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Melitopol Horse Rescue

  • A young life saved

      21 January 2023
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    As we enjoy these beautiful summer days it is hard to imagine the conditions for Ukrainians living without power, in occupied areas, homeless, injured or bereaved from Russian attacks.

    This time last year they had peace, hopes and dreams of a bright future.

    As a horse lover the latest story told to me by Eva brings home the terrible choices some are forced to make.

    A butcher rang Eva because a woman had given up all her horses to him. She could no longer protect them and it meant a humane death by an expert. The butcher rang Eva because he could not bring himself to kill a young foal that was in the group. Thanks to the recent transfer of funds from our Give A Little page Eva was able to purchase and transport the foal to their refuge in Izmail.

    Here he is meeting one of the older refugees.

    This was only possible due to your donation - the cost to save this life was equivalent of NZ$500.

    Eva and Andrei are desperately trying to arrange for more rescues but there is a lot of red tape and expense involved. Please share their story so we can get to our target of $10,000.

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  • Warm, fed and trimmed

      11 January 2023
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    Thanks again to everyone who has helped Eva and Andrei. Please share their story if you know anyone else who might want to help them before this page expires.

    Eva has sent photos and this update:

    "We are sincerely grateful for all the help from New Zealand. Due to inclement weather, our club attendance has dropped drastically, to the point where we can sit idle for weeks at a time with no income. Thanks to your help we have been able to prepare fodder for a couple of months and provide warm blankets for our horses. Without you, we couldn't have coped with such a difficult situation. Thank you very much for helping us and for not being indifferent."

    Eva and Andriy are still trying to help others to bring more horses out of the most active war zones. They spend nothing on themselves but are wearing clothes gifted by families in Izmail. Thank you all for caring and donating.

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  • First payment sent to Ukraine

      1 December 2022

    Thank you for your donation to assist Eva and Andriy with care of their horses. I have sent them an advance to help them survive the next month before the Give a Little funds are released. Here is Eva's message:

    Thank you very much for such great help. Already today we found hay, within a week we hope to bring approximately 700 bales, we also tried for 2 weeks to organize the evacuation of horses from the occupied zone but our request was refused, we want to allocate part of the money for the purchase of fodder and vitamins in the occupation as the situation there is now very difficult, and we will try to get them out again. We also plan to order preparations for the treatment of horses from parasites. Once again, thank you very much for your help. Your help is incredibly useful and pleasant for us.

    Please share the story to anyone you think may be interested in helping. The target of $10,000 is still achievable as long as we keep spreading the word.

    Did you see the story that ran on stuff which I have linked to below?

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/130543693/kiwi-connection-helping-ukraines-war-horses-and-traumatised-children

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  • Link now working

      18 November 2022

    Thank you for donating to help Eva and Andriy. I am thrilled that in less than a week the page has raised $5,000 which is already half of the target set. Amazing!

    You may have noticed that a link in the page was not active - if you want to read the full transcript of Tania's chat with Eva and Andriy, plus see a selection of the letters from the children and their photos, then please go back to the page and click through.

    Thanks again for your support

    Margie

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