As the bombs begin to fall, Ukrainian mothers and children flee across borders to avoid the threats to life.

Many of them had no choice and left their pets behind. Their dogs and cats now roam the streets in Ukraine and EU borders in need of medical care, food and attention. Some of them have little notes attached by owners hoping to be reunited with their beloved pets one day. Shelters in the Ukraine are being attacked and set on fire by Russian soldiers. Many shelter animals have already died because they couldn’t be fed.

Ukrainian animals must wait for an inevitable death because of EU regulations while thousands of welcoming arms of EU animal rescuers reach out for them. Those who already reached out are being prosecuted, fined and the animals were confiscated.

By relaxing and harmonising regulations safely, innumerable sentient creatures could be rescued from the violence and maybe reunited with their owners.

We call upon the European Commission to relax and harmonise the constraining regulations for unowned Ukrainian animals.

On the 1st of April the Eurogroup for Animals also wrote a joint letter to the EC with the same request: https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/news/war-ukraine-call-european-commission-step-support-animals

To reduce the risk of rabies animals could be transported to quarantined parts of shelters in EU member states straight away, registered, microchipped and vaccinated and kept in quarantine.

Please let EU NGO's help the Ukrainian animals.