Natasha Hritsenko, a lifelong resident of Ukraine, has always dreamed of having a fluffy white dog. When she started working, Ms. Hritsenko, now 30, used her first two salaries to buy a purebred mini Maltese puppy. She brought Eddie home to the apartment in Kyiv, which he shared with his older sister.
Eight years later, when the war engulfed their country and they decided to flee, Ms. Hritsenko recalled saying to her sister, “I can leave behind my best clothes, my favorite bags and even my mobile phone. your phone. But I will never leave Eddie behind.
The two traveled to Poland, then to Germany, then to Portugal, and finally to the United States, where they had friends in Virginia. The little puppy traveled with them, tucked under their arms or slapped on their lap.
The sisters reached Tijuana, the Mexican city on California’s southern border, before hearing the news that stopped them: dogs from Ukraine were mostly barred from the United States. Many people have already had to leave their pets in Mexico under federal health regulations.
“I prefer to return to Europe,” Ms. Gritsenko told her sister.
Among the thousands of Ukrainians lining the southern border since the Russian invasion, the past few weeks have been marked by a painful progression of loss: homes, loved ones, work, the quiet comfort of familiar neighborhoods. For those who have managed to carry a favorite pet on their way to an uncertain future, the border barrier has proved devastating.
“He is everything to us,” Ms. Gritsenko’s sister, 31-year-old Ira, told the dog.
“The number of dogs here is growing day by day,” said Victoria Pindrick, a volunteer with the Save Ukraine Relief Fund, which works with Ukrainian refugees trying to enter the United States. “The dogs have been sent back to us.”
The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prohibits, except on an “extremely limited basis,” all dogs from entering the United States if they have been in one of approximately 50 countries, including Ukraine, which he classifies as “high risk” of rabies. .
At the crowded Tijuana border crossing, where a special pedestrian alley was opened for the rapid treatment of Ukrainian refugees, customs and border guards initially allowed a number of pets into the country, border volunteers said. But recently pets from Ukraine were not allowed.
The Hritsenko sisters had taken steps as soon as they left Ukraine to make sure their dog would be prepared for international travel.
Volunteer veterinarians gave Eddie his first rabies vaccine in Poland and his second in Germany, where veterinarians also vaccinated him against parasites, implanted a microchip in his neck and provided him with documents and an international identity document to ensure he could travel. .
The sisters planned to travel to the United States via Mexico, a round trip that thousands of refugees have tried to delay the creation of a legal pipeline for Ukrainians to enter the United States. Mexico does not require visas, so refugees have had the opportunity to fly to Mexico and apply for humanitarian admission at the US land border.
The sisters boarded a flight from Lisbon to Mexico with no problem, their suitcases packed with cans of Newman’s Own organic dog food. Eddie came with a small portable box.
After landing in Cancun last week, an airport animal inspector reviewed their documents and examined Eddie from head to toe. He handed an official document with a seal certifying the good health of the dog. The sisters flew to Tijuana on Sunday.
There, they joined hundreds of Ukrainians waiting their turn to cross the border. In no time, Eddie leaps happily onto the mattresses lined with a large gym that has been converted into a massive refugee hostel.
“We felt confident, believing that everything was fine,” Ira recalls. “Then we suddenly heard that you can’t cross with your dog.”
After their journey of more than 6,000 miles across four international borders, this barrier seemed the most formidable. They considered reversing.
Ms. Pindrick, a U.S. volunteer who works with refugees in Tijuana, said the process of obtaining legal access to the United States under current procedures, which include permission and possible quarantine, could take weeks.
Updated
April 14, 2022, 5:36 pm ET
“For many of these families who have been through trauma, it is important to keep their family together, including their pets, who have spent so much energy, money and care to bring with them,” she said. “We understand the demands that the United States has and the reasons for them, but it is impossible for refugees to meet them.
The CDC said it had issued a number of permits for people arriving from Ukraine with their pets. “We work with NGOs in Mexico and the United States along the border to ensure that people arriving from Ukraine with their dogs are eligible to enter before entering the United States, or that they have a safe place to quarantine dogs if they arrive. and do not meet the CDC entry requirements, “the agency said.
Among the Ukrainians who managed to cross the border with their pet before the rabies ban seemed to be tightened is Anastasia Derezenko, who crossed the border after spending several nights in Tijuana with her husband and two children. Last week, they entered the United States with their mini-Maltese Luca, she said after visiting a Mexican veterinarian who gave them the necessary documents.
“When the US immigration police took us, we had Luke in our hands. Everything was very, very good. ” Ms. Derezenko said from Portland, Aura, where her family was staying with friends. Luka, who is 6 months old, quickly becomes friends with the young of the hosts.
“He came all the way from Brovary with us and it was a very difficult journey,” she said, referring to the Ukrainian city just east of Kyiv.
Rather, newcomers, such as the Hritsenko sisters, have been warned not to even try to enter the United States with their pets.
To the sisters, this seemed like an impossible barrier. Then they learned that there was a temporary solution: Mexico is not on the CDC’s list against rabies, and Americans who bring dogs from that country are unlikely to be screened at the U.S. border. In fact, Americans arriving with dogs from a low-risk or rabies-free country are not even required to present a rabies vaccination certificate or special permit.
A few days ago, American animal lovers began transporting Ukrainian dogs across the border on their own. Several dozen Ukrainian pets, mostly dogs but also cats, have already traveled to California with American help. The Hritsenko sisters began looking for someone to agree to take Eddie.
The war between Russia and Ukraine: Key developments
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Strike on Russian forces. The flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet suffered catastrophic damage that forced the crew to abandon it. Russia has said the fire caused damage, although Ukraine says it hit the ship with missiles.
A boost for NATO. Finland and Sweden are considering applying to join the alliance. Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and prime minister, said Moscow would be forced to “seriously strengthen” its defense in the Baltic states if the two countries join.
On Tuesday night, they were informed that the number 3748, the line number they had assigned, had to join a group at the border checkpoint, where the nurses would be escorted to California for processing by US authorities.
At first they were enthusiastic. Their monthly odyssey was about to end.
Then they learned that there was no American to lead Eddie until the next day.
“We broke into pieces,” said Natasha. “We didn’t want to leave Eddie overnight. We never left him alone. He is really attached to us. “
They postponed their trip to the United States until the next morning after they were confident that Eddie would be delivered to them soon after.
On Wednesday, around 10 a.m., they placed Eddie in his white-and-gray chest near the gym, where they were told he would be taken.
The dog started biting the cracks and the door of the chest, recalls Natasha, who said she was guilty. Both sisters began to cry.
“You can’t explain to a dog that everything will be fine,” Natasha said.
After moving to the United States, the couple joined another Kyiv resident, Lyuba Pavlenko, another dog owner with whom the sisters were linked in Tijuana. Mrs. Pavlenko and her two children were waiting at a hotel in San Isidro, near San Diego, Chihuahua, Maya, to be brought from Mexico.
“I’m sorry Maya and Eddie had to be refugees and endure this journey,” Ira said when they met at the hotel.
Families were worried throughout the day.
“I’m getting impatient,” Natasha said. It was 3 p.m., more than five hours since Eddie had been left in the trunk.
Then their phone rang with a live video from the border showing Eddie being transported to the port of entry into the United States. They peered at the screen, trying to determine how their dog was behaving.
“Oh God, he’s old,” Natasha said.
“Look at him. He must be thirsty. He hasn’t eaten,” her sister said.
About 45 minutes later, the two dogs reunited with their owners, who strangled them with hugs and kisses.
Then it was time for a bath.
Natasha rubbed Eddie in the bathtub with the special White on White shampoo, which, together with the organic pet food, she had made sure to put in her only suitcase.
Only then were they ready for the last stage of their journey, to Virginia, where their friends were waiting for them.
What will happen next to Ukrainian dog owners in Tijuana is not clear. Ms Pindrick said a local shelter had agreed to start looking for a way to help pet owners. In the coming days new …
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