Violetta Polkovnikova lives in the small Siberian village of Novaya Igirma, near the Ilim River, a tributary of the Angara. She is eleven years old, but the young lady has more than one campaign to raise funds for the purchase of animal feed. The girl does not pass by the cats and dogs left on the street. Which is important for Siberian regions, because in harsh weather conditions it is very important not to leave animals to freeze.
"Since childhood, Violetta has been distinguished from other children by her kindness and compassion for those who needed help. Every day, going for a walk after school, my daughter takes food, bread and other treats with her and goes to feed all the stray animals in the neighborhood,” says Violetta's mother Irina Polkovnikova.
According to Irina, an example of such a kind attitude to animals was her father, who 12 years ago, coming home from work at night, heard a tiny squeak in a snowdrift. The package beeped. When he got closer, he found a small red kitten in it, which someone had thrown into a snowdrift in winter, unable to survive. It was a harsh Siberian winter outside at that moment, the temperature was 45 degrees below zero.
Since then, the red lump, which with difficulty managed to get out, lives in the Polkovnikov family, and children always remember this good story with interest and warmth.
Later, the family repeatedly rescued abandoned animals, including not only dogs and cats, but also birds. For example, in early spring Violetta found a very tiny tit chick on the street, which apparently fell out of the nest when there was a strong gusty wind and heavy rain outside.
"For more than two months, the whole family nursed him back to health: we fed him with tweezers every hour, bathed him, and taught him how to fly. When the chick got stronger, they set it free. A little later Violetta rescued a pigeon from a dog's mouth, and later she saved an injured skylark,” continues Irina Polkovnikova.
And one summer the family found five puppies thrown away at the village dump, they could not abandon them, they had to rescue them. Then there were the discarded puppies in the woods outside the village. All attempts to capture the unfortunate animals were unsuccessful, so now Violetta and her parents go to feed them every evening. Dogs every day happily meet their rescuers, but they do not let them close to them, because apparently they are very much offended by humans. There are a lot of similar stories about saved animal lives in Violetta's family.
"My daughter is always coming up with something. We recently organized a charity event at the local recreation center. Violetta walked around the school, offering classmates to help the animals, raise money for food or buy it and feed the homeless. And we're helping her," Mom says.
On a regular basis Violetta provides various kinds of assistance to the school wildlife corner, helping both by physical labor and financially by purchasing food. By the way, Violetta never spares money and is always very happy to spend the savings of her piggy bank on animals," her parents say.
A fifth-grader also installs bird feeders on the balcony in winter. And in the forest near the village, together with her parents, she installed rodent feeders, which she fills with delicious and healthy treats every week.
Violetta Polkovnikova sincerely believes that everyone living on this earth deserves love and care, regardless of whether they are human or animal. When she grows up, the girl dreams of becoming a veterinarian and opening a large shelter for homeless and animals in difficult situations.
Photos from the personal archive of the Polkovnikov family.