Indiegogo Campaign launched on 07/13/12.

Please help us save animals after the disaster in Krymsk, Russia.
On July 7^th, 2012 torrential rains dropped nearly a foot of water on the Black Sea region in Krymsk, Russia overnight, setting off intense flooding from the local water reserve. The water came out of the banks of the reserve and a huge wave spread over the whole city covering houses up to the ceiling level. Estimated 171 people died in the disaster, along with many stray animals and beloved pets. The damage was so great it cannot be described in words. For the latest update and more information, images, and videos, please see the CNN report: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/09/world/europe/russia-floods/index.html

We need your help:
There is no help provided by the government to save the animals in Krymsk. There are only a handful of volunteers who are brave enough to go through this horrible disaster to try to save, feed, and cure as many animals as they can. I propose we show our support in any way we can to these kind hearted people. Animals everywhere deserve a chance to live, no matter how far away they are.

About the Volunteers in Krymsk:
Oksana Belaya is a member of the local dog club in Krymsk, Russia. Right now she is the head volunteer organizer in the effort to save animals after the disaster. This is the main forum on which the rescue activity is recorded: chowchowplus.borda.ru/?1-12-0-00000146-000-40-0 (albeit it is in Russian). As of now, there are only a handful of volunteers, including Oksana, who go around the city and pull out animals from the house roofs, basements, and trees. Many of these animals have already developed skin conditions and need urgent medical care. When Oksana went to local help agencies, she was refused any kind of help. Their reply was: “People have nothing to eat and you are thinking of animals!” Currently, all pet stores and pharmacies are closed and Oksana cannot even buy the necessary supplies needed to save the animals. Volunteers in Saint Petersburg and Moscow have organized the collection of food and medication in their cities and have already sent out a car filled with supplies to Oksana. Their group page can be found here: http://vk.com/club20959500

What we need:
Volunteers desperately need food, medication, blankets, and boxes. Since sending these supplies from US will take a very long time, I have decided to create a project to help Oksana financially so she can obtain supplies from nearby regions that were not affected by the flood. The collected money will be used to purchase necessary supplies that will be shipped from nearby cities to Oksana. The goal of $1000 will enable Oksana to get food and medication for hundreds of animals in the next few weeks.

If you cannot donate at this time, please help us by sharing this campaign with others. Any kind of help is highly appreciated. If you have any questions, you can contact me at dasha@ukraineanimalrescue.com. Thank you!

Hello everyone,
I want to write down a few ideas for projects I want to develop in the nearby and further future. I have been thinking about these ideas for a few weeks now, trying to come up with a way to make them a reality. If anyone has suggestions please share.

1. Find an ongoing funding source for the neuter/spay program in Harkov, Ukraine- the only city in Ukraine who has declined the help of 4 Paws. However, many people became outraged by the decision of government officials and want to implement educational programs for children called "kindness to animals" and provide free spay/neuter service to low income families themselves. The price to neuter/spay an animal would be about $20-$40 and needs to be subsidized by an external source.

2. Help shelter "Sirius" in Kiev (has 1500 animals), which currently is moving to another location and needs funding to complete the renovations and the building of an enclosure (10-15$K needed)

3. Establish an ongoing funding for specific difficult cases for animals in Ukraine. The volunteers in Ukraine mostly work in small groups- they take injured/sick animals from the streets and take them to the vet, while looking for foster/permanent homes. Most of them are able to collect donation from kind people in Ukraine. However, some cases require expensive operations and purchase of prosthetic limbs or wheelchairs, which need external help. To make things complicated, there is no paypal in Ukraine and no easy way to send small individual donations to Ukraine without incurring large fees, thus a need to develop central source in US that can collect individual donations and then send it all together to Ukraine where it can be then distributed to volunteers with minimum fees.

4. Establish a way to rescue animals from Ukraine and transport them to loving homes in US. People may wonder why do this when US already has high number of unwanted animals. There are a few good reasons: a. our home is the world, not just one country, b. these animals have lived on the streets for very long time and as a result, they acquired an amazing intelligence as well as immunity to many diseases- which would be a great asset to any owner in US who is aware of the skyrocketing vet costs in our country, c. no one ever saved strays from Ukraine and transported them to US and it would be a dream come true for volunteers as well as these animals to know that other countries support them and want to help, and d. many animals there are so grateful for any show of human kindness that they will forever by loyal and loving friends- this can be seen in cats that keep on purring when volunteers take them to the vet, broken, after cruel people beat them to death. The transportation costs would be covered by myself, my family and friends in US. All we need is to find good homes or find organizations that will be able to help me search for them.

These are just a few opportunities for my involvement and I welcome any help from the readers. If you would like to join my team in helping animals in Ukraine, please email me at belkaheaven22@gmail.com.
Love, Dasha

Summary of Animal Protection in Russia:

07/02/12
http://rusnewstv.ru/archives/9748