Ukrainian refugees with pets get a helping hand from B.C. organization

“People want to evacuate with their pets." The BC Animal Food Bank is fundraising to provide support for refugees with animals fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Nicole Frey’s pets are part of her family, and she can’t imagine leaving them behind if she ever had to flee her home in an emergency.

That’s why the founder of the BC Animal Food Bank says the organization is fundraising to provide for pets and animals impacted by the crisis in Ukraine.

“People want to evacuate with their pets, they treat them like family, and there's likely not going to be a lot of services set up to receive them. So we wanted to be able to act quickly, to offer aid wherever we could, and make sure that the animals had the basic necessities,” Frey said. 

“When the war started, I immediately started reaching out to founders of organizations that were posting on social media, that were in news coverage to see what I could find out. I wanted to make sure that anything donated tasks is going to organizations that can make an immediate impact.”

So far, over 4 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24. Another 7 million have been displaced, forced to leave their homes but remaining in the country. 

The BC Animal Food Bank has raised more than $25,000 in donations for groups on the ground in Ukraine and surrounding countries like Poland and Romania that are seeing an influx of refugees. These range from animal shelters in desperate need of supplies, to groups going into Ukraine to rescue  animals left behind, to people delivering necessities to those who stayed in Ukraine with their pets, to others working to make sure refugees aren’t separated from their animals when crossing borders.  

Frey said volunteers in B.C. learned a lot about what people fleeing their homes with pets needed, and how few organizations are set up specifically to respond to these needs.