Ukraine war: Animal shelters struggle to cope with a surge of abandoned pets

euronews.com:

The cacophony of anger and desperation coming from cages at this animal shelter in Lviv is perhaps an appropriate metaphor for what Ukrainians are feeling 50 days into Russia's invasion of the country.

The centre in western Ukraine is on the frontline of helping to care for pets deserted during the war.

Whether their owners have been killed in the conflict or forced to flee -- as of 15 April, 4.7 million Ukrainian refugees have left the country -- abandoned animals have been flooding in.

“Some of the animals are in really bad shape,” Natalia Tyrko, a volunteer at the shelter, told Euronews. “Some haven’t had food for a long time and many are stressed by what they have witnessed. Some of them bite and scratch themselves. We will try to help.”

The centre -- previously a shelter for wild animals -- is giving the pets medical attention and there are volunteers who try to calm their nerves.

Natalia said the shelter has already helped 800 dogs and cats. Some are sent to Poland, she says, while others are adopted locally in Lviv if the centre can't track down the owners.

New cages are being built to cope with the influx - on the day Euronews visit 28 dogs are expected to arrive from the capital Kyiv.

During the interview with Natalia, dogs start fighting in one cage and staff need to separate them.

Almost all the volunteers have scratches and bite marks on their hands and arms from handling the animals.

“A lot of animals come here because the owners don’t want to deal with the problems when they cross the border to Poland," said Natalia. "Maybe, they have to live in a small apartment and don't want or cannot have the animals there."

One dog from Irpin -- a suburb of Kyiv where the fighting has been particularly intense -- is having