A shed with hundreds of cows, lovingly locked inside for safety by a fleeing Ukrainian farmer, had been transformed into a mass bovine coffin by the time Marcus Fillinger arrived.
As Russian troops approached, the farmer had tried to do the best thing for his livestock.
The outcome was the opposite. The shed was directly hit by artillery.
“It was probably one of the most graphically horrible things I’ve ever seen,”
he said.
The Canberra man answered the global call for help when Ukraine’s animal shelters and zoos came under direct Russian fire.
Marcus Fillinger with one of the many animals he rescued in Ukraine. (Supplied: Marcus Fillinger)
“The war is causing terrible stress for the animals,” wrote Kyiv Zoo on its website in late February 2022, in the first days of the war.
Mr Fillinger is one of three police-endorsed tranquilliser-firearms instructors in Australia and travelled to Ukraine where he was swamped by need.
“I was getting a myriad of texts on my satellite phone of people crying for help,” Mr Fillinger said.
“Their lives were in imminent danger, but they were staying behind for their commitment to the animals — they didn’t want to leave the animals behind.
“That really spoke to me. That would be what I’d be doing. So [I thought], ‘I’m going to go help those people’.
“If we can remove the animals, then we can also remove the volunteers out of harm’s way.”
Private zoos
What he didn’t expect was the number of private, unlicensed zoos supplying the black market with exotic animals.
The owners of these private zoos abandoned their animals as they fled for safety.
That’s what led Mr Fillinger, under the cover of darkness and with artillery fire just kilometres away, to sedate and evacuate an emaciated wolf that had been abandoned for weeks.
He would have animals in cages in the back of a borrowed van as he sped through the back roads of Ukraine, trying to avoid road closures caused by artillery fire.
Marcus Fillinger with a caracal he rescued in Ukraine. (Supplied: Marcus Fillinger)
He encountered caracals, zebras, bears, wolves, a lion, cows, donkeys, sheep, primates and a buffalo — which he deemed too big to move.
“I could potentially save two smaller animals or one larger animal because of access to drugs,” he said.
“It’s quite painful to have to make those decisions.”
Some of the damage Mr Fillinger saw during his time in Ukraine. (Supplied: Marcus Fillinger)
His satellite phone number was shared among hundreds of Ukrainians who would reach out for help.
“They wanted me to check on the welfare of their grandma’s cat that she had to lock in her apartment, and then actually going there and finding out the apartment doesn’t exist anymore and having to text back — it’s really difficult,” he said.
‘Forgotten consequence of war’
Mr Fillinger has completed two missions to Ukraine, with plans to return and train Ukrainians to care for animals themselves.
In 2023, he was awarded the newly-established Ukrainian White Cross Medal which is for foreigners assisting Ukraine during times of war.
It was presented to him during a ceremony interrupted by air raid sirens.
Mr Fillinger would arrive at an address he had been given only to find the entire building destroyed. (Supplied: Marcus Fillinger)
The former RAAF serviceman said his experiences in Ukraine, which still play like horrific slide-shows through his head, were some of the most terrible of his life.
“It’s not just going in, rescuing animals and it’s all happy ending. It was quite violently horrible,”
he said.
Mr Fillinger encountered hundreds of animals and was faced with countless ethical dilemmas. (Supplied: Marcus Fillinger)
As the war evolved, and the front lines moved, animals would again be thrown into danger.
“You had this constant chessboard of moving animals around Ukraine,”
Mr Fillinger said.
“These poor animals are a consequence of the stupidity and violence of war.
“They are the forgotten consequence of war.”
A pet loving country
Nigel Allsopp has completed three missions to Ukraine to care for all the abandoned pets caught in the crossfire of the conflict.
Nigel Allsopp is the founder and president of Australian War Animal Memorial Organisation. (Supplied: Nigel Allsopp)
The Gold Coast man remembers watching footage of Ukrainians fleeing amidst destruction and explosions when the war first began.
“I noticed a lot of refugees had dogs and cats under their arms,” he said.
When he researched online, he discovered more than 60 per cent of Ukrainians owned pets.
“They’re a pet loving nation,” he said.
“Ukrainians who have a pet regard it as a furry family member.”
But many were forced to abandon their pets in the chaos because they couldn’t find their animal in time while fleeing.
“They feel terrible, like they’ve had to leave someone they love behind,” he said.
Nigel Allsopp teaching Ukrainian vet students a Ukraine-specific animal first aid curriculum. (Supplied: Nigel Allsopp)
Mr Allsopp set up a specialised microchip program unique for Ukraine, tagging 5,000 animals he hoped would bring comfort at the end of the war.
“Hopefully when their owners return to Ukraine after the war, they can find their missing dogs and cats,”
he said.
Mr Allsopp wrote and taught a Ukraine-specific animal first aid curriculum to 600 university veterinary students and taught military animal handlers canine first aid.
He wants to return in peacetime — he hopes soon — to help with animal therapy for soldiers suffering PTSD.
“I have no connection to Ukraine at all,”
he said.
“We do it because we see the need.”
