Local Veterinarian Who Traveled To War-Torn Ukraine Details Experience Helping Abandoned Animals
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A veterinarian from Harford County just returned from a two-week trip to Ukraine where she helped rescue animals that have been abandoned there.
"I think what's really been hard is that I feel like I just went and witnessed and I couldn't fix anything," Jarrettsville Veterinary Center Owner Krista Magnifico said.
Dr. Krista Magnifico, who owns Jarrettsville Veterinary Center in Harford County, shared video with WJZ from Droog Animal Shelter in Ukraine.
"The degree of difficulty for everybody and everything there is just at a level that people just can't understand unless you live it," Dr. Magnifico said.
Dr. Magnifico traveled to Ukraine in April to work with a group helping animals abandoned during the war.
"They're really going into the most dangerous places and then bringing (the animals) back to their compound, or any of the shelters that are local, in an effort to try to get them treated and out of the country," Dr. Magnifico said. "It's really hard to get animals out of the country."
She brought three large suitcases with her full of donations of medication for the animals
She says there are currently 500 at Droog shelter.
"Some of them have been just starved and neglected, so some of them just don't have access to food resources," Dr. Magnifico said.
After her two weeks in Ukraine, she and her group were only able to rescue 12 animals. They're in Romania now for treatment and will be adopted.
Dr. Magnifico says she wants to do more to help.
"I think a lot of people made bucket lists during COVID," Dr. Magnifico said. "I just made a list that I was never going to be afraid to live life again and do things that I really felt compelled to do or driven to do."
Dr. Magnifico said she wanted to take this trip to honor her mother and a close friend, who have passed away since the pandemic began.
She is still in touch with the workers she met in Ukraine so she can check on the animals.
