These days, many Ukrainian people have fled to border neighboring countries, many people have fled with fur children, and one family has also fled to Poland with their family dogs, and the twists and turns along the way for several days have made them ask whether the dogs can stay here when they pass by an animal shelter, only because they do not want their dogs to follow them out to suffer... I can't imagine that this question has brought a turnaround for the whole family!
Aaron Jackson, founder of PlanetIng Peace, a global nonprofit charity, bought a plane ticket to the polish-Ukrainian border to help the local area since learning that the Polish-Ukrainian border needed support for relief efforts, hoping to do his part to help the refugees, but he did not expect at first that he would focus on helping refugees with pets, "There are about 2 million people leaving Ukraine, most of whom are entering Poland, so it is more difficult to find a place to stay, especially when you are with a furry child. It's a little more complicated because space is limited and not every place has animals to keep."
After noticing this problem, Jackson and his team began to work on helping refugees with furry children, and when he was assisting at a local animal shelter, he happened to meet this family who had escaped from Ukraine and wanted to entrust their dogs to the shelter, and they took a beautiful Coca-dog named Bella, because they couldn't bear to let their dogs go nowhere with them and suffer from the cold outside, so they had to settle Bella here.
Jackson immediately arranged a pet-friendly house within 20 minutes so that Bella could continue to live with his family, and the family was overjoyed to learn of the good news, not only had a place to live and rest, but more importantly, they did not have to be separated from Bella! Even Bella shook her tail happily
"These fleeing families have walked 100 miles ,or even 200 miles (320 kilometers)— to the border, and they've walked 50 miles (80 kilometers) with their dogs on their backs, and they're willing to do that for their dogs, how can you bear to tell them 'you have to get rid of your dog to find a place to live,'" Jackson said. So I did everything I could to help them continue to live with their pets – especially since they had given up so much to come here."
In addition to finding shelter for owners and pets, Jackson and the Planting Peace team are also donating pet food and supplies to nine major refugee centres along the border, hoping that these displaced people and their beloved furry children will receive food and care after a long journey.
