Ante Lucin on How to Help Dog Breeders in War Torn Ukraine

Ante Lucin, host of Talking Dogs With Ante, joins forces with Pure Dog Talk host Laura Reeves to share information supporting the dog people in Ukraine.

“What we have actually tried to do,” Ante said, “is that we have tried to place as much as possible information on our Facebook group. We try to connect directly with the people who are still in Ukraine. Try to find out what is that they need. Ukraine is a huge country, of course. There are still places which are not affected by the war, but there are places which are heavily affected by the war. One of them is obviously the capital city Kyiv. There is a lot of lot of dog people in Kyiv. For your viewers who maybe don’t know it, Ukraine is quite famous in Europe as a very professional organizer of dog shows. They are supposed to have the FCI world dog show in 2023. I mean their country has a lot of experience and a lot of good dog people.

“Unfortunately, at this point, things are quite difficult because in the places which are affected by the war at the moment it’s impossible to move. This is the biggest problem. There are still a lot of dog people, and there are still a lot of people in general, who would like maybe to go away from the war, at least children and women, because obviously for the men it’s not allowed to leave the country. But unfortunately when this all started, even though everybody newspapers, media, they were talking a lot about this, but actually it happened like a surprise to everybody.

“People who really managed to escape in the first 48 hours, they have managed. But the rest of the people are now very limited with the options which they can do. I’m really trying to connect all the people because I think that’s the most important thing at the moment. We are trying to see who needs help, where they need help and what kind of help they need. What has been happening in the last 48 hours, I know a lot of dog people from the neighboring countries like Hungary, Romania, Moldova they were driving till the border with Ukraine and the people from Ukraine where finding some kind of ways you know to send their own dogs.

“The thing is that there are unfortunately now a lot of people who cannot come to the border or who cannot organize the transport for their dogs to the border. I have read a lot of posts today where people are begging to find any kind of transportation, if not for human at least for the dogs.

“I’m going to repeat it 100 million times, people are amazing when it comes to these kind of situations and in any country, in any border that people are being able to send their dogs, we find people who will go there and who will catch the dogs and who will put them in the nice homes and everything. And the same for the people. In my group there are hundreds and hundreds of messages from people from all around the world who say we can take dogs, we can take people, we will help as much as we can.

“I go back to the fact that unfortunately now the people who are there mostly will have to stay there for some more time. What is now (an) emergency is the dog food. This is what I was talking with a lot of breeders in Ukraine I was talking with Helen who is the vice president of the Kennel Club, the dog food is a big problem. So what we are trying to see at the moment is we will try to connect with the Red Cross to see if there is a possibility to send some amounts of dog food with them.

“(We are trying) to connect with with any people who will possibly go till the border and take (dog food) from there, because there are obviously still some men who are driving women children and dogs till the border. So, whenever we find somebody like that, when we manage to organize that, somebody takes the dogs, we try to send back some dog food with them. So, it’s a lot of organization it’s not easy but it’s amazing how much that people want to help.

“The only thing what I can say from the other side of the border, that anyone in Ukraine wants to find a home for their own dogs or for them or for their children, as soon as they arrive to the border to any country Poland, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, there are dog people waiting for them with open hearts. All we can do is to pray that most of them will manage to save their lives and the lives of their children and their dogs.”

Since my conversation with Ante Sunday night, 2/27/2022, FCI has released the following information:

The FCI and its General Committee officially condemn the invasion of Ukraine by the armed forces of the Russian Federation. This conflict and aggression cannot leave anybody indifferent and we all feel concerned, sad and angry.

The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Army has also put entire families of our dog community in complete distress. This war has placed our breeders and their dogs at great risk, directly threatening their welfare and their lives. Many had to flee, others are surviving in precarious conditions, hiding in shelters where food and basic commodities are becoming very scarce. Yet, in these terrible and trying times, they did not abandon their dogs!

These horrifying circumstances contradict the written priorities and welfare recommendations of the FCI, as well as our policy and aims.

The situation has led the FCI General Committee to hold an extraordinary meeting on Sunday, 27 February 2022. Important decisions were made, within the legal limits of the FCI and its General Committee, based on the FCI Statutes and Standing Orders.

From the 1st March 2022, and until further notice, the Russian Kynological Federation (RKF) will not be allowed to conduct – on the Russian Territory – any event wherein FCI titles or prizes are awarded (CACIB shows, CACIT trials, CACIAG competitions, etc.)

In order to give the opportunity to our Members/Contract Partners and any other persons to express their solidarity and help towards the Ukrainian people, their dog lovers/breeders/keepers, the FCI will open a bank account, specially for this purpose, where all donations are welcome and will be forwarded, with full transparency, to help the Ukrainian Kennel Union (UKU) and the Ukrainian breeders badly affected by the war and in serious need, living either in Ukraine or having fled to neighbouring countries.

The FCI will contribute to this fund in a substantial manner. Further details will be communicated in the following days.

The FCI is a huge community, a united and strong family so let us all stand up and show our solidarity for Ukraine!