Final signature count: 8,189

8,189 signatures toward our 30,000 goal

Families in Ukraine often flee with seconds to spare. Many carry their pets through checkpoints; many cannot. In frontline towns, volunteers and local officials evacuate animals from locked apartments, train stations, and blasted streets while shells land nearby. They risk being bitten by rabid dogs, but their work is critical. Some rescued animals now serve alongside troops—cats keeping food stores rodent-free, dogs helping demining teams—showing how animal welfare and human resilience move together in war¹.

At the borders, early rule flexibility let pets cross without full veterinary paperwork, keeping families intact during the most dangerous weeks of flight¹. But survival depends on carriers, vaccines, food, and calm handling—logistics that require money, planning, and people brave enough to show up.

Frontline Heroes And Life-Saving Networks

In Romania, rescue organizations have set up at crossings with carriers, guidance, and warm space, then built a social network that now ships food, parasite protection, and shelter materials to communities across Ukraine². These deliveries keep pets alive and reduce public-health risks from disease among newly displaced animals.

On the front, rescuers like Krystina Dragomaretska drive into active fire to pull animals from rubble, basements, and drain holes. She has taken bites, shrapnel wounds, and even faced rabies exposure while refusing to abandon her mission. Shelters overflow, so her team vaccinates, sterilizes, and microchips as they go—fast, practical steps that prevent suffering and slow outbreaks in war zones³.

Food, Carriers, Evacuations—And A Way Forward

Inside Ukraine, a domestic pet-food producer joined forces with Greater Good Charities to move pallets of food, carriers, leashes, and medicines where shelves are empty. A request system routes supplies to shelters and pet parents under bombardment, closing gaps when local stock runs out⁴.

Evacuation partners continue pulling civilians and animals out each week, supplying kennels and cat carriers for safe transport and handing families emergency support packs so pets eat and stay secured after escape⁵. This is how animals survive the journey—and how families remain whole.

What You Can Do Today

Lives depend on fuel, carriers, vaccines, and steady shipments. Add your name to call for sustained funding and coordinated support that keeps evacuations moving and supplies flowing. Then help lift the people doing the hardest work: vote for Krystina in the World Rabies Day Awards to direct attention and aid to frontline vaccination and rescue where it saves lives fastest⁶.

Sign the petition now to keep pets safe, families together, and lifesaving operations funded.