FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Ready to find new homes after being forced to flee, five cats being fostered at a Rockville home have just arrived from Ukraine in a group of nearly 30. They are now outgoing and friendly but that wasn’t always the case.
"Very timid and maybe a little scared when they first arrived," Shana Aufenkamp of Homeward Trails Rescue said. "Who knows what they came from clearly loud bombs explosions but then they're locked in a cage and in a car for hours and hours and put into a cattery with all these other cats they don’t know."
Aufenkamp is a long-term volunteer with Homeward Trails and fluent Russian speaker.
She spent a month in Ukraine with a British rescue group, Breaking the Chains, bringing animals to the U.S. from a shelter at capacity.
"The shelter is being built in the western part of Ukraine," she said. "It’s a secret location, its not available to the public because we don’t want to put a big target on it saying here's a group of ex U.K. military guys and people coming from Europe to be with these animals."
Many of the cats are likely owner surrenders. One owner asked Aufenkamp directly to bring her cats to the U.S. to find safe new homes.
And some will receive treatment for old injuries like Timothy, who walks on a bent paw. All of these cats, including the affectionate Shawshank, are available for adoption immediately.
Homeward Trails Animal Rescue, which provides pet adoptions across the DMV, took in the 24 cats just a week after eight others arrived with the animal rescue's executive director Sue Bell.
Bell and Aufenkamp spent two weeks volunteering at an animal shelter in Ukraine, sparking this rescue effort.
“Having just gotten to know all these kitties while we were in Ukraine caring for them and learning of their harrowing rescue stories, we are just so glad to be able to welcome them here and get to work in securing loving homes for them,” Bell said.
Aufenkamp said during her travels to the Ukraine in May what she saw there was incredibly sad. This made her want to return to the country and help more.
“To know that some of these animals have barely survived the harsh cruelty of this war and to know they now face months and maybe years in a shelter is just heartbreaking,” Aufenkamp said. “We put it out to our donors to seek their support to make a difference for these kitties and they stepped up. So the choice to go back and help and then bring these kitties over was an easy one.”
The duo said it takes a lot to take animals out of Ukraine. It can take up to 16 hours to get the cats out of one country by van and into another and then to the airport.
The arriving cats have a variety of stories including being rescued from bombed-out buildings and animal shelters to being given up by loving owners who had to flee the country. Some of the cats arriving will be headed to Crumbs & Whiskers, the renown Georgetown cat café, which will allow these purr-fect animals to rest at the café before moving on to loving, adoptive homes. A true rags to riches story.