As many of you will know if you have visited any of our offices SEPAR are a company full of animal lovers, especially when it comes to dogs!
Of course there are many dogs, cats and other animals that are suffering in Ukraine at the moment which is absolutely heartbreaking and we have sent supplies over to help with the effort however our latest story has turned into a rescue mission!
On Wednesday 18th May 2022, I, Jo one of the co-owners, received a video from one our security consultants Dane who had been working on our behalf in Bucha near Irpin. The video was of a lone dog that he had found hiding in a hole in the ground next to a burnt out car, clearly very traumatised and scared but wanting some kind human attention.
The dog was very hungry, scared and desperate so Dane did his best to make him as comfortable as possible in a short space of time feeding him from his ration packs and even setting up a DIY water station!
Sadly Dane was unable to stay nor take the dog with him and of course was one of many that he has seen and helped on his travels. Or course there are countless animals that are suffering due to the war and our consultants see them everyday but for some reason this particular dog really resonated with us all as he seemed to represent all of the misery that animals are suffering there now. After watching the video I spent the next 2 hours crying and then decided that we had to do something about it.
It was a long shot that we would even find him 8 days later but we felt we should try so we sent two of our staff back to Bucha to search for him. Sure enough he was sat in the same hole next to the burnt out car. They spoke to many people in the area to try and find it's owner but no one knew where this dog had come from.
Our driver took him back to safety at his home in Kyiv where he was properly fed and watered whilst we arranged the next steps.
Vets are hard to come by in Kyiv as they have been recruited for the war effort as medics so he was then transferred to Lviv so he could have the necessary checks and vaccinations. The vet estimates that he is around 2 years old and a mixed breed but i guess we will never really know, however we will celebrate his birthday on the 10th May - the day that he was found by Dane.
So far everything has gone to plan and yesterday we received his passport enabling him to be able to travel back to the UK in the coming weeks.
I already have two dogs, one of which is very territorial so not a perfect home for a traumatised animal so one of our lovely Project Manager's Lukas and his family have offered to give him a loving home.
We have called him 'Sepoid' which is our nickname for anyone who works at Separ and we all can't wait to meet him, I will keep you updated on his trip home. his new family life and daily trips to the Separ office!