Sheffield animal sanctuary overwhelmed as cost of living crisis hits pet owners hard

11:19am

A Sheffield animal sanctuary is seeing "more animals than ever before" being given up by their owners due to the cost of living crisis. Thornberry Animal Sanctuary on Todwick Road in Dinnington say that individuals cannot afford the upkeep of their pets or they are having to move house to a more affordable living area and cannot take their pet with them. The animal Thornberry is receiving the most of are rabbits. At present, there are more than 200 rabbits on the waiting list to come into the animal sanctuary because their owners can't look after them. Bethany Rutt, marketing coordinator at Thornberry, explained the reason for this was because many people buy rabbits in pairs from pet shops that are not always correctly sexed. This leads to them breeding and the owner is then left with multiple rabbits to look after, which is expensive. "The waiting list is astronomical. We're having to expand our rabbit enclosures onto our farm site and build new hutches to house the influx of rabbits we are experiencing," said Bethany. "As well, people aren't particularly adopting rabbits at the same rate people are adopting cats and dogs. The rabbits are not being re-homed at the rate we need them to be." A lot of the animals that are being brought into Thornberry by owners have severe health problems. This is because the cost of living crisis has made it hard for pet owners to pay for medical bills and vet check ups.

"The animals that are being brought in are getting more and more expensive for us to look after as many of them need a lot of medical attention," Bethany continued. "Where the cost of living has gone up for everyone else, it has also gone up for us. We're then receiving these more expensive and ill-health animals on top of this, so we're really feeling it." One way Thornberry Sanctuary said pet owners can receive help with their medical bills is to get in touch with local pet health and neutering charities. Organisations like Cats Protection and the PDSA can offer pet owners help with neutering their cats. They also advised pet owners to speak to their local vets about finance options for medical and vet bills. Laura Skiba, an animal carer at Thornberry, said: "We need people to think and do their research before investing in a pet in the future. For example, some breeds have more health problems associated with them than others. With flat faced dogs like pugs and bulldogs, which are very popular at the moment, they need a lot of medical attention with their breathing. "We need people to have the knowledge about the animal they want to get before they buy one so they don't end up getting brought to us." One of the dogs currently being cared for at Thornberry is Brandy, an English Bulldog, who was used for breeding purposes and now their owner can't afford to take care of them. Currently, she is not available for rehoming as she requires a lot of medical treatment and this could cost Thornberry Sanctuary up to £5,000. Thornberry Sanctuary is funded 100 per cent by the general public. It does not receive any government funding and relies on the public's money, item donations for their charity shops and volunteers. Established in 1988 the sanctuary is split across two sites. The charity rescues thousands of dogs, cats, rabbits, equines and some other larger species at its farm at Ravenfield, whilst all other animals are at Todwick Road, Dinnington. "The message we want to get out is people need to be really considerate and think before buying or adopting pets. They need to be mindful that when you take a pet on, it's not just there for the next couple of years, but for a very long period of time," Bethany said. "While you might think you're in a stable job at the moment and can afford to look after a pet, this doesn't necessarily mean you are going to be financially stable in the future. A lot of long-term thinking needs to go on before investing in a pet."

Lawyer-turned-doctor on a quest to save Ukrainian soldiers

3:33pm

A high-flying Ukrainian lawyer has given up his lucrative job to set up a fleet of ambulances in war-ravaged Kyiv to provide medical aid and supplies to soldiers and civilians. 

Gennadiy Druzenko, 50, had a successful legal career when the Russian invasion started but has given it up to help his country’s resistance.  And his activities have come to the attention of the Russian aggressors who are so riled they have added his name to a kill list.  When the war started he managed to evacuate his whole family to safety in Western Ukraine but instead of staying there, the head of the family returned to Kyiv. He said: “If you decide to fight you should be ready to be killed, so it was my conscious decision to return back to Kyiv with nothing as our home exploded. “I came to fight by taking weapons in my hands and to coordinate medics to help.” Gennadiy isn’t the only family member to leave safety to help out in Kyiv: his wife, Svitlana, a nurse, and his eldest son, Max, 28, a doctor in an emergency hospital are also both back there working for the country’s good.  Their 22-year-old daughter Taya has stayed behind in their safe house in the West of the country with the family dog Dave. When saying goodbye to his children, he told them: “I can’t promise you anything, because this is war, but if we never see each other again, you don’t have to be ashamed of your parents because we died as patriots helping other Ukrainians." The family was only reunited 60 days after the start of the war in time for Orthodox Easter. However, the happy family reunion was short-lived, as Gennadiy re-concentrated his organisation’s medical aid towards Eastern Ukraine this week. He said: “We moved because we couldn’t feel safe and happy until our decisive victory over Putin’s Russia and the battlefield is now in Eastern Ukraine. If we don’t decisively win, the horror we’ve experienced in my native Kyiv will return.  “I promised at the very beginning of this big war that I could only return home and to my peaceful business when we win. “Yesterday I celebrated my 50th birthday near the frontline and it was the best birthday in my life because of the brilliant people who fight shoulder-to-shoulder with me against Russian darkness.” His daughter, Taya, is very proud of her family and deems their continuous work for their home country and its people patriotic: “I’m just so proud of them. I miss my parents, but I know that they are helping people and that is so much more important.” The fleet of ambulances and cars under the name of Medbat started with just his family car and a few supplies, but now, due to many donations, he is able to help people in and around Kyiv with various needs, from medical aid to food and emergency supplies. As a well-known activist in Kyiv, Gennadiy is on a Russian kill list supplied to Russian soldiers via a telegram called Troika (Тройка). Troika is the Russian word for a group of (three) people working together and the platform is used to “scare the people the Russians want killed”, as Mr Druzenko explained. He is a well-known public persona in Kyiv and is published on the list with the caption “we will come to your home and cut your balls off”. He is not worried about being on Russia’s hit list and even joked that being on it means they recognise the good work he's doing with his mobile medical support units: “I must be doing something right and finally get some recognition. “They hope I’m afraid and panic, but we have great unity and solidarity and we Ukrainians are fighting on the right side of this war.”  His life changed significantly from being a managing partner in a law firm, a “legal elephant”, as he referred to himself, and an advisor to government officials over the years. Today, he is leading mobile medical units and meeting military commanders on the ground to find the best way to provide aid. Mr Druzenko receives hundreds of calls every day from different people from the military, police, the territorial defence, government officials and civilians asking for advice or help.  The father-of-two said: “My phone runs hot from the many calls I get, but I’m trying everyday to make the mobile ambulances more efficient because the more efficient they are, the more lives we can save.” Mr Druzenko is currently trying to raise funds for armoured vehicles and body armour for his medics and emphasised how urgently those are needed: “Every day we endanger the lives of my wife and the volunteer medics in the mobile ambulances as they work under shelling.  “To prepare a doctor, you need about 10 years, but to lose him or her, you just need one second.” Since the Russian invasion started on 24 February, Medbat has already helped thousands of soldiers and civilians. However, the hardest moments for Mr Druzenko are when he cannot help people.  He said: “Some people ask if we can help them escape from occupied territory, but we can’t help them because the Russians shoot ambulances and I can’t have my medics take those risks. “The worst is when you can't help and can't save people’s lives. These are times which make you desperate, disappointed and exhausted and it doesn’t matter how hard you work, you’re dissatisfied because you lost people.” Donations can be made on the Medbat website.