“I get to help out in this environment where they’re really desperate for just hands, people just around to look after the number of animals that have increased in the shelter in Romania.”
Publishing date:
Oct 15, 2022 • October 15, 2022 • 2 minute read • 6 Comments
An Edmonton woman is travelling to eastern Europe to help animals rescued from bombed Ukrainian shelters.
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Leanne Worsdall, a volunteer with Veterinarians Without Borders (VWB), is using her training as a veterinary technologist to help dogs, cats and other animals displaced by the war in Ukraine.
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On Saturday, Worsdall is flying to Cernavoda, Romania, lending her skills to a local organization and VWB partner, Save the Dogs.
“I get to help out in this environment where they’re really desperate for just hands, people just around to look after the number of animals that have increased in the shelter in Romania,” she said. “They did take on a bunch of animals from Ukraine and now they don’t have the staffing to back it up.”
In an update from Save the Dogs at the beginning of September, the shelter had 30 dogs that were rescued from a shelter in Ukraine that was attacked, Worsdall said. The shelter in total had about 180 dogs, 50 cats, 60 donkeys and 20 horses.
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Worsdall will be providing basic veterinary nursing to the animals.
“I’ll be monitoring anesthesia during spay and neuter surgeries. I’ll be distributing vaccinations and vaccination certificates to the animals,” she said. “I’ll be doing health checkups and feeding and watering for the animals that are being housed there, because they do adopt out internationally.”
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VWB has joined organizations specific to Ukraine and Romania, helping to fund things like food delivery for the animals.
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“They’re buying bags and bags and bags of dog food and they’re just putting it out for the dogs that are running loose,” Worsdall said.
“They’ve been either left behind by their owners, they’ve been displaced from the bombing, or they’re bringing food specifically to apartment complexes and community shelters, where owners are sheltering and isolating with their pets, and they can’t just go down the street to the pet store to get their food.”
The organizations are also providing medical care for the animals.
“They’re doing some telemedicine so that owners or clinics in Ukraine can contact (them) over the phone and get advice on how to look after an animal that they maybe found out in the street that was injured or something like that,” Worsdall said.
Worsdall said she will spend about two months helping the shelters and is planning to return to Edmonton in mid-December.
