Dogs Under Bombardment

Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt, March 16

The photographs and images coming out of the battlefields in Ukraine are certainly not ones we’re used to seeing every day. Take, for example, the numerous photos of Ukrainian refugees fleeing toward the Romanian and Polish border. One picture in particular caught my attention; it was a photo depicting an animal shelter that is still occupied by volunteers who refused to leave the animals alone despite the bombing. The team of volunteers preferred to stay with the animals and provide them with food and shelter for pure humanitarian reasons. The British newspaper Daily Mail interviewed some of these individuals and provided more insight into their story. As veterinary clinics and hospitals closed their doors, and as people fled their homes, hundreds of house pets were left behind to die.  Animal owners had very little time to pack up and leave – and often took only their children with them. These animals became homeless overnight. Amid the deluge of photos depicting Ukrainian asylum seekers being fed at European train stations and refugee camps, this is the photo that seems to depict the Ukrainian spirit more than all others. It tells the story of ordinary Ukrainian citizens showing mercy toward helpless creatures even at the risk of their own lives. All of this is happening at a time of enormous and unfathomable human suffering. Yet ordinary Ukrainian men and women have found it within them to care for those most in need. – Mohammad Ameen (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)