NO ONE KNOWS for how long these puppies in Ukraine struggled to survive suckling at their dead mother’s carcass…

A few days ago, our partner Oksana Zhurba of Ecoprotection of Starokostyantyniv (EPS) made a heart-breaking discovery: 13 tiny puppies suckling their dead mother in the basement of a dilapidated house in Ukraine. Tragically, it was too late for 4 of the little guys, but the surviving babies were immediately rushed to safety. They need your help!

It wasn’t immediately clear how the mother died, but since she was homeless and nursing her litter, it seems she died of starvation and malnutrition.

Oksana’s team made the discovery after receiving a call from a concerned neighbor who had heard crying from the house. The puppies were starving. They were still desperately trying to fill their little bellies with any drop of milk they could get, but their poor mother’s body had given up - totally depleted after literally giving her life for her babies. She had nothing left to give.

The puppies desperately suckled at their mother’s carcass as they fought for their lives besides their dead siblings. THIS is why we do what we do - THIS is why we WILL NOT GIVE UP on the animals of Ukraine!

We’re devastated that we were already too late for 4 of the precious little souls, but we must now focus on the orphans who need all our help to survive.

Oksana reports that miraculously, they found another dog on the scene who, while not the mother, appeared to have recently had her own litter and was allowing the puppies to feed from her. In this time of war, many humans could learn from the selflessness and ‘humanity’ that these animals show towards each other.

When assessed by a vet, it was clear that the mother dog had almost no milk left. The puppies were rescued in the nick of time - any longer and all of them would have been dead. Puppies must be kept warm and well-fed to survive, and these babies were not receiving any of that critical care - this much was clear from the ones who had sadly already died.

Please help us feed the orphaned puppies and sterilize as many dogs and cats as possible to prevent more needless suffering and death.

The puppies are estimated to be one month old: just old enough to start eating solid food. They would NEVER have had access to food in the dilapidated basement in which they were found. Dogs and cats left homeless in this atrocious war are scrounging the streets for food and finding nothing but their dead friends and empty bullet shells. Thank goodness they are safe now.

We have been supporting the heroic work of EPS since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, and we are proud to call them a partner. With your help, we will get the puppies fed, we will sterilize as many other dogs and cats as we can to help prevent more senseless deaths. Amid this terrible war, it’s the very least we can offer these tragic animals.

Your donation WILL change the life of an unloved, homeless animal in Ukraine!

Oksana desperately wants to sterilize the cats and dogs in her care. She currently has more than 330 dogs at her shelter and countless cats and is constantly finding more animals - some of them pregnant. It is now spring in Ukraine and breeding season. This means thousands of newborn animals potentially face the same fate as the four tiny puppies who died beside their mother in a dismal and war-ravaged basement. Your donation right now can help end this heart-breaking cycle.

Miraculously, even during the current chaos and uncertainty, Oksana has managed to find loving homes for many of the animals she has taken in. She and her team are doing HEROES’ work and with your help, we will continue to support them.

Let’s feed and nurse back to health these little puppies. Let’s get dogs and cats sterilized. Let’s show the abandoned, suffering animals of Russia’s war in Ukraine that there is someone out there who cares, someone who will reach out with loving compassion to improve their lives. It’s you, and us. And together, we can bring them the hope, warmth and love they need so desperately.

For the animals,

Brian and Gloria Davies (and Max and Flora!)
Founders
Network for Animals

P.S. When we think of the puppies who somehow survived beside their dead siblings, desperately suckling their dead mother, we KNOW WE CANNOT give up on them - and there are so many more stories as sad as this. This is why we do what we do and WILL NEVER GIVE UP, not now, not after the war ends. We are proud to support the work of Ecoprotection of Starokostyantyniv and with your help, we WILL help them save these puppies and the countless others they continue to rescue off the war-torn streets. Please, donate right away if you possibly can. They are counting on you!

Image credits: Images supplied by Ecoprotection of Starokostyantyniv (EPS)