Aina Idalova runs the Khatiko shelter, which today is one of the largest not only in the Chechen Republic, but also beyond its borders. Aina has been doing her life's work, namely saving dogs and cats that have ended up on the street for various reasons, for more than fifteen years.
The story of the Khatiko shelter, where more than 400 dogs are kept, was told by journalists of the Chechen state television and radio company Grozny. Here, the staff tries to find an approach to each pet, socialize, cure and, if possible, arrange kind hands.
But the path for the mistress of this large and warm house was thorny. Once, Aina rescued the dogs from the basement of a residential building and kept them for overexposure. Then there were more puppies, and so 22 dogs gathered in the house.
"I started looking for a plot in Grozny to rent it and keep my dogs there. I found it on the territory of the construction base. It was a small piece of land with a small cabin. I did the renovations, yes it was hard, but I was happy. For me, this piece of land was a palace where my dogs ran, and the cats were kept in large cages," says Aina.
Aina treated sick animals and looked for new owners for them. People who were not indifferent began to help. That's how a very small "Khatiko" shelter appeared at first. Two years later, the happiness ended. Out of the blue, the landowner gave three days to vacate the property.
"He just confronted us with a fact. Unfortunately, it was winter, and there was nowhere to go. We had more than a hundred dogs at that time. We searched for a long time for a plot, no one wanted to rent anything for animals," recalls Aina Idalova.
And then suddenly, Aina found an old closed landfill in the city, where she was allowed to settle her pets. The territory was cleared by volunteers, plants and trees were planted, and animal enclosures were set up. And so we lived for two years. Aina was sure that no one would evict the animal shelter from the landfill, but that was not the case. This time, the neighborhood did not suit the locals, who complained to the authorities about the noise.
"At that time, we had 280 dogs! I couldn't keep quiet and started sounding the alarm on social media. My subscribers helped and a wave rose in our defense, a lot of people learned about the situation at the shelter. And we had nowhere to move to. There was only one option: to give all the dogs into good hands urgently or to let them go," says Aina.
Volunteers from Moscow were able to pick up almost 50 tails, many were simply let loose in the yards. Fortunately, they were all sterilized and vaccinated. This big story reached the head of Chechnya. A real miracle happened for Aina Idalova and all her volunteers. Ramzan Kadyrov gave instructions to build a new shelter for Khatiko.
"On August 25, 2022, we moved to our permanent place of residence. There are, of course, all the conditions: a veterinary office, a recreation room, a laundry room, aviaries, a canopy, and the surrounding area. That's the kind of story we have with a happy ending," says the owner of Khatiko.
Over the years, Aina and her assistants have adopted a huge number of dogs and cats, and they have found owners in all corners of Russia and even abroad. Khatiko is now home to over 500 dogs and 28 cats. And they call a shelter nothing but a home.
Photos from Aina Idalova's personal archive.