West Vancouver retiree helping pets left behind in war-torn Ukraine

A retired executive from West Vancouver has been helping care for dogs and cats Ukrainian refugees were forced to leave behind while fleeing from the war.

For the past three weeks, retired West Vancouver IT executive Dan Fine has been volunteering at a small animal shelter in Poland that’s rescuing and caring for dogs and cats who were abandoned when their owners fled the war in Ukraine.

“They were told to leave their luggage. If you’re getting on a train or a bus, you can’t bring your pet,” said Fine.

Some of the animals who were left to fend for themselves on the street were badly injured by Russian attacks.

“When you’re walking these dogs from the hospital, they’re missing limbs,” said Fine. “We are treating animals that are paralyzed in their spine. This one dog Paulo? Eight bullets.”

There are teams of volunteers venturing into bombed out neighborhoods looking for the injured animals.

“It’s hard because we can only bring so many back. We don’t have these huge organizations like they do for humans that go in and set up these processes,“ said Fine, who added pets without physical wounds are often mentally scarred.

“When I deal with these dogs, you see the PTSD they have. They’re chewing on their tails, they’re circling in their cage, they stand and shake,” said Fine. “It’s just horrifying what’s happened to them.”