BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE September/October 2002

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A small Russian territory is causing a major stir in the world these days. Kaliningrad's fortunes hang in the balance as politicians play tug-of-war with the region. Originally part of Germany, the Soviets took the city in a fierce World War II battle that cost 600,000 lives. A valuable warm-water port, Kaliningrad was transformed into a secret military installation.
In a nation where, for decades, private charities were illegal, animal welfare is a brave alien concept that is only now taking seed. But this new notion is still often viewed with suspicion, scorn, or apathy toward the committed few who are determined to make a better life for the dogs and cats they've come to love.

As she prepared for an interview in her Moscow hotel room in 1990. journalist Svetlana Kalinima's attention was caught by a TV news program. A litter of happy puppies were wiggling into the arms of new families. But as the report continued, the joyful scene turned into an expose' of the life that hundreds of thousands of animals endure in modern Russia: a harsh existence on the streets before facing inhumane deaths.
"Why," the Russian journalist thought, "can't I do a program just like this about the pets in my city?" So she did.

A reporter for Amber Television, a local Kaliningrad TV station. Kalinima began doing stories about animals in the city. To capture her audience, she would always start with loved and well-cared-for pets from good families, before turning the spotlight on the animals who weren't so lucky.

Ralph and the Surgeon Who Cared

Kirillova found him wandering in the city's outskirts one evening, limping painfully with one dangling leg. He had a high fever and couldn't eat or drink. "This dog is not going to make it through the night." thought Kirillova. So, with no animal hospital nearby, she found herself knocking on the door of Dr. Alezander Shol in the middle of the night.
A surgeon whose patients were normally human. Shol saw that Ralph's leg had become gangrenous and was beyond saving. But the dog. he hoped, wasn't. Carrying him to the small clinic attached to his house, he removed the leg. With antibiotics and tender care. Ralph pulled through. The journalist covered Ralph's plight, then did follow-ups every few weeks as his condition improved. When he was healed, she asked for someone in her audience to come forward and adopt the dog. Ralph found his way to a new home, where Kalinima aired one last show about the happy dog who finally got the family he deserved.
Today, Dr. Shol remains a precious ally, using his surgical skills to save some of the most drastic cases the two ladies encounter - without accepting payment.

Kaliningrad in the News

Dubbed an "island" because it's separated by 200 miles from "Mother Russia." Kaliningrad is wedged between Poland and Lithuania. To reach the "mainland." its Russian citizens must pass through one of those two countries. The fall of Communism left the region in economic turmoil. Lack of jobs has led many of its under-the-poverty-line residents to eke out a living of about $60 a month by joining the burgeoning black market of smuggling cigarettes and alcohol into Poland or Lithuania, where prices are triple those in Kaliningrad. 

In the past decade, the stagnant economy has begun to rally. But Poland and Lithuania want to join the European Union, which will require them to secure their borders. This would effectively cut off free travel from Kaliningrad through these countries to the rest of Russia. President Putin has passionately argued that this EU requirement threatens economic disaster for Kaliningrad and has threatened trade repercussions.

As politicians wrangle with the complex political issues. Kaliningrad's 900.000 residents worry that a hard life is about to backslide into an even harsher reality. And for those battling to educate their people about caring for animals, the prospect of a deeper depression is disheartening.

Stray Dogs, Stray Children

The Russian people are used to hardship. But they also have a history of kindness to animals. During the Second World War. when Leningrad was surrounded and cut off for three years by the German army, the besieged citizens, starving to death, would share their last morsels with their pets, rather than consider using dogs and cats as food.

But postwar communism had a dispiriting effect on the people, and when it fell, economic woes only multiplied. Animal welfare doesn't often register on the radar screen. And the $20 it takes for a spay/neuter surgery is often an impossible expense if a family wants to eat that week. "There are people." says Kirillova through a translator, "who say, 'Why are you taking care of pets? There is so much trouble with people - people are in such bad condition, so why do you take time with animals?' But the animals need help. too. and there's even less help for them."

For some of the people who live on the fringes of society, however, stray dogs and cats often form their only family. Abandoned children grow up in alleys and parks, forming a strange, wandering subculture, often with homeless animals as their only companions.
In Kaliningrad, existing animal abuse laws go unenforced and are. therefore, virtually useless. There is no authoritative organization primed to investigate cruelty cases, no humane societies to care for strays, and no government funding available to help any programs that concerned citizens might want to mount. The militia, whose presence is still prominent in the region, goes on shooting sprees as a form of animal control, often being paid per animal. It's a rare person who tries to help - or rather "interfere."

In cases of serious abuse. Kirillova and Kalinima have become their own watchdog group. Kalinima has been known to confront abusers on camera, demanding an explanation for their treatment of animals. And they try to get as many animals as they can away from the line of fire.
But hope is slowly growing for the two crusaders, as more and more people respond to the message of caring that now goes out regularly over the city's airwaves.

An Organization Takes Root...

Four years ago. American Larry Switzer met his Russian wife Elena, a Kaliningrad native, and discovered that he'd found his soul mate.
As their relationship took root, she was hesitant, unsure how he would react when she revealed that she had a rather large family of 13 felines. The animal lover had become a local drop for anyone wanting to rid himself or herself of a cat. For Switzer, a longtime member of Best Friends, animals were not a problem.
"During my visits there, Elena would show me what was happening to the animals." Switzer recalls. "There is a huge public market, and thousands of stray dogs and cats live in and around it. The militia comes in regularly and just shoots them. For them, it's like weeding. They don't care. The cynicism is so deep. The most that people have been able to do is to get them to agree not to do it during the day in front of the children.

We started trying to get animals fixed - starting with the cats Elena had taken in. But it's a struggle all the way. You can't just hire a car or a truck to get the animals to the vet and veterinary services are limited, crude, and expensive.

Animals & society

"I've traveled a lot, and I know that wherever you go, there are always people who help animals. So I said to Elena. "There are people who care about animals and who will form a seed group." But the whole idea of volunteerism there is nonexistent. People are used to the state doing everything. The idea of citizens getting together is a concept that's from the moon.
"I finally got her to talk to a clerk at the clinic where we were getting animals fixed. And that's how we came to meet Rimma Kirillova."

...Starts an Animal Shelter...

By now, Kirillova was trying to start a small group. She'd met people who wanted to help but didn't have any money. Some of them had agreed to foster pets, and she was funding their efforts herself: giving them money for food and medicine, organizing vet visits, and paying for shots and neutering.

The small group had to watch out for corruption, even in its own ranks. When a sympathetic mayor gave a 20-room. three-story building to a woman who had said she was going to use it to start the city's first animal shelter, the woman proceeded to rent the building out instead. It took a TV expose by Svetlana Kalinima to shut the operation down and move the unlawful tenants out. Kirillova is working with the city government on a new agreement to give her the building for the animals. And she has found an ally in the City Government Deputy, Alexander Piatikop.

"The city administration is ready to donate this building as a shelter for homeless animals," Piatikop said. "But we must have a reliable organization ready to use it only for this purpose." He added that if Kirillova's organization was willing to do this, "I will support the city giving it to them."

Not only is she willing, but she's not waiting. Kirillova has already started cleaning up the building herself, preparing to renovate it to become Kaliningrad's first animal shelter once the papers are drafted.
"My dream is to make it a little center for homeless cats and dogs, where they can get care and treatment," she says, excitedly. "I want to have a small medical clinic there, where we will charge less money than private clinics in the city, so that people can bring their pets to the doctor.
"And I want to have an adoption program to place as many pets as possible. It's not a big enough building to help all the animals here immediately, but it's good enough to begin."

Although she has only two other volunteers right now, Kirillova believes that once she gets the building fixed, more people will happily help.
Kalinima agrees. "Whenever I do a story on homeless pets," she explains, "people feel guilty, and they call and ask how they can help, and how they can volunteer.
Right now, there is no organized place for them. But once this shelter begins, there will be a place, and we can tell people where to come to volunteer and that the animals need them. Even if they can't help financially, they can help by caring for the animals."

...and Begins a Spay/Neuter Program

Meanwhile, with some help from Best Friends, the Switzers have started a low-cost spay/neuter program in Kaliningrad. Kalinima publicized the program on her TV show, and Kirillova and Elena Switzer took out newspaper ads.

Once again, it hasn't been easy. Even though local clinics are paid their full regular fee of $20, the two women found that when callers inquired about making an appointment, vets would begin tacking on extra charges for medicine and other costs, which once again put the procedure out of reach for most.

To keep control of the program, Kirillova and Switzer now make the appointments themselves and then arrive at the clinic with the client, only paying for the surgery once it's complete, and always making sure that the public can get the help they need for their animals without hidden charges.
In the first few weeks of the program, 22 animals were fixed. The women are delighted, encouraged, and full of new hope - so much so that Kirillova is calling her burgeoning group Luchiya Druzya - or, in English, Best Friends.
"We now have a reliable set of people there that are working to help these animals," says Larry Switzer. "This is really the first generation of people on the ground. It's a milestone. If we can bring money in to help them establish a center, it can make a tremendous difference.
"And we have an American vet who's coming over in September to teach the veterinarians in Kaliningrad how to perform juvenile spay/neuter. "The women on the ground are starting a trap/neuter/return program for feral cats. They're trying to educate people about animals."

A Message to the World

"The simple message of what's happened here," says Larry Switzer, "is that there is now a sincere group of people on the ground in Kaliningrad who are helping the animals. And they need everyone's support in any way they can get it." 

If you'd like to support the spay/neuter program in Kaliningrad, you can send a check to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, with "Kaliningrad" in the memo area. Also, the new group will soon be starting a web site in Russian and English. You can e-mail   Этот e-mail адрес защищен от спам-ботов, для его просмотра у Вас должен быть включен Javascript and we'll let you know when it goes up.

By Julie Richard