Minsk News wrote one of these stories about an elderly mongrel Zinaida Mikhailovna. The dog was kicked out of the territory of the enterprise, where she had lived all her life. The old and sick often become a burden - the harsh truth of life. But the two bullets found by veterinarians in her body are already the harsh truth of cruelty, the newspaper writes.
"I took Zinochka from the point of capture and further euthanasia, as a rule, if our organization has free places, we take old animals to ourselves," says Anastasia Kurakevich, a volunteer of the Public Association for Animal Protection "Aegis" in Minsk. "Now Zinaida Mikhailovna is my constant ward, she will be with me for overexposure until the end of her days," Anastasia continues.
According to the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services, the situation with the number of stray animals in Minsk is becoming more acute every year: in 2022, about 22 thousand were caught, in the first five months of 2023 the number exceeded 10 thousand. Stray cats and dogs are found on Minsk streets and placed in a temporary detention center. Those who are terminally ill or seriously injured face euthanasia. Volunteers take them and other foundlings from the doorways for overexposure - to a kind of animal shelters," the journalists write.
Among them are Minsk public figures from the "Egida", they have been working in the capital of Belarus for more than 18 years. Volunteers have developed a program for the sterilization of stray animals, help pay for emergency veterinary care for cats and dogs knocked down on the roads, as well as those who find themselves in difficult situations. In addition to helping animals, volunteers are also engaged in educating the population about the humane treatment of our younger brothers. They work with schools, orphanages, universities.
"I deal specifically with old, sick and complex animals. For example, we have a dog named Ginger. He and his friend were just shot. Ginger was lucky, he survived, we collected the shattered bones of his paws. Unfortunately, the second dog could not be saved. The old dog Eva was beaten and thrown away. Thoroughbred Gerda was removed from the family in an extreme state of exhaustion. And old Naphania with a large tumor on her stomach was found in a pond. Someone tried to get rid of an old sick dog like that – they put it in a backpack and tried to drown it. Now we have all of them on overexposure. Someone will find new owners, and someone will stay with us, just like my Zinochka," says Anastasia Kurakevich.
Photo from Anastasia Kurakevich's personal archive.