War and Domestic Animals
The full-scale invasion has upended the lives of not only millions of Ukrainians but also thousands of dogs and cats. Companion animals, dependent on the care of their owners for everything, are particularly vulnerable. In the war zone, they are injured during shelling, lose their owners and homes, and suffer from hunger. When fleeing the war with their owners, they experience relocation stress. Those who stay in the cities are afraid [2] of the sounds of sirens and explosions and sometimes lose access to necessary veterinary care.
Is there a vet in Vsh [Vyshhorod] who can put a large guard dog to sleep?
The dog is badly wounded.
Tips to help protect pets from excessive panic during an air alert
During air alerts, cat and dog owners take their pets with them to subways, basements, bomb shelters and other shelters. In such cases, we recommend:
Take a syringe without a needle with you - if the animal refuses to drink (and this often happens under stressful conditions), you can fill it with water and give it to your pet. Remember that you may be in the shelter for over one hour, and dehydration can hurt the animal's health.
Remember to take at least one or two packs of wet food - if the cat refuses to drink water, even from a syringe, this will help restore the body's fluid balance.
Give more water if the animal cannot go to the toilet for a day or more.
The last time there was heavy shelling in October, one of mine got under the sofa and was screaming and hissing so much. We couldn't get her out, she scratched all our hands. We did not go out. She barely came to her senses after the alert. Although she is usually such an affectionate cat, kind and gentle. She was very stressed then.
According to sources, there were [6] approximately 5.5 million cats and 750,000 dogs in Ukraine. The pet owners are killed during shelling or leave their animals behind during evacuation. As a result of the war, the number of pets in shelters increased [7] by 20-30% in the rear areas, 60% in animal volunteers' shelters, and 100% or more in shelters in the frontline areas.
The proliferation of social media has made the relationship between humans and animals more visible than ever before, especially in times of war. In his blog [8], Valerii Pekar notes that "caring for animals has never been more public and visible than it is now." As one of the most popular platforms in Ukraine, Telegram is becoming an essential source of information for studying the relationship between humans and animals.
The dataset contains information on the following topics:
• How were families with animals evacuated from dangerous regions? What are the peculiarities of resetting internally displaced persons in Ukraine and other countries?
Guys, looking for a room in Kremenchuk. five people, two cats. help.
We took the cats out to breathe. The children stood at a distance so that they would not be yelled at or breathed on.
They just whispered:
- Look, he's got blue eyes!
- And tassels!
I definitely like these fascist children.
We're in Berdychiv, we're shitty refugees because we're fed up and want to go back.
#chroniclesofmartiallaw
>Is it possible to keep small dogs with you or are they taken to the shelter as a compulsory thing until they are settled in the commune for permanent housing? Are there settlements with animals in the camp? The dogs have all documents, chips, vaccinations, antibody certificate, European vet passport.
>If there are places in the camp where it is possible with animals, they will stay with you.
• What was the experience of crossing the border with pets during the evacuation? What were the rules and procedures for evacuating pets across the border?
>What is the situation with animals now, can you travel without papers?
>No, they check everything.
Ours is even less so, but the Poles will turn around in a hurry
>Prepare a full package of documents (chip, titers, vaccine and international passport)
Otherwise, they won't let you out
>Having travelled with animals on Sunday, I can confirm that all documents are required. It is also important that the documents include all the people who will actually cross the border with the animals, only the owners can transport animals. In front of us, a car with a cat was returned back to Ukraine because the driver wasn't the owner.
• How was animal care organised during the war? How do volunteers, shelters, and people take care of stray animals?
Going to be leaving with a cat and dog in the area. They are 8 years old and almost 2 years old. Both are afraid of travelling, the dog is easily agitated and vomits in the car. I am afraid to traumatise them, already (explosions, shelters, our nervousness) but I can't get sedatives, not even for myself. I don't know how to help them. The cat still needs a scheduled vaccination in March((((
Hello, everyone! Dog food is very much needed. A friend in a two-room flat has already taken in three dogs. She and her mother are half-starved themselves, but they go to get something for the animals.
A thousand pluses to the karma of someone who will not remain indifferent.
• What changes in the number of missing animals are observed depending on the time intervals during the war? What proportion of them are stray dogs and cats?
I am looking for my two cats they were in Irpin, anyone who has seen them call me please.
Whose lost dog was near Aurora is now on the field near house 23
near [...] runs a lost dog, pit bull, black and white, boy, without a collar.
It is obvious that he is well-mannered, and it is obvious that he is lost. Runs up to people, non-aggressive.
Maybe someone has heard of a lost dog
• How did animals suffer from the flooding in the Kherson region after the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station explosion, and how was the evacuation of domestic animals carried out?
I offer accommodation for people with animals from the flood zone. There is a house in a village in the Dnipro region, 4 rooms. There is a barn and an open cage for the dog. Contact by t[elephone] or write.
• How are animals present in artistic reflections during the war?
WE CAN GET CATS ANYTHING!
PANTHER WITH A VOLUNTEER AID
© MOSHKOVSKY
DON'T CALL RUSSIANS ANIMALS.
BECAUSE WE HAVE A SOUL, AND THEY DON'T.
© OLEKSANDR GREKHOV
• How are animals used as a means of information warfare? How are humour and hate speech based on the theme of animals, and what role do they play in creating propaganda and fakes?
🐶This is the dog that sided with Ukraine 🇺🇦
The shepherdess used to serve in the Russian Guard, but after the defeat of the Russians in one of the districts of Mykolaiv region, she joined the National Guard. In a month, she learnt commands in Ukrainian and understands everything 🙂
AFU war pigeons celebrate after spreading plague over the Muscovites
The dataset includes archival materials tagged with keywords such as animals, domestic animals, pets, animal rights activists and animal shelters. The channels and chats of the dataset are united by audience tags: pet owners, animal rescuers and veterinarians. Given the data's sensitivity, the dataset's geography is limited mainly to the territories controlled by Ukraine or other countries other than Russia and Belarus.
Outside the dataset are items from thematic collections:
Military / Political Blogs may contain testimonies [27] about military personnel who rescue abandoned animals, hand them over to volunteers, or share their daily routine with stray animals that have become attached to their unit/brigade.
Databases and Indexes with chats to search for animals missing in the temporarily occupied territories, mainly due to the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station explosion.
Russian Volunteer Aid - "inner" chats of animal volunteers and animal owners with a pro-Russian position, chats of refugees to Russia.
Partial Mobilisation in Russia - chats of migrants fleeing mobilisation in Russia, where experiences of crossing the checkpoints of Russia with third countries by pet owners are shared.
Belarus - chats containing messages from pet owners.
Also, the dataset does not include the units from the Ecology, Animal Rescue and Volunteer Chats collections that contain particularly sensitive data - chats dedicated to the evacuation of animals from the war zone.
The dataset consists of 173 archival units, 28 channels and 145 chats. Of these, nine are moderately sensitive, and 164 are sensitive. (For more information on determining data sensitivity, see the project report's Access and Ethical and Legal Issues section.)
The illustrations are taken from the Telegram Archive of the War.
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