Ukrainian refugees ‘lost hope’ of pertaining to UK over dog hold up

A Ukrainian family attempting to get to Merseyside and their British sponsor have actually raised issues about the system of getting animals into the nation as they have actually struggled to arrange travel for their cherished family dog.

Inna Oleksiienko and her children Denys, 17 and Misha, 10, received visas to take a trip to England at the end of April after leaving a rocket strike on their home town, however are still waiting in Warsaw, Poland, due to bureaucracy around Ukrainian animal import applications.

They are presently remaining in a hostel with their two-year-old Yorkshire Terrier Oscar, who they state belongs to their family they ‘could never leave’.

The family have been living in a Polish hostel for three months and waiting for their pet import application for Oscar to be processed in the UK after receiving their visas a month ago.

Their Merseyside sponsor, Susan Tootill, who lives in Formby, has also been waiting for an Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) approved vet to give her UK home the green light to offer ‘home isolation’ to Oscar.

In March, the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) revealed that utilizing an emergency situation licence, individuals getting away Ukraine can bring their animals to the UK with any quarantine, vaccination and microchipping expenses fulfilled by the Government.

The APHA was because of supply ‘quick licence approvals and quarantine arrangements to avoid creating additional burdens or delays’.

However, APHA said it is experiencing a ‘high volume’ of emergency situation licence applications for animals and due to high need applications might take longer than typical to be processed.

Susan Tootill and her partner Bernard, have actually provided Inna and her children, together with dog Oscar, accommodation in her home and access to a big, fenced and gated garden.

She said: “I know APHA has been given a difficult job but I was gobsmacked to be told a an APHA superintendent veterinary inspector would have to check my home was suitable.

“APHA told me the requirements of licence issuing have been reached by the Ukrainian family, but it has all been held up because of the home assessment.

“My family have had their own visas a month now, and complied with all requirements for their dog because nobody wants rabies in the country.”

Mrs Tootill has actually needed to cancel charity transportation from the Ukraine to Merseyside for the family two times due to waiting on the APHA licence.

She said: “As a sponsor you cannot help feeling responsible and it’s the sponsor that has to deal with giving the family the bad news that they do not want to hear. It’s very emotional as the Ukranian family want to get to a place of safety where they can hopefully settle for a while.

“We’re not the only ones this has been happening to.

“The other difficulty with the travel is also down to the narrow time allowed. The dog must travel 24 hours post tapeworm treatment – and have proof of receiving it – but no longer than 120 hours. Trying to get transport to fit with this is not easy.

“I have sent photographs of my garden to APHA.

“I was devastated when Inna said she was losing hope and that she would have to return to Ukraine, as she could not see any alternative.

“We have received a letter today from an inspector asking us for more information before a licence is issued.

“We are not giving up hope we know Inna and her family, including Oscar their Yorkshire Terrier will get here.

“My Ukrainian family’s dog complies with all regulations and APHA have admitted that the ‘hold up’ has been with them.”

Bill Esterson, Labour MP for Sefton Central and his group have actually been attempting to help Mrs Tootill by communicating with Defra.

He said: “This looks like another example of the government putting rules in place without making sure they have the staff able to help people in a timely fashion to reach the sanctuary that they have been offered by generous people in this country.”

Ms Oleksiienko and her children left their town, Bila Tserkva, in the Kyiv area, on March 13 after a rocket strike.

She said: “At the beginning of the war my children escaped to the village to their grandma. I became a volunteer in my school, where I worked as a teacher. I helped our army and with other people weaved camouflage nets.

“But after the missile strike I decided to escape to Poland. A lot of people tried to escape with their families, but we tried and got into the train carriage.

“When we got inside there weren’t any spare place and we were sitting on our suitcases all the way to Lviv. It’s almost ten hours.

“It was a terrible experience, because we weren’t allowed to use any lights or even mobile phones, because of camouflage mode.

“Our dog was exhausted and frightened too. In the morning one of the passengers of our evacuation train came to me and said that she thought that our dog was huge because he breathed heavily.

“When we arrived we saw many women and children. They were standing in a long queue and waiting for a train to Poland. By this train we arrived to the Ukrainian-Poland border.

“We walked a really long distance with our suitcase and dog.

“There were also many Ukrainian refugees and it took us about three to four hours to cross the border.

“But when we crossed the border we met Polish volunteers. They gave us food and hot tea.

“It was really moving. Then they helped us to find a bus to Warsaw. We traveled to our hostel. It was nearly midnight when we got there. We were too exhausted and tired, but we were safe.

“Volunteers gave us all necessary things and accommodation. Now we are still living in a hostel in a room without locks.

“We felt happy when we received all the visas quickly.

“We had all necessary vaccinations for our dog, microchip, blood tests. But we are still waiting for license from APHA and at one point we lost hope.

“We decided we would return to Ukraine if we didn’t get the licence because Oscar is a member of our family. We can’t travel without him.

“Our host family are really friendly and helpful people. They have done everything they can to make this process quicker. We really appreciate their help.”

An APHA representative said: “We have been working through the Veterinary Delivery Partnership contractors and their network of veterinary practices in England to bolster support for home isolation visits and regular monitoring of the pet during the rabies monitoring period.

“We continue to work as quickly as possible to process Ukrainian pet import applications and will contact people as soon as their application is approved.”

According to Defra and APHA, if you are from Ukraine and are looking for haven in the UK, you can bring your animal dog, cat or ferret without it entering into quarantine or seclusion if it has:

You will require a licence to bring your animal to the UK if your animal:

Before travel, the APHA e-mails a licence form for the animal, which requires to be returned.

Depending on the animal’s vaccines, APHA might then send a home seclusion form inquiring about the home where the Ukrainian refugees and their animals will be remaining.

The form then needs to be completed by the UK host and the Ukrainian owners.

It is at that point that APHA will email to state whether the animal requires to enter into quarantine, seclusion kennels or home seclusion when it shows up in the UK and will email a licence.

Quarantine for animals from Ukraine can be as much as 4 months as it is an ‘unlisted country’ for rabies.

The APHA said animals are being thought about on a ‘case by case basis’ which that home seclusion needs the home to satisfy a really high requirement of requirements consisting of guaranteeing that the animal cannot get away, that there is no danger to other animals or to individuals, whilst likewise offering appropriate well-being requirements.