"I'm staying in Kherson because someone has to help animals," veterinarian Oleksandr Shevchenko

Oleksandr Shevchenko is better known in Kherson and beyond as Tarasovych. He is one of the few veterinarians who stayed in the city during the occupation and saved the four-legged animals. He continued to do so after the de-occupation of the right bank of the Kherson region. While we were talking to Oleksandr, pets and street dogs periodically ran up to him. All of them were or are his patients. The man says that he cannot imagine his life without veterinary work. Therefore, he is not going to leave it even during his military service. Soon, Oleksandr Shevchenko will join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Combining veterinary medicine with volunteering

Oleksandr Shevchenko says that as a child he spent a lot of time with his grandparents. They lived in a village and had a household there. Involved in caring for animals from a young age, Oleksandr realized over the years that his love and desire to help them was gaining new momentum. Therefore, after graduating from high school, he decided to pursue the profession of a veterinarian.

Today, the man has 13 years of general surgical experience. He treats all four-legged animals that get into trouble: pets, shelters, strays, etc. He notes that there has always been enough work, but with the beginning of the full-scale invasion, it has become many times more.

"During the occupation, people left en masse for the government-controlled territory of Ukraine, some took their pets with them, but most, unfortunately, threw them out in the open. Cats were left on the streets, and dogs were tied to trees, poles or a chain," the veterinarian says.

That's how Oleksandr became a volunteer. He emphasizes that someone had to stay and collect the pets, thus saving them from certain death. After all, most pets, especially purebreds, are not adapted to living in the open air. They die of hunger and various diseases, are hit by cars, and torn apart by street dogs. Military operations have added to these challenges. The blast wave causes contusion, deafness, heart attacks, and a separate type of injury - shrapnel wounds.

Photo provided by an interlocutor

The vet did not just pick up abandoned animals, but treated them and performed surgeries if necessary. Later, he found new owners or temporary shelter. The wards were from Kherson or the suburbs, and it was not possible to travel to the villages of the region because of the Russian checkpoints. For the same reason, he sometimes had to provide consultations by phone. Despite all the risks, Oleksandr could go to emergencies at night.

"The occupiers stopped and checked my documents, phone, and car. This was my routine, because I had to get to work in the city from the suburbs. Once I knelt under machine guns for 20 minutes. The occupiers didn't like my tattoos, they considered them Nazi symbols," Oleksandr Shevchenko recalls.

But the man had no intention of quitting and leaving. He found solace from his hard days at home in the support of his family. He also felt a personal responsibility for his numerous patients, whose owners remained in the city, and the shelters he had been taking care of in recent years. And, of course, his pets, four dogs and a cat, one of which Oleksandr rescued and kept with him during the full-scale war.

The main thing is to save them

"Before the full-scale war, I think there were about twenty or thirty veterinarians in Kherson. At the time of the occupation, about five remained, including me. To be honest, I managed to cope with the amount of work. At first I worked alone, then I hired more people. In addition, I had an irreplaceable employee - my son Dmytro. He helped me operate, handed me instruments, wiped up blood and even went on several field trips. Today he is already 14 years old and he clearly knows that he wants to follow in his father's footsteps and become a veterinarian," says Oleksandr.

Oleksandr and Dmytro. Photo: Intent/Yanina Nadtocha

The availability of medical supplies and tools was much more difficult. These, along with animal feed, were sold out in the first days of the full-scale invasion. There were no new supplies. Sometimes it was necessary to go on long searches all over the city and stand in long lines.

"We managed as best we could, mostly replacing medicines for animals with medicines for people. We had some stocks, and then volunteers started to bring in the most necessary things from the government-controlled territory of Ukraine. They tried to use pharmaceuticals from Russian manufacturers as little as possible," Oleksandr Shevchenko said.

During the occupation, according to the veterinarian, he often had to rescue animals after an accident. He describes one such case as follows: "People brought a puppy from Chornobaivka that had been run over by a Russian Tiger, with fractures in several places. I was out of almost all the materials, so instead of using surgical needles, I used bicycle needles. The operation lasted about an hour and a half, it was quite difficult. Now the tail lives with those people, growing, running, jumping."

Oleksandr Shevchenko emphasizes that he is first and foremost a doctor, not an animal psychologist. Therefore, no matter what condition the animals come to him in (stress, aggression, terror), his main task is to save them. Sometimes the countdown to rescue is minutes. In addition to surgical interventions, Oleksandr conducts routine examinations, vaccinations, and sterilizations.

"Since February 24, 2022, I have always had two anxious suitcases with me. One is an ordinary one, which every Ukrainian has today, and the other is a specific one for work. It contains first aid tools and medicines, such as hemostatic drugs, bandages, and a tourniquet. In general, it was assembled specifically to help animals, but it can be used for humans if necessary. These are the realities of life in the frontline region," the veterinarian adds.

An animal is a lifelong responsibility

Oleksandr Shevchenko continued to rescue animals after the de-occupation of the right bank of the Kherson region. He recalls that the hardest part was in the first weeks, because with the so-called "evacuation" to the left bank, the Russian military left Kherson without communications. So for some time, they had to conduct operations under the light of headlamps and sweaters because of the cold indoors, and water was brought from private wells.

Photo provided by an interlocutor

But the man no longer pays attention to the explosions, he says he has gained the endurance not to react to shelling while working. With the liberation of the right bank, it has become even more. Four-legged patients come to the clinic every day, both from the city and the nearest settlements of the region. The animals are often brought by the Ukrainian military, who find them on the roads or in abandoned houses on the front line.

"If these are planned procedures, there can be up to 13 operations per day. If there was a shelling somewhere, then there may be three or four more unscheduled operations. Now there are a lot of explosive and shrapnel wounds: torn off ears, crushed heads, broken paws. Animals suffer from all this just like people. For example, drones are dropped into enclosures or household yards," says Oleksandr.

The veterinarian also travels to different communities in the region. He does this in a mobile clinic, which he received from regular partners of the Ukrainian Veterinary Medicine Foundation. There are only a few such special vehicles in Ukraine, all equipped for examination and minimal surgical care in the field. In addition to the standard functions, the field team is currently performing another important mission - evacuation of animals. In particular, Oleksandr recently evacuated 11 dogs and 24 cats from one village, most of whom have already gone to new families across the country.

In addition, in the winter of 2023, Oleksandr Shevchenko traveled to Donetsk Oblast for two weeks as part of a volunteer group. There, he and his colleagues provided veterinary care to pets and stray animals. Some of the animals were evacuated from the war zone to pre-arranged shelters.

"A veterinarian must have a very stable nervous system. Otherwise, you can quickly burn out, because there are days when you are constantly covered in blood... And not all people will say "thank you" later. It's hard to endure, you just have to get used to it and realize that the best reward is the grateful eyes of four-legged patients," Oleksandr says.

Photo provided by the interviewee

He adds that today animals are one of the most vulnerable groups. Feeding, sterilization, sheltering, vaccination - all this falls on the shoulders of animal volunteers. The state does not finance Ukrainian shelters, and foreign aid is periodic and does not cover the scale of the problem. That is why Oleksandr Shevchenko emphasizes that it is important not only to support the four-legged animals, but also to take a conscious approach to getting a pet. An animal is not a toy, but a living being that needs warmth and attention throughout its life.

The work on this material was made possible by the Fight for Facts project, which is implemented with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.