Thank you so much to Florida Urgent Rescue and Mike Merrill for your kind words and support!

Stranded 9 stories up in the bombed out building, she somehow managed to survive when a missile destroyed most of the building. Skye, as she would soon be named, lived through devastating bombardments, and she survived without food or water. Alone, near the top of the building, she waited.

Mariupol is a city that’s occupied by Russian soldiers. Just moving around on the streets is dangerous. Finding a way up a destroyed building to rescue a stranded dog was an incredible and heroic feat. When rescuers managed to make it up the building to check on her, they were amazed to find that she was OK. They needed to figure out a way to get her out of the building and out to safety, though, and find somewhere for her to go. With thousands of homeless animals in an occupied city, that’s not an easy answer. They gave her food and water and promised to come back when they figured out a plan.

In the meantime, a terrible thunder storm came, and poor Skye must have thought it was another missile attack. The poor dog tried to flee and did the unthinkable—she jumped out of the 9 story building.

Amazingly, Skye survived the fall. After living through multiple bombardments that destroyed the building, and surviving without food or water, Skye miraculously survived a fall from 9 stories high to the ground. Rescuers found her the next morning, and to everyone’s surprise she was alive. She was badly hurt, though, unable to move her back legs.

The rescuers treated her the best they could without equipment or supplies. Using a sheet as a makeshift stretcher, they managed to evacuate her from Mariupol, another very dangerous trip, and got her to Zaporizhzhia. She then went onto Transform A Street Dog (TSAFD) in Kyiv, where Julia took her straight to the vet clinic for treatment.

Skye truly is a miracle dog. Skye still has no use of her back legs, but she does have some sensitivity back there which is promising. They hope she may walk again. Julia, Pablo, and the team at Transform A Street Dog are taking great care of her, but they need help.

Transform A Street Dog takes in many urgent animals, and they’ve taken in several other major medical cases like Skye. They took in Chudo, who was found wandering the streets of Obolon, Ukraine after missiles hit there. He was in pain, with two bullets in his groin and a tumor in his back. They did a very complicated and expensive surgery, but tragically, Chudo died shortly after surgery. They took in Maya, who had a badly injured leg, and may need it amputated, and another dog who was hit by a car and is now disabled. They took in dogs who survived Borodyanka, and cats who survived Bucha and Irpin. They take in old dogs, scared dogs, injured dogs and sick dogs. They just took in 8 more dogs from a previously occupied shelter in Kyiv. Even though they are a dog rescue, Transform a Street Dog also saves cats.

Transform A Street Dog, a U.S. based 501(c)(3) non-profit, has been operating on the ground in Ukraine since 2018. Prior to the war, TFASD operated as a foster based rescue. The Russians invaded and millions of people were displaced by the war, some shelters evacuated, and others overwhelmed, in addition to a very significant stray population. Quite simply, there are not enough places for animals to go.

To help to save more homeless animals, TFASD recently started building 3 private shelters, called peretrymkas, or “kennel houses.” They have around 60 dogs in 3 locations at any given time, in addition to a bunch of cats.

They’re still trying to finish building out the peretrymkas, but they are still several thousand dollars short. They need money to complete building the Peretrymkas, including adding more kennels that will allow them to save more lives. In addition to the costs of operating these three shelters, they have all the associated expenses to care and feed the animals, plus vet appointments and new emergencies daily.

With urgent dogs like Skye needing help, they are stretched thin. While they can’t say no to major medical dogs like Skye, trying to balance expensive veterinary care with the costs of rescuing other animals is difficult when funds are tight.

Florida Urgent Rescue worked closely with Transform a Street Dog in Ukraine. I’ve gotten to know them well, and I can personally vouch for them. They are a reputable, reliable, fantastic organization, and they are saving a lot of animals who would have no hope otherwise. They are dedicated people who are doing amazing work with very limited resources. But they need help.

If you’d like to help them save more Ukraine animals, please follow Transform a Street Dog, share their posts, and consider a tax-deductible donation:

To Donate: TransformAStreetDog.org/donate

PayPal: TFASDog@gmail.com

Wise: TFASDog@gmail.com

Venmo: @TransformAStreetDog

JustGiving: https://www.justgiving.com/tfasdog

To mail a check within the USA: Transform a Street Dog 1303 Crespi Drive Pacifica, CA 94044 USA

The original article can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/MikeMerrill84/posts/pfbid0jjCKHLKcgt5itfR2QZGVg2ianUC4B6WbPR9SgaLya8hwsfvfkkrB1iVW4sCBn9WDl

We will be very grateful for your donations