Diary of a Real-Life Veterinarian: The Compound, Ukraine Day 2

Day three. Or maybe it is day 2.2-7? It’s a blur. Truly. Too many airports and too many people.

I’m going to do my best to sit down every night and record the day’s events. Many days start with overly ambitious plans that are quickly thwarted by mucky, meddling bureaucrats and their tedious paperwork bound permission slips. The weather seems to waiver between wet and cold and windy and cold. Layers are important, but, running water and washing needs are absent. Dirt is everywhere. Veterinary work comes with dirt, feces, urine and disease. Hoses, showers, and washers are the waterways and weapons of our disease prevention. It is not a luxury we are able to afford here.

This place, Ukraine, is a rainbow of colors, feelings, new experiences, new and vastly peculiar people, and a far-away place that actually fits the gilded Reese’s kiss-topped churches. Huge ornate, church-like facades perch at front gates of simple small one-story homes as proclamations of religious devotional deities met by small portly women walking down narrowly beaten dirt sidewalks in long dirty dresses, blackened knee-high wellies and brightly kerchiefed heads. The land is a stream of verdant ribbons. Manicured farmland, and fruit trees blooming tiny pink flowers from their writhing skeletal outreached branches. There are no mechanical sounds. No lawn mowers, weed whackers, or small engine of any sort. It is a peaceful, humble, simple and quiet place, save for the speeding daredevil cars racing haphazardly without regard to the suggested passing center lines.

The compound that I am staying at is about 6 hours inside Ukraine from Romania. It, the compound, is about as charming as the name implies. The entry is a large industrial era door, painted steel grey, with a poorly welded handle and in need of considerable greasing. The effort required to open it insures its bomb proof. The room it opens into houses 7 dogs, all unneutered and all unhappy to be caged near to each other. The veterinarian in me is having a terribly difficult time managing the messiness. The clutter from having donations of all shapes, sizes, and species coming to and fro. The animals in cages as if suspended at the border or airport. Sort of in transit and sort of hopeful there is a destination ahead that might add permanence. It is that way within chaos. The chaos of being prepared to flee. Grab and go is made inherently more challenging with pets and their varying ailments, invalidities and apprehensions.

The first room is first filled with audible requests from the dogs. They all have human attentions to demand and they don’t take no for an answer. They bark until they aren’t heard. The second feature of note is the darkness, this is a warehouse. Converted to be a home for dogs, cats, people. The people range from the crew of women who care for the pets. They name them, walk them, clean and feed them. They also cuddle many of them in the undefined hours between interacting with the outside world, and the rest of the days tasks. There is no clock here. There is no sign of time having fluidity. There is no start, stop or circadian rhythm.

The second room is storage. It’s a cluttered mass of boxes and bottles. A make shift pharmacy for all. I'm sure that we could treat or cure anything, but, I’m not sure we could find it.

A large, heavy tarp is strung up to provide a barrier for human living spaces and dogs. Before traversing into the displaced Winnebago kitchen and the living room of pallets and towels, there is a pop-up tent for a bathroom. Women’s facilities are a bucket. I may have foul smelling armpits, hair and body odor, but, I will have massively muscular thighs.

Meals, well, this leaves much to be figured out. I’ve been here for 3 days and had one meal. A random snack bar and as much tea as I can find hot water for.

P.S. I will add photos as I can. We take great care in maintaining security and not disclosing anything that might bring Russians knocking. I will share photos and videos from the groups we are working with to add color to the stories.

Be well, love your pets, krista

here is part of the rescue efforts from yesterday; day 1, the bear and the wolf