In Kherson drowned under water, the race to save the animals

June 9, 2023

With a net and balancing on floating debris, a volunteer catches a frightened cat, stranded near a flooded house in Kherson, southern Ukraine, after the destruction of a dam.

Three days after the waterspouts held in the Kakhovka reservoir began to pour into Kherson, the Ukrainian authorities managed to evacuate more than 2,300 inhabitants from the areas under their control.

Volunteers also try to find animals trapped by the rising waters, whether cats, dogs or chickens.

“That’s what differentiates us from the Russians.

They only think of destroying, while the Ukrainians think of saving lives”, storms Serguiï Loudensky, 31, who says he saved more than a hundred animals in three days.

During these rescues, ducks, chickens, geese and cats are brought together in cages on a metal boat, a sort of modern Noah’s Ark.

Sergiï and his colleague Dmytro Klymenko, 28, know where to go because the inhabitants send them the coordinates of houses where animals may have been trapped.

Their organization, the “Animal Help Center”, was born at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Serguiï usually saves dogs and cats abandoned in cities taken under the bombardments, such as Bakhmout, epicenter of the fighting in the East and which Moscow claimed to conquer in May.

The floods present a new challenge, especially as Kherson continues to be targeted by Russian artillery.

“It’s the first time in Ukraine that volunteers have to work on water. I can’t even wear a bulletproof vest, which is too heavy and could sink me if I fall,” he explains. , rowing through the rubble.

For each trip, volunteers must prepare themselves mentally. “Four volunteers died here, and that’s where we saw their bodies. It’s scary,” observes Serguiï, dodging the electric wires hanging above the water.

He doesn’t have time to think about his deceased colleagues, because animals are stuck a little further away, taking refuge on roofs.

During his journey, he fell into the water several times, was bitten by wild cats and was injured by rubbish floating in the current.

But it is with a smile that the young man carries out his operation: “we saved several lives today”.

“One of the cats was already in very bad condition, he will receive medical attention and survive.

But one more hour and he wouldn’t have been able to hang on, he would have been exhausted and would have drowned,” he explains while hiding three ducklings in his sweater, for lack of free cages in his boat.

At a crossroads in Kherson, an elderly woman walks in water up to her ankles. A few kilometers and thousands of cubic meters of water separate Tetyana Petrenko, 67, from her home.

In his apartment on the fourth floor, several of his dogs are prisoners.

Tetyana has no business or money since the flood, but all she worries about are her animals. “They’re going to die, they’re going to die there,” she repeats.

Serguiï and Dmytro, who have just dropped off their cats and birds at the animal shelter, write down his address and restart their motorboat.

“The way we treat animals shows our humanity,” breathes the woman, pointing to a small blind chihuahua that she was able to take with her.

Faced with artillery fire, however, the two volunteers were unable to reach the dogs.

“A shell fell in the water next to us, we jumped out of the boat and swam to a building. We broke a window and hid there,” said Sergiï, taking off his wet shoes.

They nevertheless promise to dive back the next day into the muddy water of the streets of Kherson to reunite Tetyana and her dogs.