Two stray dogs, which had been hit by passing cars in Rivne, are using special wheelchairs now. A few more dozen crippled animals are waiting their turn. The idea to put dogs in wheelchairs belongs to Andrii Prokopchuk from Rivne. He founded Umka, a charitable foundation in Rivne oblast, which over seven months has helped 180 street dogs. Notably, the foundation never received any financing from the municipal budget or sponsors.
“I never even dreamed to turn to officials for help,” says Prokopchuk. “When I start calling from office to office, collect hundreds of papers, engage in correspondence with the prosecutor’s office and controlling and auditing administration, I will have no time left for animals. But they are the only ones that matter here. For me helping animals is not so much work as pleasure. The worst thing is when you realize you cannot help an animal. The rest does not matter. Although, frankly speaking, I do not love dogs: I feel ashamed before them for humans.”
HOUSING PROBLEMS
Besides the Foundation’s wards, Prokopchuk has three dogs of his own: a dachshund and two mutts, whom he saved after they suffered leg fractures. Today Riabchyk and Mykhailych follow hard on their master’s heels, just like a few other stray animals in charge of the Foundation. Prokopchuk says he is strict with them, yet gentle. So they are obedient and never run in the road.
“We still have too little room. Now we are keeping three dogs. Recently there were six, but three were adopted. Usually I get to know about stray dogs from the people who help them out. It is a kind of rule: in every neighborhood there will be a couple of people who care for animals. When we get a call, we find the animals and spay or neuter them; if they are injured, we treat them. After they get well, they are released,” explains the founder of Umka.
Post-neutralization rehabilitation lasts a week or two. During this period they are fed, looked after, their wounds are dressed, and the animals have whatever comfort is available. “I brought my own air conditioner over here, when the heat reached 30°C, so the dogs did not suffer. However, now I have to sleep in the office, because home is like an oven. The only thing that is imperfect in the present building is the ventilation system. To eliminate ammonia efficiently, the duct has to be low in the room. But in the new shelter everything will be taken into account.”
A “HOSPITAL” FOR STRAYS
The new dog shelter is an old trailer, insulated with foam plastic. There is a design for 30 enclosures, but they are not yet finished: Prokopchuk is waiting for the ventilation system and air conditioners to be delivered from Hungary. Four cages are different than the rest: they have a special sliding floor. “It is meant for dogs that cannot move,” explains Prokopchuk.
However, he is not going to confine his activities to a sort of vet clinic. He is planning to furnish an entire complex on his premises in Nyzhniodvoretska Street, where the Foundation could implement all their plans. In particular, open a wholesale vet drugstore. “At ordinary vet drugstores in the city medicines are sold at 2.5-3 times more the initial price. A medicine which in fact costs 14 hryvnias is sold at 35,” says Prokopchuk.
The host shows us into the surgery. The surgery table, which otherwise would cost around 20,000 hryvnias, was made with his own hands. All the operations, performed by the Foundation, are video-recorded. “The idea of creating Umka belongs to me and Natalia Yevsovych, a vet doctor. Unfortunately, at present we are not working together anymore, so the Foundation is now looking for a new vet. After all, finding a doctor is not such a big challenge. Getting a license is bigger.”
PIPES, LEATHER STRAPS, AND WHEELS
Two dogs in wheelchairs are running in the yard. They are almost as agile as any healthy animal. Only bald patches in their fur suggest former sufferings. “This is Mashka over there, she is a stray,” tells Prokopchuk, stroking the dog. “She has a broken spine. If not for one lady who picked her up and looked after her, Mashka would not have made it. Then the lady heard about us, and we decided to help. I had seen wheelchairs for animals, but mine is a bit different. Firstly, it is much lighter and does not need to be adjusted, like factory-made ones. It is custom-made for a specific animal, and thus more comfortable.”
According to Prokopchuk, it is not too difficult to make such a wheelchair. The main components are plastic pipes (the sort you need for bathrooms) and leather straps. Wheels come from baby carriages or children’s scooters. He says that finding proper wheels is the biggest challenge, while good leather straps, which would be soft on the dog’s body, are the most expensive part. “A dog feels comfortable in such a wheelchair. It virtually lies in it, and uses its forelegs to move around. The only thing is that such dogs need to be watched. In the street they may be unable to manage the wheelchair. Besides, they should not be strapped to the chair all day, they need rest, too,” explains Prokopchuk.
In hot weather the “wheelchair dogs” are let out only in the morning and in the evening. They spend the rest of the day inside, in the air-conditioned comfort of their shelter. “By the way, Masha is getting a new home. The lady who had been taking care of her before, will adopt her. Now we are looking for a host family for Enti. She is much smaller, but she cannot move on her own either,” says Umka’s founder.
He intends to help pets as well as stray animals. “If someone has a disabled pet, I will gladly make a wheelchair for it, too, at my own expense. They only need to leave the dog with me for a week or two, so I can tailor-make the wheelchair and teach the animal to use it. Actually, after the third time dogs start running,” tells Prokopchuk and adds, “The only thing that astonishes me is human cynicism. I often get calls from people who say, Andrii, come pick my dog, I cannot watch him suffer, it breaks my heart. I say, okay, if it breaks your heart, why don’t you bring your dog to me? And then they come up with a thousand reasons. Meanwhile, dogs are like children, trustful and devoted. After the eight months of working for my Foundation my opinion of humans just plummeted.”
AT HIS OWN EXPENSE
Overall, 120 dogs, neutered by Umka, roam the streets of Rivne. “They are wearing pink ear clips,” smiles Prokopchuk. Besides, he and his assistants have saved another 60 dogs from wounds. After a rehabilitation period, he brings them back to where they had been caught. Yet many animals will not return to the streets after the comfort of the shelter. “It was especially hard to say good-bye to our wards in the winter,” said Prokopchuk. But at present he is not going to keep a regular shelter, there is no money.
“Today even the municipal organization ‘Pid ehidoiu’ (Under the Aegis) cannot find the means to finish their shelter,” comments Prokopchuk. “Of course, one cannot say that government and the local administration do nothing to protect strays, but that is obviously not enough. I am surprised to see that they have spent tens of thousands hryvnias for a raft while the dogs are still soaking in the rain due to the bad roof. In my opinion, this organization needs better management. By the way, I would be happy to cooperate with them. Unfortunately, we have not established any contacts.”
So far no one has volunteered to sponsor Umka. Prokopchuk relates that the most aid he gets from people of modest means. It is them who donate 20 or 100 hryvnias, saving from their meager minimum wages or pension. Meanwhile, 99 percent of the businessmen, who had offered financial support, never actually helped.
“One arrived in a luxury car to ask me to take care of his dog,” relates Prokopchuk. “He promised everything and a little more. I hadn’t pinned any high hopes on him, though. I just gave him my business card stating my bank account information and said that should he wish to make a donation, here was the account. He never sent a cent. However, I seldom check it. Luckily, I make do with my own resources. I work in a haulage business, but now that I have more free time due to the crisis, I decided to take care of strays.”
Prokopchuk also shared his plans to make several enclosures for cats as well, although he confessed he does not have a passion for felines.
AMONG FRIENDS
“Dogs usually come to Andrii on their own,” shares his assistant Svitlana Krylova, who comes here almost every day. “Those too wild are caught with the help of a special cage, designed and made by Andrii himself.”
The principle of operation is as follows: a special perforated bowl is placed in the cage, with meat inside. A dog smells the food and gets inside, while Prokopchuk pushes a button on the remote control, and the cage is safely closed. “Sometimes it takes us long to catch a certain dog. Other dogs come too, but they can’t open the bowl with food, and we wait till the right stray comes,” says Krylova. Afterwards, Prokopchuk takes the animal out of the cage, puts a muzzle on it, and takes it to the shelter in a special pickup truck. He does not believe in tranquilizing the caught strays and considers this method less humane. The cage is designed in such a way as not to hurt the dog even if it is at the door at the moment of closing. Prokopchuk had tested the trap on his own bare legs before using it on dogs.
“I do what I can to help Andrii: feeding, cleaning, dressing wounds – but all the same he gets the most of the load. By the way, Andrii is very grateful to Volodymyr Bogza, a turner, for help. Natalia Maniak and five volunteers also work for the Foundation. However, when we expand, we would use more help. We will welcome every volunteer,” explains Krylova.
IN PLACE OF THE AFTERWORD
The Umka Foundation’s archive includes several hundred photos and video recordings with all the animals that have been here. Prokopchuk says that his brightest moments are to see a dog happy. He is not contemplating a design of a wheelchair for a dog without forelegs. He can only hope that afterwards this dog will be able to find a new home.
Prokopchuk dreams of a time when stray mutts will become as popular in Ukraine as they are in the United States. “These animals are very popular as pets. Their life expectancy is much longer than that of pedigree dogs, and they are easier to take care of. I so much want to believe that every stray dog in Ukraine will eventually find its home.”
Rivne oblast charitable foundation Umka
Identification code of legal entity: 37645760
Address: 2, Studentska St., Rivne, Rivne oblast, 33018
Manager: Andrii Prokopchuk Telephone (098) 314-22-02
Banking details
Recipient: Rivne oblast charitable foundation Umka
Settlement account 26004060751862 at Privatbank, RF
Banking code (MFO): 333391
EDRPOU code: 37645760
