Dogs of Chernobyl 2018 Campaign

2018 was an incredible year! Not only did we spay/neuter and vaccinate over 270 dogs and cats in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and 250 in the worker town of Slavutych, team members came from areas as far and wide as Japan, United States, Canada, UK, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Everyone worked together in a cohesive manner to accomplish the task at hand. There were volunteers with all aspects of skills and qualifications that made this mission so successful. The group was split by volunteers in 2 groups, the first 2 weeks of the campaign and the last 2 weeks of the campaign. The first 2 weeks we set up at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant temporary veterinary clinic. The third week we set up our clinic in Chernobyl City. Finally, the fourth week we started the first weeklong spay/neuter clinic in the town of Slavutych to give thanks to our wonderful hosts.

We increased the size of the catching team, veterinary team, research team and safety team. We brought in the expertise of a veterinary medical director and certified veterinary technicians to provide the best possible care for the animals treated. All animals were intubated, received gas anesthesia and I.V. fluids during their procedures, follow up post operative pain medication, as well as flea and tick medication. All volunteers were housed and provided food by the wonderful people at the Slavutych Hostel. All in all, it was an amazing month, and we could not have done it without our partners SPCA International. SPCAI Executive Director Meredith Ayan and Program Manager Lori Kalef visited our operations in Chernobyl and were so impressed that they decided to partner with us again in 2019.

With enormous gratitude, we would like the thank the nearly 60 members of our team that were with us onsite in Ukraine to participate in the 2nd annual Clean Futures Fund Dogs of Chernobyl Spay/neuter/vaccination clinic in 2018.