Alyona Rodovskaya is the first Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Belarusian Union of Journalists.

Caring residents of Sevastopol have created their own house for fluffy, shaggy, humpback, winged and four-legged animals, which was named "Sugar Valley". The beginning of this sweet spot in the village of Sugar Head was laid by the Siberian Natalia Kurlasova, once she came from Novosibirsk and bought a plot for a ranch. She kept a horse and a foal in a nearby stable, but then bought a camel from the zoo, "MK-Crimea writes.

"In the zoo, the camel rolled the children, before that he worked for Ai-Petri all his life," recalls Natalia Kurlasova. – As it turned out, Barik had bad legs. I wanted to help him, I brought a veterinarian who said he had arthritis. It cannot be cured, it can only be supported with expensive drugs. And I bought the camel. That's how we realized that we needed a plot of land. I sold my apartment in Novosibirsk and bought a field. At first we lived in Yalta, then we moved with our family to Sevastopol. I realized that I was born to help animals."

The field quickly turned into a well-maintained ranch and got new residents. Seagulls are disabled: someone without wings, someone fell out of the nest as a baby, someone without a leg. Last year brought a lot of rabbits, which people thoughtlessly bought as a symbol of the year, for photo shoots, and after the fuzzies turned out to be unnecessary. It is also irresponsible for people to have raccoons as pets, and then it turns out that the raccoon in the apartment promises destruction, and his character leaves much to be desired.

"Natalia organized this wonderful place, but just came to feed the camel! And by chance, on the same day, I bought a young filly from her, and that's how we became friends. We were united by our love for animals. And since then we have been friends and help the animals. And I saw something special in camels, something human, you can be friends with a camel, this is a unique animal," said Tatyana Svyatkina, the manager of the Sugar Valley ranch.

And, as if to prove these words, the story of the camel Beads, which appeared on the ranch by accident. According to Natalia Kurlasova, if the Bead had not been brought to Sevastopol by caring people, it would have simply been eaten.

"The camel was bought at a meat price of 350 rubles per kilogram. It was bought by a girl from Sevastopol, who went all the way to Astrakhan to get a camel. They sold two camels, but they only had enough money for a Bead. The second one was unlucky. When the baby came to us, she was scared, she didn't trust anyone. And now you can't get her rid of yourself. She is 1.5 years old, with good maintenance, these animals live up to 40 years, - continues the owner of the "Sugar Valley" Natalia.

The donkey Yasha has the most tragic fate. He was brought from Alushta, where he lay downed on the highway for three days. The animal's condition was critical, and veterinarians gave it a 10% chance of survival. And when Yasha was taken away by volunteers, his owner suddenly "showed up", who demanded money for a half-dead donkey abandoned to the mercy of fate. But now Yasha has his own room in the stable, and among her loyal friends are not only people, but also local dogs.

A fox also lives on the ranch, she was picked up on the highway. The red-tailed one got into the habit of ruining the local chicken coop, for which she was hunted, but the volunteers from Sugar Valley managed to get there earlier and took the mischievous girl to themselves. Porcupines live next to it, which were bought from the Sevastopol zoo when it was closing.

There is also an amazing goat who considers himself a dog because he grew up with shepherds. When he settled on the ranch, he constantly ran away from the goats to "his pack" until he was given a separate place to live with the horned ones.

There is a guardianship program in Sugar Valley, when a kindergarten, cafe or anyone can take custody of an animal, come to him, help with food and medicines.

Photos from the personal archive of Tatiana Svyatkina and MK-Crimea

The story with a happy ending took place in the summer in the bay of Teriberki in the Barents Sea. The Red Book humpback whale got entangled in fishing nets, it was circling in the same place in the sea when it was first noticed by tourists, and then rescuers were already involved. According to the "Social Information Agency", the whale was named Stanislav, and this whale rescue operation was the first truly successful one in Russia.

As told by volunteers from the Friends of the Ocean group, who cut and removed the ill-fated nets, never before in Russia has it been possible to save a whale in such a situation. 

"When they saw an entangled whale in Teriberka, they immediately called Vyacheslav Kozlov, the head of the Friends of the Ocean response group. Stanislav's whale had a special entanglement: the rope fit snugly to the body under the lateral fin and could eventually cut it off. Wounds on the skin also opened the way to infection, the prognosis for the future of the Red Book giant was unfavorable," said Valentina Mezentseva, head of the Boomerang club, which includes the volunteer group Friends of the Ocean. 

According to her, many people were involved in the operation to save the whale – volunteers, local residents, business representatives, employees of environmental agencies, tour operators and marine biologists. Everyone had their own role. The practical part of the rescue was entrusted to the "Friends of the Ocean".

Two vessels went out to sea, one of them light maneuverable, in which there were two rescuers. The greatest danger is the tail fin of a giant, it is impossible to get in its way and approach the tail, it is necessary to move along the trajectory of the whale.

"When the rope has loose ends, then large inflatable buoys can be fixed around the whale. They allow you to slow down a whale, for which it is common to swim at a speed of 10-15 km/ h. Buoys like floats prevent him from diving. But this was not our case. Our whale didn't have a single piece of rope sticking out-there was nothing to hook the buoy on. It was necessary to approach the whale's head at a minimum distance of about 3 meters during its ascent in order to reach the rope with a rescue pole," continues Valentina Mezentseva.  

But that's not all. When they tried to save Stanislav from certain death, the giant did not understand this. Besides, he was protected by another whale. He got between the rescuers and a confused friend, which complicated the situation.

"Attempts to untangle the whale did not stop, they worked even at night, fortunately they are now white on the Kola Peninsula," says Valentina, "the Sakhalin rescuers had to change their tickets and stay for a few more days. On the day of the rescue, they were at sea for 14 hours - walking next to the whale in the hope that there would be a moment when they could cut the net. And a miracle happened. The net was removed using a special knife mounted on a pole."

Stanislav was rescued for almost five days. And the volunteers of the Friends of the Ocean group played a special role here. In Russia, this organization has been professionally engaged in the rescue of marine creatures for many years. It all started with the usual Sakhalin tourist club "Boomerang". After the high-profile story of the rescued killer whales from ice captivity in 2016, a public volunteer group "Friends of the Ocean" appeared. It included enthusiasts who were engaged in education, whale research and tourism projects.

A little later, it became possible to organize training on Sakhalin with international specialists from the International Whaling Commission. Now in the arsenal of the "Friends of the Ocean" there is a whole set of various devices for saving whales, among them a large collection of knives from rounded to blunt and rotary. The group consists of specially trained people who are able to competently, and most importantly safely for humans and whales, approach the sea giants by boat, free them from nets. And of course, over the years, Friends of the Ocean have developed their own methods of untangling marine mammals from nets and other debris. 

Photos from the personal archive of Valentina Mezentseva

Ksusha, that's the name of our heroine, spared no blood for a spaniel named Charlie and thereby saved his life. The journalists of Dobro Media told about this touching story. 

The shaggy baby was being treated for poisoning, and at one stage a blood transfusion was needed. Vyaznikovsky animal volunteers contacted the shelter "The Road of Goodness" and its director Yulia Buinitskaya helped to find a donor.

There is a shortage of donor animals in veterinary clinics. Therefore, when one of the shaggy patients is undergoing surgery, veterinarians or volunteers often ask shelters to find a donor just in case. So it happened with the shelter "The Road of Goodness". All the dogs there are vaccinated, treated and clean, and they are always ready to insure their brothers. 

“A volunteer colleague from Vyazniki told us that a dog was dying in a veterinary clinic. We began to think about which of our wards would cope with this task and be able to become a donor. And we decided on Ksyusha, she was the most suitable both in terms of health and weight. We were worried about how the girl would behave in the city, how she would reschedule the visit to the clinic," Yulia Buinitskaya said. 

But before proceeding with the blood transfusion from Ksusha, the veterinarians had to determine whether the blood in dogs was compatible. When the tests came back, everyone exhaled, the tests gave the transfusion the green light and the vets began preparing for the procedure.

"All the worries were in vain! Ksyusha did an excellent job. She gave blood, hugged and kissed all the staff of the veterinary clinic. She came back to the shelter happy: she got petted. And Charlie's owners made a donation to the shelter and bought our Ksyusha some sweets," Yulia Buinitskaya continues.

In the shelter "The Road of Goodness" they say that the dog Ksyusha was not lucky enough to get immediately into a reliable home with caring owners. As a puppy, she lived half-starved on a chain, then she was taken to a shelter. But even this did not deprive Ksusha of kindness and love for life. For three years now, she has been playing, messing around with other wards. In general, she enjoys her simple dog life without a chain.

"Maybe after Ksyusha is nominated for the "My affectionate and necessary Animal" award, she will finally be able to find her home and loving owners," says Yulia Buinitskaya, head of the Road of Goodness shelter. "We really hope so."

Photo from Yulia Buinitskaya's personal archive