"The war has become a system check." Russians searched for "Nazis" even in zoos - interview with Uanimals founder on animal help

Why maintain animals and those who care about them is as important during the war as people, in an interview with Radio NV, the founder of Uanimals, and now the serviceman Alexander Todorchuk, told. Video of the day - I would like to start our conversation with the history of Uanimals and the way that the organization has passed since its foundation.

Have you thought with your colleagues that they would have to save animals not only from some unscrupulous owners, but also from war in Ukraine? - Honestly, they did not think about it at all, more precisely - I didn't think, because at the time of its foundation I was alone and the name Uanimals - it was not even the name of the organization. I just needed to invent the name for the Facebook page, which I created, dedicating it to the topic of exploitation of animals in circuses.

Then my future wife Marichka said, "Sashko, do you understand that everything will not stop there?" I said, "No, this is one topic. " But thousands of people began to join. - How has the organization changed since then? How many are you in the team, how many volunteers are jointly joined? - Work on tasks daily 25 people. Volunteers who are constantly involved and also actually perform some tasks daily - several hundred.

If we talk about people who join the point, we are talking about several thousand people who actively interact with us. I am convinced that every person who does even the smallest amount is also a participant in our movement. - I want to ask how the work of the organization has changed since February 24? First of all, given that the founder is now in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

How did it affect your team, how did you rebuilt in a full -scale war? Did you have any plan? - Unfortunately, there was no plan. There were some discussions, maybe I didn't want to believe that the war would be. But the beginning of a full -scale war actually became a litmus paper, a system check. It still inspires me. I do not know how it did and happened, already on the 24th of the Uanimals team began to assist shelters, rehabilitation centers.

We started publishing a daily report on our page: we did not miss a single day if we did not report on our page for a day. It seems to me that the most important thing here was that we did not need to reconcile any value issues. We understood what we were doing for. The following were only the issue of operating work with which the team coped perfectly, in my opinion.

- Could you tell you what changed in dealing with animals in Ukraine due to the fact that they managed to squeeze the Verkhovna Rada to vote for it? What legislative changes have taken place? - If we talk about legislative, state changes, it is first and foremost a bill to which we have been attached, about increasing responsibility for ill -treatment [with animals]. Unfortunately, this system is still not perfect, but has been able to increase responsibility.

Just before the start of a full -scale war, it was possible to adopt a bill that regulates many issues of animal cruelty, including forbidding photos with wild animals. Unfortunately, at the stage of implementation it was not possible to work because the war began, but photo services with monkeys and all these things in Ukraine are prohibited today.

Together with the Association of Perfumers of Ukraine, it was possible to make a regulation for perfume and cosmetic products, which forbids Ukrainian producers to test cosmetics and perfumes on animals. And why I am especially happy: during the war, this work also does not stop. Earlier, the Verkhovna Rada in the first reading voted in favor of a law on the ban on fireworks and firecrackers. We prepared it for war and had to register on February 24.

Then they thought that this topic is not relevant, because who would come to mind to use salutes during the war. But they saw in the news that the next day after the de -occupation of Bucha, someone even launched fireworks there. Therefore, the bill was still registered. Deputies of our inter -factional association Humane country was promoting it as much as possible. The first reading of 250 votes.

I hope that the second deputies will also accept, because today it concerns not only the safety of animals that die through fireworks and firecrackers, but of the whole society. Conditionally, PTSD is a story that actually applies to every Ukrainian. - Did you count with your colleagues how many rescued animals are on Uanimals? - They didn't count. It is difficult to calculate in principle.

But I think it's about tens of thousands of animals, because some solutions simply block some opportunity to mock or kill animals with impunity. - What does the team do now? Has the focus of activity changed? What is the greatest effort now? - From February 24 it became clear that the Russians who came to "free from the Nazis" were looking for Nazis even in shelters, zoos, and rehabilitation centers.

According to our estimates, about 20 shelters and mini-tutures were fired by the Russian army, three zoos were hit by Russian missiles, and several rehabilitation centers were injured. The Uanimals team works in several directions. There is such a specificity in Ukraine - a very decentralized story with shelters. In essence, thousands of mini-tuckers, where 20 or more animals are held, were cut off from the ability to even feed [wards].

Uanimals now directs all activities to the occupied, de -industrial and regularly fired areas. We deliver feed to shelters, rehabilitation centers, provide financial assistance in places where shelters can buy feed ourselves; We provide veterinary preparations, other help. We have two evacuation teams - we will export the shelters and their owners from the shelling zone and occupied territories. The third point is the reconstruction of shelters.

This is a large project because the cold is approaching and several shelters are destroyed from shelling. We have already been able to help repair, reconstruction of the Gostomel shelter, which was occupied, in which the head with animals spent a long time. These are the shelters that are rebuilt. In parallel, we try to help and provide large enough projects. For example, Askania-Nova, which is in occupation today. It is in a very difficult position.

We have purchased feed for them several times and transferred money. Now we have an open gathering for this help on the site, because we want the animals to be provided with feed by the end of the year and can live quietly, not just survive. We also support various vegan initiatives that, in particular, help in providing Vegetarians, vegans-there are quite a few. Finally, we launched a free sterilization program in many cities.