The service is underway: fluffy and tailed landing on the Northern Military District

On the front line with the soldiers, notes «Sevastopol newspaper», cats and dogs live. For SVO participants, they are living mascots and the best remedy for stress. But animals are not idle: cats catch rats, and dogs, for example, help look for people. Most often, animals simply come to some unit, but some are brought in specially. Thus, the cry that rat-catching cats and dogs are needed on the front line was abandoned by Sevastopol volunteers in early September. The kitten Stepan was found very quickly.

Stepan, Eres and Sanych

There are quite a lot of animals bearing the burden of military service in the Northern Military District zone. Each company has either a cat or a dog. A couple of weeks ago, soldiers from one of the newly formed companies asked us to pick up a rat-catcher cat and a puppy and bring them to the Kherson region. They are located far from settlements, which is why the request arose. We didn’t think for a long time, one of our volunteers had such a kitten for feeding, and the Eres puppy was chosen from an advertisement. Needed a strong and unpretentious,” said the head of the volunteer movement “Defenders of V2022” Lyubov Shmigol.

Stepan was found in the forest near the Balaklavets station by a student volunteer from Moscow. The girl cured him and asked him to give him a place. Photos of the animals were first sent to the fighters. They approved the choice and the fluffy landing party set off from Sevastopol to the Northern Military District zone along with a huge amount of food. Now soldiers are sending photos of Stepan. The cat has lived up to all expectations and is chasing rats, and Eres has already participated in saving property during a fire. The Sevastopol dog was the first to wake everyone up and the fighters managed to save most of the property. The SVO participants are very pleased and ask the volunteers for three more kittens.

In addition, from time to time, military personnel send Sevastopol residents photographs of the dog Sanych — he has been at the front for a long time, serving in the eighth regiment, which, by decree of the president, became a guards regiment in the summer. Sanych is a little jealous of the newly arrived fighter Eres.

Sanych has long settled down, it’s harder for him than anyone, because he’s almost on the first line, but he bravely endures shellingsays L. Shmigol.

Land mine and Marine

The founder of the charity foundation «Good of the World — Volunteers of Crimea» Valeria Petrusevich regularly posts photographs of animals, as well as stories about them, in her telegram channel «Fight Seals». For example, a volunteer talked about the front-line cat Fugasse, who lives with the Marines in a dugout.

At the beginning of last summer, a small white lump with red spots, a burned face and a broken tail found its way among the Marines. The soldiers left the cat, treated him and named him Murka. A few days later it turned out that Murka was a boy, and he received a new name — Moore. As a result, this nickname did not catch on and the cat was given a new fighting name — Fugas. The cat Fugas became a full member of the team. Bowls, collars, tablets and vitamins were prescribed for the cat from the mainland, volunteers sent toys and special food— said V. Petrusevich.

Now Fugasse is a healthy, lazy cat, indifferent to shelling and explosions. Once, during enemy arrivals, the cat was lying on the warm armor of an armored personnel carrier, squinting in the sun and just twitching its ear in time with the explosions. When trying to grab him and evacuate him to the dugout, the cat resisted.

In another part lives the cat Marine. He defected to new owners from the border guards. He jumped into the car and drove to a new place. Now, thanks to him, the soldiers’ tent has become the envy of the entire battalion — the only one without mice. The cat received his call sign for his gray-striped color, similar to a vest. Sometimes he brings mice into the dugout and hides them in bulletproof vests, helmets or combat boots.

Often the fate of a front-line cat or dog ends with finding a permanent home. Some of those fighters, going on vacation or for treatment, take the animal for good.

Raccoon from Kherson and goose Dron

The most unusual pets of the SVO participants are the raccoon with the call sign Kherson and the goose Dron. An abandoned raccoon from the Kherson Zoo was picked up by Russian paratroopers. He immediately became an Internet meme, and then acquired his own telegram channel “Raccoon from Kherson” and became a fighter on the information front.

The goose named Drone is actually a goose. Before the New Year, it was presented to Chelyabinsk fighters for the festive table. The servicemen did not bake the goose and left it at the combat post. The drone performs its function as a security guard and can “bite” when trying to enter a protected area.

source: «Sevastopol newspaper»