“If there is something this war brought on, it is incredible co-operation between organisations,” said Sebastian Taralunga of Animals International, one of several animal rights groups involved in planning the animals’ extraction.
“Everybody agreed that in extreme times we have to have extreme measures, and we decided to do whatever possible to bring those animals out of war.”
A girl carries her dog as people wait in Medyka, Poland, after crossing the border from Ukraine. Reuters
Stepan is carried by its owner to the train heading to Poland at the main train station in Lviv, Ukraine. Getty
A Ukrainian refugee sits with her pets at a holiday village turned into a temporary shelter in Goren, northern Israel. AFP
A woman carrying an animal in a pet basket arrives in Przemysl, Poland, on March 23, 2022, after a train journey from Ukraine. Getty
Samir Khuder, Anna Ponomaryova and their dog, Fedya, enjoy the fresh air after a night spent in the basement they used as a bomb shelter after a rocket hit a shopping mall in Kyiv. Getty
Anna Ponomaryova feeds her dog, Fedya, in the basement under the residential building used as a bomb shelter in Kyiv. Getty
Cats from an evacuated shelter in Kyiv are housed temporarily in Lviv. The shelter, called House of the Rescued Animals, was dealing with wild animals before the war. Now it has become a stopover for hundreds of pets brought here from more dangerous areas before being sent to safety in the EU. Getty
A volunteer plays with a cat inside a cage in Lviv. Getty
A volunteer pets a cat at a shelter in Lviv. Getty
A man pets a dog as Ukrainian refugees cross into Moldova, near the village of Palanca. EPA
A girl kisses her pet rodent outside a five-storey residential building, part of which collapsed after a shelling. AFP
In Nadarzyn, Poland, a vet examines the cat of a Ukrainian refugee. Vets working for a centre that receives refugees examine, vaccinate and issue health certificates for pets that the people fleeing Ukraine bring with them. AP
A Ukrainian woman holds her dog as she waits along others at Dacia Camp, near Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, before heading to the airport to board a plane to Israel. AFP
A woman who fled Mariupol pets a cat onboard a bus at the Veselo-Voznesenka border point in Rostov, Russia. EPA
Ukrainians Oria Oscaria and her brother Ego with their pet dog after arriving in Cizur Menor, northern Spain. AP
A veterinary clinic in eastern Poland has set up a rescue service for the pets left behind in Ukraine during the war. It has already helped to rescue more than 400 animals, including this baby goat. AP
A dog collected in Ukraine is prepared for surgery for serious injuries to its hind legs at the Ada veterinary clinic in Przemysl, Poland. AP
A woman carries a pet dog as people who fled Ukraine walks through the border checkpoint near the Moldovan town of Palanca. AFP
An internally displaced woman pets a cat at a schoolyard in Lviv, western Ukraine. AP
A sedated dog collected in Ukraine undergoes an X-ray before surgery for serious injuries to its hind legs at the Ada veterinary clinic in Przemysl, Poland. AP
A man holds Sascha, a baby goat with deformed hooves rescued from Ukraine, at the Ada veterinary clinic in Przemysl, Poland. AP
A child on a bus for refugees pets a cat in Lviv, Ukraine. Reuters
Antonina, 84, sits in a wheelchair and holds her 12 dogs at a triage point in Kyiv after fleeing Irpin. AP
Nina, who fled Ukraine for Moldova, holds a her cat inside a pet carrier at the border crossing in Palanca, Moldova. AP
A Ukrainian refugee who fled the Russian invasion of her country sits with her pet at a holiday village turned into temporary refuge in Goren, northern Israel. AFP
“I couldn’t find a driver from Romania to go and help, also not from Ukraine, so these guys were absolutely fabulous – they put their lives in danger,” said Roxana Ciornei, president of the Romania-based animal rights group Casa lui Patrocle. “But they arrived safely here.”
The long journey from Ukraine, a mission fraught with the dangers of entering a war zone, was far from simple.
A rescued wolf named Akyla sits inside a cell at a zoo in Radauti, Romania. AP
The van carrying the animals could not secure permission by the authorities to cross through Romania’s Siret border point. This left the drivers no choice but to twice traverse the towering Carpathian Mountains – which arch across the countries’ common border – from west to east, adding nearly 1,000 kilometres to their journey.
“It was a central-level decision that Romania and Ukraine will only have a single border crossing for large animals,” said Gabriel Paun, the EU director at Animals International.
“It was a team of people acting in good faith to do everything they could to rescue those animals,” he said.
“It’s difficult to get people out of Ukraine if they’re in very dangerous areas, but to bring out a lion and a wolf … was mission impossible. I was 50-50 on whether those animals and those people would make it out alive.”
Mr Paun said that they couldn’t find a vet to help with their evacuation mission and that no tranquilisers were available, which meant the animals were “fully aware and awake” through their journey to safety.
“You can imagine what it means to drive with a lion and a wolf in the back of your van with cages that are not very stable and could have opened at any moment,” said Mr Taralunga of Animals International.
He said Simba suffered an injury during transport after hitting himself against the cage, but vets said it was not serious and would heal on its own.
Simba the lion and a wolf wolf named Akyla, have been evacuated from a zoo in war-torn Ukraine to safety in Romania in what an animal rights group says was a four-day mission "full of dangers" further hampered by bureaucracy at the border. AP
The animals will now spend time in quarantine at their new enclosure and children and other visitors could see them at the zoo, after which they would eventually be transferred to sanctuaries.
“My NGO here runs a shelter of 300 dogs. We have cows, we have horses, but I have never thought in my life that I’d come to rescue a lion and a wolf,” said Ms Ciornei.
“We gathered a lot of people and everybody did something together ... and we succeeded to do this.
“There is a good part in this war in Ukraine, that these animals will go to a better life.”
Daniil, 13, son of Maryna Galla, leans on a handrail at the Central Station in Berlin, Germany. Maryna and her son reached Berlin on Thursday after a long journey from Mariupol in Ukraine. AP
A woman from Ukraine walks up the stairs to her room in a hostel in Budapest, Hungary. AP
A young boy from Ukraine eats chocolate in a hostel in Budapest. AP
A girl from Ukraine rests on the floor in the Budapest hostel for refugees. AP
A woman who fled Ukraine waits in the hostel in Budapest. Nearly 300 Ukrainian refugees, mostly women and children, are being housed in the hostel near the centre of Budapest. AP
A woman comforts a child as refugees wait in a hall at the train station in Przemysl, near the Polish-Ukrainian border. AFP
Ukrainian refugees look out of the window of a train bound for Krakow at Przemysl Glowny train station. Reuters
Ukrainian refugee Zoya Vertegel, aged 85, waits to board a train to Krakow on the platform at Przemysl Glowny train station. Reuters
Ukrainian refugees wait for transport at the railway station in Warsaw, Poland. AP
A child who fled the Russian invasion in neighbouring Ukraine plays with a yellow balloon in a ballroom converted into a makeshift refugee shelter at a four-star hotel in Suceava, Romania. AP
Border police at the Romanian-Ukrainian border push an elderly woman in an office chair after she fled the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine. AP
Passengers wait on the platform of Lviv railway station in Ukraine. AP
A child sits in a pushchair after fleeing Ukraine at the Romanian border in Siret. AP
People who fled the war in Ukraine rest inside an indoor sports stadium being used as a refugee centre in the village of Medyka in Poland. AP
A wheelchair user who fled the conflict in Ukraine awaits transport at the Romanian-Ukrainian border in Siret. AP
Ukrainian refugees cry as they reunite at the Medyka border crossing in Poland. AP
Refugees from Ukraine cross the border at Medyka in south-eastern Poland. AFP
A shelter for Ukrainian war refugees in a sports hall in the small Bavarian village of Eichenau, near Munich, in southern Germany. AFP
The sports hall is equipped with camp beds. AFP
Ukrainian refugees play on the floor in the sports hall. AFP
Ukrainian refugees line up to register in Warsaw. AP
Refugees wait for transport at a railway station in Przemysl, Poland, after fleeing the war in Ukraine. AP
Refugees wait for transport at a railway station in Przemysl, Poland, after fleeing the war in neighbouring Ukraine. AP
Ukrainian refugees walk to their foster home in the village of Mumliswil after travelling from Krakow in a plane chartered by a Swiss millionaire. AFP
About 90 Ukrainians - nearly all women and children - are being flown to Switzerland to escape the violence in their conflict-torn country. The plane was chartered by Swiss millionaire Guido Fluri. AFP
A woman receives help from Polish paramedics as other Ukrainian refugees pass through the border crossing in Medyka in south-eastern Poland. AP
Ukrainian refugee Karolina, aged 3, from Nikopol, looks through a fence as she arrives at Przemysl Glowny train station. Reuters
A Ukrainian woman sits on a bed at an exhibition hall turned into a refugee centre in Nadarzyn, near Warsaw, Poland. AP
Refugees from Ukraine wait to get on buses to other destinations in Poland outside the train station in Przemysl. AFP