They have survived

The center’s director Ihor Antakhovych told our reporter that “it is mostly a seasonal phenomenon. Leopolitans and residents of Lviv region bring shot down and otherwise injured birds to us every fall, when hunting season begins. Typically, these are birds of prey, day and night ones alike. For example, we have already received two buzzards, two hawks (a male and a female) and an owl. All birds have their wings shot through and none will be ever returned to the wild, as their injuries are too serious. We had, for example, to amputate the owl’s wing.”

So the birds will remain at your facility?

“Yes. Although some of them are taken home by the people who brought them to us. For example, one of the hawks has been already. Its rescuers live in a mansion, they built aviary for it, and so they were allowed to take it. The rest will remain with us, and school kids will come on excursions to see them.”

Can you afford to keep them?

“They clearly need special housing, and it is a complex task. There are some difficulties with food for them, too. But there are charitable people that help us, so we make do. We do not have it easy, though. There have been no significant difficulties this year. In particular, funds to feed our animals come in time. More generally, we get sufficient funding from the municipal environmental protection fund in recent years both to feed our animals and to house them.”

How many species do you keep?

“We have more than a hundred of them here.”

Are there non-governmental organizations in Lviv that not only speak about the problem, but take concrete actions to solve it, too?

“Yes. We, for example, get free veterinary help from the Western Ukrainian Animal Protection Society, chaired by Andrii Kurach. The society also takes care of stray animals in the city.”

How many children attend your center to help you care for animals?

“About 500 children attend our zoological club, while visitors who come to us every two to three months total more than 4,000 a year.”

May I assume that your visitors eventually become veterinarians?

“Your assumption is correct. A few of our regular visitors become students of biological department at the Franko University every year. Some of them enter the Veterinary Academy. Currently, we have four former zoological club members among our employees.”

To what extent the centers like yours help to humanize our society?

“The fact that we get injured animals brought to us year after year is a clear confirmation of our role in the humanization of society, at least within the city and region. But, unfortunately, we can do very little on our own. You pro-bably know that two specialized centers were shut down in Lviv region, or, to be more specific, in Sambir and Boryslav this year. The shutdown was masked as an amalgamation, motivated by the need to save budget funds. Unfortunately, our government does not understand that in order to get an environmentally conscious and humane society, one must begin with educating children.”