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The Fairfax veterinarian took a short leave from her job at Town & Country Animal Hospital to fly to Ukraine and help the animals there. She spent two weeks in the country and returned earlier this month more eager than before to help the often-forgotten victims of war.
"I knew that I have a skill/profession where I could help not only the animal victims of this war that were scared, confused, and injured but also help the people who love them," said Katsur, who attended UPenn's School of Veterinary Medicine. "Knowing that fact that I truly could help meant there was no way I wasn't going."
It took a month of searching, but Katsur eventually found a group willing to send her into Ukraine. She joined up with several other volunteers of Breaking the Chains, a British group that has rescued more than 8,000 animals in Ukraine so far. The group is building a shelter inside the country to care for them as getting them out is getting harder, the Daily Mail reported about the group.
Katsur said she worked 20-hour days while in Ukraine. Many of those animals had been torn away from their families either by a heart-breaking choice or Russian weapons. Breaking the Chains' volunteers found many animals hiding inside what was left of their former homes.
“There were some bombed homes where dogs just remained and actually stayed there and wouldn’t leave,” Katsur told NBC4. “I went to people’s homes, too, that couldn’t afford care at this time. [They] could barely afford their own food.”
Despite being back in Virginia, Katsur is still helping out in the war. She started a GoFundMe to raise money to purchase food and medicine for animals. Anything above her goal will go to pay for a full-time veterinarian in that country. She's raised nearly $15,000 so far, 50 percent more than her original goal. Click here for her GoFundMe campaign.
"The biggest immediate needs are veterinarians to provide veterinary care to these animals, and people to help rescue animals out of dangerous areas and situations and deliver food/supplies," Katsur said.
Donating money is one of the best ways to help out from home right now, she said. Find an organization you trust that is working on or with another group at the Ukrainian border and donate your time and money there, she said. It's cheaper than shipping goods from the United States.
Katsur is still processing her experience. Her first week back was the hardest because the reality of what she'd seen while in the war zone began to sink in. She plans to write about it on her public Facebook page, which you can follow here.
"Seeing the war up close is devastating," she said, summing up her time in Ukraine. "However, I can only be hopeful that this war will come to a close and that people will continue their outpouring of support and love in rebuilding a country that was the victim of senseless evil."
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