Kay's Story

Today was a day off of a sort, with some funding to organise and sponsor issues to address. And you can never switch off from the war - not just the sirens, but the Guardian or BBC online news reports about the ongoing atrocities, which don't seem to make the mainstream news in the UK anymore - even the death of 40 plus Ukrainian prisoners of war and a strike on a school in Kharkiv. Bob also sees graphic photos on Telegram (which he uses because many Ukrainians do) of the aftermath of missile strikes, most recently including the mangled bodies of dogs, as well as humans, in a residential street.

Which brings me to Kay's story that was actually written by our friend and translator, who was a doctor in Mariupol. This is a slightly abridged version:

"Everything changed on 24 February. Having lived through bombing and blockades in Mariupol, my wife and I got lucky to flee that horror and move to the safety of Lviv.

We followed our daughter, who had arrived earlier from Kharkiv. A lot of people were killed under the shelling in Kharkiv during the first week of the war. Many pets got lost on the deserted streets, suffering thirst and famine, and some were injured. Our daughter is a member of a volunteer group that started a campaign to save homeless cats and dogs, bring them to Lviv to be treated and vaccinated, and look for new homes for them, in Ukraine and abroad. We decided to make one of our rooms a temporary home for some of these dogs.

Kay is a shepherd mix. Right from the first minute, Kay rushed to hide himself away in a corner, under the table. It was impossible to get him out from there for several hours. He drank water from time to time, but refused the food we offered. In the evening, he became curious about his environment and left his hiding place. We went walking with him to a park. Of course, Kay was really scared on the street, rushing away from cars, loud noises and people. But we kept on walking with him three times a day, and introduced him to other dogs and people. In ten days our dog got more confident, and stopped being afraid of cars and other people.

One day a terrible thing happened. As I was walking with Kay, all of a sudden he rushed to the side and I couldn't hold the leash. He got startled by the rattling of the retractable leash and kept running even faster. I tried my best to catch up with the dog, but in ten minutes lost sight of him. I called my daughter, who instantly made a post and put a photo of Kay on Instagram. In one hour we got a call from people who found our dog and, when Kay saw us, he was really happy. Since then we became joined at the hip.

In the next few days Kay found a new home in Germany and was taken by his new family to Berlin. Our big friend, Kay, is as happy as his new family."

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