No Dogs Left Behind founder Jeffrey Beri, holds Papo, left, and Gibson, at his sanctuary in Toronto on June 29.Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press
The organizer: Jeffrey Beri
The pitch: Sterilizing and vaccinating thousands of dogs and cats in Ukraine
Jeffrey Beri has spent six years battling the dog meat trade in Asia and his U.S.-based non-profit organization, No Dogs Left Behind, has saved tens of thousands of animals.
Earlier this month Mr. Beri shifted his attention to Ukraine where a huge number of dogs and cats have been abandoned because of the war and now pose a public-health risk. Ukraine already had the highest incidence of rabies in Europe before the war and officials fear the case load could go higher.
Mr. Beri visited several shelters around Kyiv, including one that housed 3,000 dogs and cats, and he has now launched a campaign to sterilize and vaccinate as many animals as possible.
Through a fundraising drive, No Dogs has covered the costs of veterinarians and nurses to carry out free sterilization drives. The vets also insert microchips and ensure that strays are tagged with barcodes that can be read by cellphones. The group is also working with shelters to ensure that they have sufficient supplies and it is co-ordinating some evacuations.
“Right now the most important thing is to get every dog and cat sterilized and vaccinated in those areas,” he said in a recent interview. “That is the No. 1 thing I can bring to Ukraine, to the animals of Ukraine and to the welfare of the people.”
Mr. Beri created the non-profit in 2016 after a successful career as a jewellery designer in New York. No Dogs has since expanded to Toronto where it operates a safe house for rescued dogs.
During his recent trip to Ukraine Mr. Beri met several people who lived under Russian occupation with their pets including one boy who was comforted by his dog during the shelling.
“Just think how scared they were and they never left,” Mr. Beri said. “For me it was just the most incredible feeling in the world and there was no other place I wanted to be.”
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Paul Waldie