From our 2022 Ukraine support archive.
At a dog sanctuary outside Lviv, the dogs gathered around our team, each seeking attention. In his account of the visit, our President Nigel Allsopp described the experience as bringing tears to his eyes. Behind every gate was an animal needing care, and behind that care were volunteers doing everything they could with what they had.
In 2022, Nigel and our then Vice President, Peter Kotzur, travelled to Ukraine through Australian Animal Aid, our animal welfare arm. We went to see the needs firsthand, help oversee emergency relief and meet the people keeping animals fed and sheltered through the war.
Before the visit, we consulted the Ukrainian Embassy and Australian veterinarian Dr Lachlan Campbell, who had worked in Ukraine. Their advice helped us connect with Ukrainian Pet Association Worldwide, known as UPAW, and Nowzad.
The UPAW team collected Nigel and Peter in Poland and supported much of their travel in Ukraine. These local relationships mattered: our partners understood the routes, the organisations seeking help and the challenges of getting supplies to animals in need.
The volunteers we met were caring for dogs brought away from the fighting. Their needs extended beyond the next meal. Food storage, preparation areas, veterinary care and protection from the cold all formed part of the picture.
Our aid included practical items such as winter coats for dogs and horses, bowls and collars. At Nowzad’s Lviv warehouse, Nigel also saw how requests for food were answered and supplies sent onward to local volunteers. When the team learned that cat food was needed in Kyiv, we helped purchase food that was loaded and dispatched during the visit.
We also visited Limpopo Zoo, which was caring for animals moved from other zoos nearer the front lines. Nigel drew on his animal-management experience to provide a behavioural enrichment programme. The visit highlighted the difficulties of feeding and caring for wildlife during power disruptions, alongside the needs of dogs, cats and horses.
Those encounters stayed with our team. They also helped shape our later work with local partners: animal identification, practical first-aid training and support for shelters. We could not answer every need in one visit, but we could listen, work alongside people who knew their communities and continue helping after we returned home.
Read the original feature — No Creature Left Behind
Queensland RSL News, Edition 1, 2023, pp. 68–71. Historical account of our Ukraine support. PDF · 36 MB.
ANOTHER WAY TO SUPPORT
Choose from two Ukraine animal pins, with purchases supporting AWAMO’s work in Ukraine and beyond.
$10
A dog and cat design in Ukraine’s colours, supporting AWAMO’s charitable work.
$20
A numbered limited-edition dog and cat pin, supporting AWAMO’s charitable work.
Help animals affected by war. Visit our Ukraine appeal to learn more and make a donation.
