 Northwest. Now in the 17 years since animals in need was formed, the volunteers are reporting here that this has been the worst year for unwanted dogs. The number of dogs found abandoned or straying being surrendered is increasing by the day here in Donegal. In fact, this week alone, they collected four dogs from that of Kenny Pound on Monday. Another four then the following day. And there was three of them in serious conditions, suffering from serious malnutrition. And if the dog wardens hadn't fed them good food, then their lives wouldn't have been saved. But about as the situation is here, imagine what it's like in a war zone. So imagine what it's like for pets, dogs and cats and farm animals and zoo animals in Ukraine at the moment. Well, one man who knows is TV vet Scott Miller because he's recently returned from Ukraine. He was working with the animal rescue charity Breaking the Chains out there. And Scott joins us now. Scott, good afternoon to you. Good afternoon. Yeah, you made it back safely. But some would say it is a bit mad to go out there looking after animals. But the situation for animals and as I outlined, it's not just household pets, but farm animals and zoo animals. It's just it's not good in certain places, I'd say. No, absolutely. Yeah, my wife used the word bonkers to describe my decision making with regards to going out. And, you know, I suppose that's fair enough. You know, it is a war zone. And I, you know, I'm a dad, four kids, comfortable life. And so there's really no need. But actually, I believe strongly that there is the situation in Ukraine continues to roll on. And as you say, sadly, we're getting up to a year, the first anniversary of this war. And with every war, innocent suffer. And they are both human and animal. And the animal welfare crisis out there is getting worse and worse. And I really did feel obligated to go out and do my best to help. Yeah. And you did that because you got stuck and it wasn't out there just to do some highlighting. You rolled up your sleeves and you got stuck. And then you went to, you know, where animals might be suffering most to the frontline areas, like the Kersan and Bakhmut. So, yeah, you saw firsthand just how bad it was. Yeah, I saw, I felt, I heard. Yeah, it was, yeah, you know, the living in a really upsetting and frightening situation. And, you know, we always talk about animals in the UK and Ireland and talk about how there are issues with, you know, dogs and bonfire. Bonfire, I did read out for the dogs in the Ukrainian, in the Ukraine. But I had a specific moment where I was nurturing some dogs. One of the big issues out there is that the populations of stray dogs, which were previously homed dogs, now roaming the streets, they're now breeding and then producing more puppies into this nightmare. And then those animals are then suffering from infectious disease because preventative medicine has fallen by the wayside because obviously they're not allowed to go into vet practices. So I was out nurturing animals on the front line in Hassan, basically just been liberated from the Russians back to the Ukrainians. But there was still ammunition being thrown in our direction and, you know, neutering dogs whilst bombs dropping in vans shaking. It was, yeah, it was an eye-opening experience. But I had my eye on my patient and then I had amazing, big-hearted ex-military men keeping an eye on me. Yeah, when you say ex-military men, they're part of this charity, Breaking the Chains. That's right. So, Tom and his team, a few of them are out there initially at the start of the war, doing sort of private security work. And then they really realized that there was a lot of animals that were suffering alongside people. And as many of us saw back here, that, you know, people that were trying to flee the fighting were trying to leave with their animals. Many couldn't or some were forced to say goodbye to the railway platforms. So, yeah, absolutely heartbreaking for anyone that has an animal that knows how much they love them and they're part of the family. It's exactly the same feeling in Ukraine and to see all these animals now homeless and then, you know, producing this next generation to live in this nightmare. It's hard to see and impossible for me to stand on the sidelines and watch it happen. I needed to get stuck in. Yeah, and you did that and often in villages without power or water. And you were able to help out, well, you were able to help out humans as well as animals. And you got some of the animals out to, is it Norway? Yeah, so there's seven animals that managed to be transported out to Denmark, which is amazing. And you're right, the breaking the chains of the charity not only does provide food drops to the front line, and that's that's, you know, within artillery range of, you know, the Russian army. So, you know, we were sort of ducking and diving, moving very quickly, not stopping for very long because the Russians are known to train your late phone signals and then drop bombs using drones. So it is, it is a very challenging environment. But alongside the food and then providing, you know, on the spot care, we also were dropping off survival kits. So, you know, gas barbecues, the things that mean that people could, you know, feel have a warm cup of something for the first time in months, you have solar panels to charge their phones, those sorts of things that the moment I think that really hit home for me was when we visited one village just outside her song that was just annihilated. And the people living there that were living in a bunker, they'd invited all the animals in from the village, they had stayed because of their own animals and then invited all the rest in. So they were the kind of custodians for every living creature in the in the surrounds. The only real joy they had that I could see was when they were kind of cuddling their dogs, you know. And so I think it's just such an important thing that we remember that, you know, it's not a case of animals are more or less important than people, but they are important and they're important to the people of Ukraine as well as being important in their own right. Animals, straying and having to be abandoned one thing, but then I'm sure there's a lot of animals as well that have been caught up in the war and affected by the war in other countries through injuries. So what sort of injuries were you finding? Yes, I mean, you know, we drove into one another village that was absolutely obliterated. There was a dog on the side of the road that, you know, clearly had been owned. I was quite friendly and I saw a little lesion on its leg and managed to get hold of him and gave it a bit of a sort of a press and managed to pull out a bit of shrapnel out of his leg. But back at the shelter, there was a number of dogs that had suffered quite significant injuries. Johnny was the main one, a staffed chivalry across, now using wheels because he'd been shot in the back by a Russian soldier, was paralyzed and both back legs. He'd suffered a little injury to one of his toes, obviously can't feel it very well. That had got infected and then when I looked at it, actually it was dislocated. So we needed to amputate it and on the day that I was amputating it, as with many, well with all of the Ukrainians, there are regular power outages. So halfway through this surgical procedure, the lights and the power goes out. So I have to finish it by torchlight. So it's a pretty challenging environment to work in. But he came through flying colours and was good to go. I suppose in a way you have to detach yourself from what's happening there. You had to come back. Yeah, there's only so much you can do. There's so much more that you would love to do. I mean, what can we do? I suppose we should just pay attention to appeals from charities like Breaking the Chains. Yeah, absolutely. Or if you want to pay attention to this appeal, then I have set up a GoFundMe page. So you just got to GoFundMe as the website and you can search for me, Dr Scott Miller, or search for Veterinary Ambulance. Basically what we need is a souped up military style vehicle that can be an ambulance for frontline areas so we can then perform surgeries on neuterings or preventative medicine or emergency care to places that really need it most. But it doesn't need to be a specialised vehicle to be able to cope with that rough terrain of a frontline war zone. So that would be, yeah, that's the option that we have ahead of us is trying to fund for that. And then fingers crossed, if we manage to make it happen, then I'll be driving it back out because now I've seen everything I have in the Ukraine that I will definitely be making my way back. OK, so we would enable you and other vets like you to be able to do your thing safely. That's right, that's right. And hopefully there's some other little, hardy vets out there that might want to do it as well. But for now it's just me. OK, remind us again how we can connect with that appeal. Yeah, so GoFundMe and then just search Veterinary Ambulance or Dr Scott Miller and you'll see the change site. It's me wearing body armour and a helmet holding a very cute puppy. Brilliant, OK. All right, then we'll do it. Thanks a million, Scott. Good luck with the work and thanks for joining us. Thank you so much. Thanks for your time.