“They are my life.' One Ukrainian woman has found a new purpose in life: Rescuing wild animals and pets from the devastation wrought by the war in Ukraine.
Natalia Popova, 50, pets a lion at her animal shelter in Kyiv region, Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022. Popova, in cooperation with the animal protection organisation UA Animals, has already saved more than 300 animals from the war, 200 of them were sent abroad, and 100 found a home in most western regions of Ukraine, which are considered to be safer. Natalia Popova has found a new purpose in life: Rescuing wild animals and pets from the devastation wrought by the war in Ukraine.
Popova’s shelter in the Kyiv region village of Chubynske now houses 133 animals. It's a broad menagerie, including 13 lions, a leopard, a tiger, three deer, wolves, foxes, raccoons and roe deer, as well as domesticated animals like horses, donkeys, goats, rabbits, dogs, cats and birds. In most cases, she knows nothing about the animals she rescues, neither their names and ages nor their owners.For the first months of the war, Popova drove to war hot spots alone, but a couple from UA Animals recently offered to transport and help her.
An organization against slaughterhouses approached her with a request for help saving a lion with a broken spine. She did not know how she could help because her expertise was in horses. But when she saw a photo of the big cat, Popova could not resist. The shelter is just a temporary stop for the animals. Popova rehabilitates them and then looks for new homes for them. She feels a special connection with each big cat, but says she does not mind letting them go.
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