The war in Ukraine has not only terrorized humans, but animals as well. No one knew how long Lenny had been on the war-torn streets of Ukraine, but it was clear that he had been traumatized.

The poor dog was hungry and needed medical attention for an injury. But he was wary of accepting any of these things from the people trying to help him.

The violence around him made it hard for him to trust anyone.

He avoided Dr. Country Katsur who was trying to attend to him.

“When I first got there, he was lying next to a heater,” Katsur told The Dodo. “He had surgery and did not move for two days and didn’t trust anybody.”

Katsur, who lives in Virginia, decided to travel to Ukraine to help the affected animals after seeing images of animals caught up in the midst of the conflict in the media.

Thinking about all the people who had to leave their beloved pets behind left her absolutely heartbroken. Not to mention the dogs and cats that were in shelters and displaced.

“It hit me that I can help, you know?” Katsur said. “I’ve never tried harder to get somewhere where people didn’t want to go.”

Katsur worked with the UK-based organization Breaking The Chains.

They offer special tactical animal relief by extracting animals from dangerous situations around the world. She made sure the animals were fed and had proper medical care while they did the extracting.

“I cried when I left them,” Katsur said.

So, Katsur was determined to help Lenny as best as she could.

The level of care from Katsur and other volunteers made all the difference because Lenny began to open up to his caretakers.

“[He] jumped and laid in my suitcase,” Dr. Katsur said. “He would jump and lay on my cot to snuggle, when before he didn’t even want a human to touch him.”

Katsur says that she will never forget Lenny for as long as she lives because of how he dramatically changed right before her eyes.

“He made such a transformation,” Katsur said. “It was amazing.”

Lenny has become pretty attached to everyone at the shelter so he lives there now and is known as their “compound dog.”

“By the end, Lenny owned the place,” Katsur said. “He was kind of the guy who was able to roam free within the compound.”

She plans to raise funds and organized volunteers to return to Ukraine in September. The efforts of Katsur and Breaking The Chains resulted in being able to hire a full-time local veterinarian to work at a shelter being built in Ukraine.

You can donate to the Breaking The Chains GoFundMe here and Katsur’s GoFundMe here.

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Source: The Dodo, Dr. Courtney Katsur