The German Animal Welfare Association has completed important and urgently needed improvements at its animal welfare and castration center in Odessa, Ukraine: New dog runs make it possible to provide long-term accommodation for dogs in need of protection. The dog houses are currently still being renovated. The center cares for and neuters street dogs and cats and continues to be a contact point for animals in need despite the war.
"Thanks to donations from animal-loving people, we have been able to complete long-awaited improvements at our Odessa animal welfare center. Despite the difficult situation in Ukraine, we can now offer the four-legged friends a life that meets their needs. Thanks to the new exercise areas, the dogs can run around and play with other dogs to their heart's content," says Luca Secker, specialist for animal welfare abroad at the German Animal Welfare Association.
Despite the worsening situation in Ukraine, the staff at the German Animal Welfare Association's Odessa Animal Welfare and Castration Center are working hard to help every single animal in need. The animal welfare center works according to the "catch, neuter, release" concept, but not every animal can be released back into its former territory after neutering. The newly acquired space will ensure long-term accommodation and better care.
Further improvements in sight
Renovation work on the dog houses at the animal welfare center is also progressing. The aim is to ensure that animals in need of protection can find refuge at the Odessa Animal Welfare Center in the future, even as the need for space increases. Since the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in the summer of 2023 in the course of the war, many animals need intensive medical care, among other things.
In order to prevent parasitic diseases in street dogs and cats, the German Animal Welfare Association has also provided 12,000 euros for treatment with ecto- and endoparasitic agents. These funds will be handed over to the volunteers who look after feeding stations for street animals in Odessa. In spring 2024, the association had already subsidized the treatment of 177 cats with parasiticides with 5,000 euros.
