Indians in war-torn Ukraine face problems in bringing pets back home even after govt relaxes rules

The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying recently issued an office memorandum, making rescue of pets along with their owners easier as a one-time relaxation. This came after a few students stranded in war-torn Ukraine said they were not willing to leave their pets behind when they were rescued.

“Considering unique and extraordinary situations in war-hit Ukraine wherein pre-export requisite formalities to export of pets into India may not be fulfilled, the import of pet dogs and / or pet cats along with stranded Indians being rescued by the Government of India, is being facilitated as one-time relaxation measure,” the office memorandum (OM) stated.

Earlier, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India had also made an appeal to the Centre for the same after it noticed a video on social media on Saturday. In the video, Rishabh Kaushik, a final-year undergrad student in Ukraine's Kharkiv, complained that he had been trying to contact Indian authorities but they repeatedly asked him for documents in order to bring his pet dog.

Meanwhile, even after the relaxation, many are still facing problems in bringing their pets back home.

"We're facing problems in taking our pets along with us as IndiGo didn't allow us to board with pets, we were told that we could take them only in an IAF plane. We brought them from Kharkiv with us & are in talks with the Indian Embassy," news agency ANI quoted a stranded Indian.

"Due to space constraints, pets were not being allowed in trains but we somehow brought them with us from Kharkiv after spending a lot of money. We're waiting for special flights for those with pets to be flown to India," said another Indian national.

Published on: Friday, March 04, 2022, 05:26 PM IST