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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-29/australians-helping-animals-in-ukraine-displaced-by-war/105426182>
'A shed with hundreds of cows, lovingly locked inside for safety by a fleeing
Ukrainian farmer, had been transformed into a mass bovine coffin by the time
Marcus Fillinger arrived.
As Russian troops approached, the farmer had tried to do the best thing for his
livestock.
The outcome was the opposite. The shed was directly hit by artillery.
"It was probably one of the most graphically horrible things I've ever seen,"
he said.
The Canberra man answered the global call for help when Ukraine's animal
shelters and zoos came under direct Russian fire.
"The war is causing terrible stress for the animals," wrote Kyiv Zoo on its
website in late February 2022, in the first days of the war.
Mr Fillinger is one of three police-endorsed tranquilliser-firearms instructors
in Australia and travelled to Ukraine where he was swamped by need.
"I was getting a myriad of texts on my satellite phone of people crying for
help," Mr Fillinger said.
"Their lives were in imminent danger, but they were staying behind for their
commitment to the animals — they didn't want to leave the animals behind.
"That really spoke to me. That would be what I'd be doing. So [I thought], 'I'm
going to go help those people'.
"If we can remove the animals, then we can also remove the volunteers out of
harm's way."'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
