Shell-Shocked By Russian Attacks, These Big Cats In Ukraine Await New Homes Away From War

A white tiger called Aleks is one of the 27 animals waiting to be evacuated to safety from the Wild Animal Rescue Centre in the village of Chubynske in the Kyiv region.

Aleks was rescued by Natalya Popova, 51, an economist with no formal veterinary experience who regularly rescues exotic animals and pets left behind or abandoned due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.


 

Popova opened the first private horse club in Ukraine in 1999, but it wasn't until six years ago that she saved her first lion. An organization against slaughterhouses approached her with a request for help save a lion with a broken spine. 

Later, Popova created a social media page titled Help The Lioness and people began to write, asking for help saving other animals, such as this tiger.

Popova originally used the money from her horse business to fund her shelter. But since the Russian invasion, the horse business has not been profitable. She now spends her time caring for her animals or traveling to the front lines to rescue more.
 

"Thank God, we never lost a single animal," Popova said, adding that the shelter has had some close calls.

 

Tihrulia, a wounded tiger, says hello to Popova's dog, Tara.

 

The rescue center currently offers refuge to five lions, three tigers, a lynx, a wolf, and two foxes, and is still taking animals in.



 

Tihrulia paces in her cage.

"Sometimes [during the rescue] my hands were shaking.... I didn't notice when we were shelled.  An animal was dying in my arms."

Popova tries to evacuate animals across the border into the European Union as quickly as possible but says it has become more difficult with time.

"At the beginning of [the] war, Europe was more enthusiastic about taking animals in. We have transported over 200 animals, but they don't have an unlimited number of enclosures either," she said.

 

A lioness called Yuna is also suffering a concussion from recent shelling.

"It's bad. Physically, she gets better every day, but psychologically she is in a worse state than when she arrived at our center. If you ask me what she's not afraid of, I don't know what to say. A cat running by, a dog.... I can't even feed her without stressing her out."

Black foxes

As the war approaches its third year, Popova knows she will still be needed to rescue and care for animals that have been left behind.
 

Popova pets a wolf called Venera.

"Each time it gets harder and harder to find places [that] would accept our animals," she said.