The Patron Pet Center

 

Exiting Vystavkovyi Tsentre metro station, we first had to pass a considerable amount of tank barriers, which had been placed conveniently on the pavement next to Akademika Hushkova Ave, to be always at hand to set up an impromptu road block on this major trunk road leading into the centre of Kyiv and to the Dnieper river. It looked like an odd assembly of concrete blocks and pieces of rusting metal, that had been welded together in a hurry and were now discarded like the unwanted toys of a giant toddler.

The occasional portraits of some of the defenders on the boulders however confirmed that it had been ordinary people and not disgruntled giants who had used these items to defend their city.  

Walking through the gates of Ukraine’s Expo Center, Andrij and I found ourselves standing next to a full sized Tupolev TU-134A-3, which someone had decided to park here. While there were a number of impressive exhibition pavilions, including the spectacular “Grain and Oilseed” Pavilion, which featured a huge female statue on a central column, the aim of my first excursion in Kyiv was far more hidden in one of the minor and less eye-catching buildings at the other side of the central square.

Here the Patron Pet Center was – with the support of an army of local volunteers – looking after not less than 200 dogs and over 120 cats, some of them badly injured and traumatised and most of them rescued from the Kharkiv area.

What struck me, while standing in the brightly lid reception area of the building, was that I could hardly hear any barking or any other noise indicating that so many animals were kept here under one roof.  

The reason for this was explained to us by Iryna Podvoyska, who was both the head vet, the general manager and the main brain and engine behind this unusual shelter.

Helped by an industrial ventilation unit, all animals were kept in sound proofed and climate controlled small rooms, that had a large glass front door and could be cleaned easily. All of these units were placed in huge timber framed cubes, which filled out a large hall inside the building.

Some of these units had been adopted by individual artists, by local celebrities, by partner cities or by foreign animal welfare organisations.

There was a centralised food kitchen, a dedicated treatment room and an operating theatre to meet all the needs of the animals that were kept here.

While being located in the middle of a public park in Kyiv, the urban community was encouraged to visit the center and to take suitable dogs for a walk. The thus established human-animal bond proofed to be helpful for both the dogs as well as for the families that had been traumatised by the ongoing conflict. Unsurprisingly, a fair amount of the dogs were later adopted.

Cats had a separate home on the first floor with a dedicated room with individual care units, as well as some larger rooms, where groups of cats were housed together, depending on their individual immunological status.

The whole set up was already impressive, but Iryna had even bigger plans…..

A large feline play zone was in the process of being build and a café, right next to it and overlooking the park was due to follow soon.

Iryna carried the undeniable signs of chronic sleep deprivation, which I recognised so well from my own work in emergency clinics, but there was at the same time an iron will and determination, that I felt was on a different level than I had ever seen before.

While running this huge rescue centre, Iryna was already planning to return to Kharkiv and to the towns near the front to rescue even more animals. Relentless commitment fuelled by coffee and adrenaline….  

(If you like to learn more about Iryna’s work or like to support the Patron Pet Center, you should visit their website at https://patron.center or follow them on the usual social media channels)