On June 6, 2023, the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine collapsed. While Ukraine has accused Russian forces of blowing up the dam and hydroelectric power station on the Dnieper River, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it “the largest man-made environmental disaster in Europe in decades.”

PHOTO: YOUTUBE/@LOVEFURRYFRIENDS

Since then, the rising water has created a hellish landscape for
the people and animals left to deal with flooded villages and towns from which they need evacuation. One of the saddest sights encountered since the chaos began was a senior dog trapped on the spine of a roof in Kherson surrounded by what now looks like a lake.

PHOTO: YOUTUBE/@LOVEFURRYFRIENDS

What made it even more gut-wrenching is the fact that the poor dog was blinded by contaminants in the water and had reportedly been howling for three straight days for someone to please come and rescue him. With the water levels rising by the minute, action needed to be taken quickly.

PHOTO: YOUTUBE/@LOVEFURRYFRIENDS

Fortunately, there are volunteer groups and kind people who care and took the time to come to the region’s rescue to help those stranded by the dam’s collapse. One group that came out is @lovefurryfriends, a small rescue that has taken it upon themselves to save lost and abandoned animals since the war began.

PHOTO: YOUTUBE/@LOVEFURRYFRIENDS

Bringing with them boats, animal carriers, and other needed supplies, they launched into the murky greenish-brown water littered with floating mines, making their daring rescue attempts that much scarier and dangerous. One of their first rescue situations they encountered involved three dogs standing atop floating lumber and debris.

PHOTO: YOUTUBE/@LOVEFURRYFRIENDS

Many of the animals they encountered were covered in wounds and fuel oil shivering, frightened, hungry, and exhausted. Trip after trip, they loaded the grateful animals onboard the various watercraft assembled and took them to higher ground where they could be cleaned, examined, and fed.

While all of this was going on, the area was under a massive shelling attack, further agitating the confused animals and spooking their rescuers, but they never gave up. After the region’s 11p.m. curfew rolled around they took the animals to a veterinarian clinic under the cover of darkness to be properly treated. Many are in need of urgent help and some are critical.

PHOTO: YOUTUBE/@LOVEFURRYFRIENDS

While the entire scenario was overwhelming, as would be expected, it was that one senior dog blinded by the oil floating on the surface of the water that was the saddest. While under the care of veterinarians he was extremely weak but his appetite was good and they were working round the clock to save what was left of his vision.

PHOTO: YOUTUBE/@LOVEFURRYFRIENDS

Throughout all of the insanity, the veterinarians and rescue workers never gave up, regardless of all the noise and terror surrounding them. They even employed heat lamps to warm the animals and tried to make them as comfortable as possible.

PHOTO: YOUTUBE/@LOVEFURRYFRIENDS

If you’d like to help by adopting or sponsoring one of these helpless canines, you can contact the relief group at [email protected]. Please support animal rescues wherever they take place. In the meantime, check out the incredible video below.