30 cats gathered under his roof, including purebred Maine Coon, lop-eared British, Scottish. And dogs. He shared a piece of bread with everyone. The military helped, and then the volunteers joined in. There are words written on its gates that, in the context of the situation, look like they say: "People live here."