Rescuing abandoned animals in Ukraine

good morning we are about to cross the border to 
ukraine wish me luck and this is my first trip hopefully it's gonna go all right we're going 
200 kilometers into ukraine it should be about   three hours drive we're gonna drop off some dog 
food and we're gonna collect some people and some   dogs as well. hopefully i can record it on the 
way as well to show you what it's really like   so we are in ukraine now it doesn't look too 
bad at the moment the queue of cars has gone to   very little.

It's not like it was three weeks ago 
you know with the queues being a few miles long   it's much much better so that's really really 
good. lots of people still crossing on foot   but there's a lot of help and everyone's 
very helpful at the border as well so it's   lovely to know. also for any of you that are 
wondering louis actually doesn't know that i'm   going to ukraine he thinks i'm helping at the 
border so he will love putting this video together not sure if you can see but right there it's 
like a roadblock they doing checks the army   guys obviously to make sure that no one's dodgy 
getting through. apparently when it all started   they had them checks every few miles and even 
on the way to Lviv this time the road to Lviv  was very smooth to be honest and this is 
the first check that we are getting stopped at maybe you can see better now and the first check is over.

It was very quick and 
smooth they just checked our documents basically   and made sure we are from poland and that we 
are not carrying any arms and stuff like that   i'm actually not sure i should be saying that and 
putting it on youtube so louie do not use that   well i hope you can hear me 
because the roads are awful and the   cages i have at the back are making a racket 
basically we dropped the food at the shelter now and   i didn't really take any videos there because 
i don't like to stick camera in people's faces   so you just have to take my word for it 
and now we are going to collect a lady   her child and seven big dogs and 
we're gonna take them back to poland good morning, so today it's our second trip 
to ukraine we did set off yesterday but it was   pretty dark so it was hard to record and 
we drove from poland to Vinnica which is   like a seven hour drive and it was a killer not 
gonna lie and we slept over in a monastery   which was nice and now we are on our way to 
Kiyv.

Louis will kill me when he hears that and   obviously we're going there because it's the 
hardest, well it's not the hardest but it's   the safest i would say place that is still being 
attacked where people can't be evacuated from   so obviously Mariupol or Kharkiv it's 
pretty much possible where Kiyv is still   just about all right. so we bring some more dog and 
cat food and we're gonna collect some animals and   some helpers from the local 
shelters so they can come to poland hopefully we will get there all right we just got to kiev and we are almost our 
destination loads of army and lots of like   roadblocks in the way obviously.

There 
are also people and cars on the streets yeah hopefully i can make a 
recording when we get to the shelter not sure if it shows but in the distance 
over there. obviously that must be where a   bomb or something has been dropped 
so you can just see a smoke coming   from one spot. that's the Kiyv town 
center pretty much, we are kind of on the   not outskirts but like on 
the road that's around the capital yeah literally just shit my pants because a bomb 
went off or something, louie's gonna kill me so we go to the veterinary clinic yes those are   bombs and ukrainian soldiers shooting at russians 
and we're going to stay in Kiev tonight because   it's too late to leave now we are absolutely 
knackered so we are staying at this lovely vet   clinic so we can start early tomorrow morning 
with people and animals yeah absolutely exhausted   i don't know if you can hear the bombs but it's 
not great only 10 minutes ago or so we had to go down   and hide because the bomb alarm went off so i 
had to go in the basement and yeah so that's it yeah those are Ukrainians shooting russians again going off all the time we are quite far from it i think 
but you can hear it quite well what you just heard were ukrainian soldiers 
defending the country because russian people   and russian soldiers not Russian 
people sorry russian soldiers   are obviously attacking them so 
they are defending their country we are at the dog shelter, there 
is around 200 dogs here   and the lady is not going to give us any animals she won't give us any of the dogs i don't know why she let us take puppies.

We have seven puppies with us so that's 
some result to be honest we couldn't take anymore   because we only have normal cars but seven 
is amazing. no idea how we gonna get them   to the border because the law only allows us to 
take five per person and we're gonna have about   25 animals with us, but we cross 
that bridge when it comes to it i guess you can't see me can you i am driving 
in the dark. we just passed the Vinnytsia we are four   hours into our journey and we still have another 
eight hours to go whoop been up since eight   o'clock this morning is half past nine now and 
we're not going to get anywhere until six o'clock   i imagine or something like that.

So yeah this 
is going to be fun fun fun night    hello hello well as you can see it's getting light now 
yes i have been up for pretty much 24 hours probably 23 or so and i still have an hour and 
10 minutes to get to the border and then another   i don't know 40 minutes to get to the place 
where i'm gonna drop the dogs off. once i do that   i'm gonna go back to the border to take 
some of the dogs that are in the other cars   because we're not allowed to transport more than 
five at the time so yeah. i feel like   i'm a walking energy bottle. 
but yeah look at that view pretty for the sunrise i bet Louis will tell me off for recording 
through that dirty window but clearly louis   doesn't understand what sleep deprivation is see 
you later.

Its 4 o'clock in the afternoon now. i have been at the border since seven o'clock 
this morning and they won't let me in we were told   and we believe the law states that a person coming 
from ukraine can bring five dogs without documents   but apparently that's not the case apparently 
only ukrainian people can bring those dogs   so all the homeless dogs that are left there 
and all the organizations that are trying   to bring them in are basically stuck at 
the border. three of our cars got turn around   and my friend said that another  organization dutch organization   has been turned around as well because they 
had dogs that didn't have the documents yeah um the lady, lovely not that lady i spoke to that is 
writing me an official refusal so we can sue her   said when i told 
her you know i've been to Kiyv i haven't slept   since seven o'clock yesterday morning and what 
do you expect me to do and she says it's not my   problem you can come back to Kiyv and get them 
dogs sorted you need to get the vaccination   passports and chips.

It's war in there you 
know in case she didn't bloody know there   are no passports there are no chips there are no 
vaccinations they hardly have any food we have to   go and bring food to Kiyv because there isn't 
any food there. i am so pissed off it's beyond the dogs have been now in the cages except 
being let out for little walks since 12 o'clock   yesterday so it's now been um 20, no i don't know 
i can't do the math anymore. no yeah it is right   it's been it's been 26 hours they've been in the 
cages i've been at the border now since   eight o'clock this morning i'm on my own i 
can't exactly let them out on my own because   they all want to go out at the same time so it's a 
bit of a struggle i don't want to lose any of them   and i'm running out of water now and i don't have 
any food for them i don't have any food for myself   no water for myself and i started smoking again 
because of this and so i have some cigarettes   and that's it oh an energy drink yeah 
that much of an energy drink left   and seriously this is just beyond a joke 
you know as i said i was so happy when   this lady from the shelter agreed to 
give me the dogs and now i'm thinking   you know what i don't blame her for not 
wanting to give them to me because this this is just ridiculous absolutely ridiculous good morning so now i have slept a little bit and 
i just wanted to show you some of the dogs that   we still have here that we are waiting to re 
home in poland uh obviously this is kind of like a   makeshift home you know we obviously not 
very well set up for having so many dogs   but you know there was no choice.

You can 
hear the puppies in the background this is the little puppy she was very scared at 
the beginning but she's coming into herself now   over here not sure you can see it that's the 
pup that we will be taking with us hopefully   here we have our lovely bella she's 
like a border collie cross i think   and she's looking for a forever home and in here we have three doggies two siblings them little 
two ones and a third one that hopefully are going to germany that's our resident dog Refis and these little two terrors one and two 
are the other two pups we have come here   very energetic very energetic aren't you babies   yes you are yes you are we also have five cats 
left in here and some of the cats and animals   have already been taken by the other car to 
foster homes so this is just what we've got   left and forgive me for not recording before but 
literally i was knackered louis uh i'm allowing   him to show you the picture of how i looked 
after uh 50 hours on my feet it should come up now yeah i think um that speaks volumes anyway i 
show you the cats because no one really wants to see me   look at them cutie little pies that's a little 
tiny baby he's well cute.

All he he wants to do is play there is another one   this one there you can't really see 
but he's a little bit scared obviously   those two are absolutely beautiful i've sent 
Louis pictures on instagram so you can see better   this one and that one they were taken from a lady 
from Kiyv who found them on the street and adopted   them. it was really sad because she was crying 
obviously when she was giving them away saying um   she just wants them to be safe but she didn't 
want to come with us she said.

You know it's   her home Kiyv and ukraine so she's not gonna be 
going but all she can do is make sure that her   animals are safe so heartbreaking really um but we 
obviously gonna find great homes for those animals   and them two that she gave us they are beautiful 
seriously absolutely beautiful as louis would say so we are about to transfer 
dogs to the foster homes   as you can hear they are right 
there not sure if you can see it   three in this cage fourth one over there and 
here is a little beauty i'm taking home with me we are dropping more dogs off this morning 
we dropped some of last night got to Warsaw about   three o'clock in the morning because the car 
kept breaking down.

We just went to um   like i guess rescue place where the some of the dogs live and i just found out that   the guy who's organizing it he still has like 
58 dogs waiting for adoption that no one wants   and i'm absolutely fuming because if he told 
me that maybe that's a dog i should have taken anyway as i was saying it was really upsetting 
because obviously i love this dog and i obviously   want to take her but then part of me thinks 
you know everyone wants a puppy so maybe   she would have found a home and i could have 
taken a dog that has been a shelter for years it's really annoying yeah hello i hope you can see the little one 
and there she is.

That's the one im taking  i need to really get a grip like i am so sorry for 
being so emotional all the time i think it's just   tiredness and i don't know exhaustion hunger 
everything stress i really don't know but   jesus christ i need to get a get a grip. Im  
like a shadow of woman i was once   at a time. i swear to god when people who 
know me will watch this, they will be like bloody hell   what happened to her you know.

I'm a hard B**
let's not use the bad words. not this bloody mess that   i turned it to. I need to get a grip. i need 
to focus on the future and our plan you know um   we obviously hope that when we finish 
traveling we can buy some land maybe in england   maybe in europe we don't know where yet and start 
our own rescue center and really you know i need   to keep that in mind i can't help all the dogs 
right now but i will bloody try i'm gonna try to get  
some pictures of the dogs that are in that shelter in poland i just spoke to the guy again he says 
some of them are from ukraine some of them are   from poland. there's one a disabled little dog 
that has been there for five years he does have   bad legs as he stood on a mine i think that's 
what it's called. you know they all   need forever homes you know. obviously transfers from england   to poland can be an issue but i'm sure there are 
organizations that do it so i will have a look at   pictures and stuff and maybe we'll make a post 
on instagram or youtube maybe make a separate   video of the dogs that need homes and maybe 
someone any of you will want to take one    as you know we definitely can't take anymore 
but i would do all i can to help with   finding the homes for them yeah.

We are 
on the way to drop the other two dogs off   and dropping off some cats as well forever homes 
i'm sorry i'm not really filming the drop of bits   and also i'm sorry for the camera being so wonky 
but i'm driving so each time i turn the wheel the   camera turns. yeah but i'm sorry i'm not filming 
when we're handing the animals to people but as   i said before i it's just not something i want to 
do i don't think it's fair you know to be sticking   camera into people's faces.

I don't know it just doesn't doesn't feel   right so that's why you've got only me chatting 
rubbish like louie would say yep this is the road absolutely amazing this 
is april in poland great absolutely great   i am going to the border now with just my 
puppy we dropped all the dogs off yesterday   again i drove for 12 hours yesterday and 
had four hours sleep puppy was in bed all   day so she was a nightmare last night so 
i am knackered can't wait to stop driving   once i get to the base at the border there will 
be a guy that said he's gonna pick me up and drive   into romania.

I found him on facebook so hopefully 
it's all gonna go well. i'm obviously gonna pay   him petrol money no idea how much yet because we 
haven't arranged it i just hope it's gonna appear   because he hasn't replied to my last message 
and i don't have an alternative transport good morning so i had to stay the 
night. as expected the guy has never   showed up never contacted me just basically stringing me along. thumbs up to him hey   anyway basically i just wanted to give you a 
quick tour of the place i've been staying which   is basically a shade and this is the bed it's 
a right mess obviously that's the wood burner   there, that i have no wood for. the bathroom is 
over there but there is no running water so   yeah it's been great absolutely 
great    so this is a car park that has been turned to some sort of refugee center 
there's loads of people here from all over   europe i can just hear different languages 
french english german obviously polish lots   of different stands like on the market you know 
where people are giving away free stuff toiletries   food teddy bears and everything
just have a look look around, tents set up, heaters just got a phone call from my best friend in 
the world that i used to work with and live with   and her parents that are like second parents to 
me are gonna drive me to romania with the dog   even though they kind of don't have the proper 
insurance because the car lease won't allow   them to enter romania but we will cross this 
bridge when we come to it if i have to bloody   walk the border with the dog i 
will but oh my goodness seriously   forever grateful
what can i say it's just amazing and those are my best friends parents 
who are taking me to romania with the dog best people ever and after 10 hours of driving we got to the 
border hopefully we can cross now.

Romanian border and we are in romania   so happy so so happy that we managed to cross 
there was no no issues really with crossing   which was absolutely amazing and we were going 
to record our lovely reunion but we kind of   forgot i think we're just too happy to see each 
other for once in our lives were we? yeah he's been really soppy since 
i got here i'm not gonna lie he's just laughing now because you know he 
needs to keep up appearances whatever it says   anyway um we are in romania now as i said thank you again to eva's parents 
that took me here Pani Gosia and Pan Czesiek big thumbs up   we gonna drive to the car parking spot 
that louis spent last couple of nights at   so he knows it's a good one and we're probably 
gonna be staying there for next year or two maybe   i don't know to sleep because we're both pretty 
knackered aren't we? yeah yeah and this and this   this little one this is the new pup misha 
she's been amazing so far absolutely amazing   louie loves her already don't you? yeah 
she's a bit of a tank isn't she? look at the size of her  I will have to do something under 
the bed i think to fit her in because she's   massive.

Yeah when we rest anyway see you in a 
few days yeah yes say thank you bye thank you bye now before we finish i just 
wanted to say that obviously   we will be now continuing with our journey 
through romania hopefully without any new   additions because louis will probably not have 
any more, even though it is five dogs per person   and obviously i wanted to end. go on then 
because you're being a little dummies, not having it is she  the last thing i wanted to 
say the most important thing really i just wanted   to officially thank, thank every single one of you 
for donating to help us get louis from greece   to romania and to get me from poland to to 
romania you know all your donations have been   greatly appreciated and they obviously 
all went for you know petrol expenses   vet fees my traveling around poland when i got 
messed about by the guy so thank you   thank you so much hopefully one day when we're 
back in england we can thank you all personally   and meet for a real coffee or a real beer even 
better and i think that is all i've got to say yeah louie is obviously going to butt in now hello 
you missed me yeah just what i would say hello   hello so yeah as she said we're just going to 
carry on the journey through romania now we've   been here for a couple of weeks and it's it's been 
beautiful so far so i won't talk too much about it now i'll see you either next week or the week 
after won't we yeah i'll leave you with the five   dogs and i'm gonna leave like a little credit 
thing thank you to everyone who donated because   it's amazing isn't it.

Yeah really really 
appreciate it but i'll leave you the dogs grumpy, bella prison breaker, little
devil, our angel and wonky face   angel not a wonky face she's really good. if 
anyone has any ideas what breed that thing is   please let me know because she's already 
like the same size as the rest and she's   about four months old. four and a half 
anyway see you next week or the week after yeah just spend like the last 10 minutes laughing 
at all the different positions peppa keeps getting i told you.

i figured she was found 
with a cat and i swear to god she   picked up some poses from them like who does this.