A black Labrador named Tasha is set to be reunited with her Ukrainian owner in the west of Ireland on Sunday after they were separated due to the war in their homeland.
Violetta, an 86-year-old grandmother from Odessa, fled her country with her family when the war with Russia first broke out and she attempted to bring her 12-year-old dog with her.
She was devastated when they were forced to separate in Romania as Violetta could not carry her “best friend” any further and Tasha was taken in by a kind Romanian family.
The family crossed multiple borders and eventually arrived in Ireland as refugees and were welcomed with open arms by the locals in County Clare.
However, after losing so much in recent weeks, Violetta was completely heartbroken about leaving her beloved Tasha behind.
After hearing their story, Dublin woman Debbie Deegan, who had helped Violetta’s family to get to Ireland, put in more hours of tireless work to make sure the two were reunited.
She managed to track down the Romanian family who were minding Tasha and after a lot of red tape as well as the help of kind strangers, they were able to bring the dog as far as England.
Debbie told the Irish Mirror that when she met Violetta at Dublin Airport, the grandmother could only speak about her dog, Tasha.
“The family had come through Ukraine and they had come through Moldova,” she said.
“Violetta was quite stressed about the whole thing and by the time they got to Romania they weren’t able to manage the dog so they gave it to a Romanian family.
“It devastated her. She was broken-hearted. It was her best friend, so she told me when she met me.”
Debbie had been put in touch with Violetta’s family by a Russian friend living in America who asked her to help the family as they were struggling to get over the border into Romania. Debbie was able to step in due to her connections from her work as the founder of the To Children With Love charity.
The family, including Violetta and her son and her daughter-in-law, travelled through Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Austria to eventually arrive in Ireland in early March.
“They got into Dublin airport and I went to meet them,” Debbie said. “They basically had the clothes on their back.
“Violetta was upset because she had left her dog behind - it was all she could talk about.”
Debbie continued: “I decided I would [try and find the dog] with the help of her Ukrainian granddaughter, who flew in from America while they were here.
“Between the two of us, we decided to try and find the dog to help Granny.
“We didn’t fly but we made connections and we found the family in Romania [who had the dog] who were really good people and they had looked after Tasha.
“We got a travel company, which I was a little bit concerned about at the beginning… because we had to get her through four or five borders unaccompanied.
“In fact they were very, very good. They were professional dog handlers. So we had to make sure her [dog] passport was in date, all her rabies shots, her chip was perfect.
“We had the passport but I could only get her as far as the UK so I didn’t know what I was going to do then.”
Debbie put out a message on a Ukrainian Help site in the UK and was contacted by “a magnificent woman”, Lisa Kay, who offered to mind Tasha the dog until she was able to be brought to Ireland.
Tasha is now currently being hosted at Lisa’s beautiful, picturesque, farm near Birmingham, but will be collected on Saturday by another of Debbie’s friends to begin the last legs of the journey to be with her owner, Violetta.
“A friend of mine, he’s a fantastic character, John D’Arcy, from Waterford, he offered to go to England [to collect her],” said Debbie.
Five years ago his own dog Gertie, also a small black Labrador, fell off a cliff in Stradbally in Co Waterford but lived to tell the tale and was rescued by the Irish Coast Guard almost a week later.
When John heard about the story of Tasha the black Lab, he couldn’t believe the uncanny resemblance she had with Gertie and quickly set about organising to go and pick her up.
The costs of his trip were kindly covered by his friends in Co Waterford and he will travel with a companion by ferry to England on Saturday to collect Tasha.
“It’s not about money at all, it’s really about kindness and people like John and Lisa in England and the family in Romania,” said Debbie. “The kindness has just been extraordinary.”
The amazing six-week search will come to a conclusion on Sunday when Violetta and Tasha are finally reunited.
Debbie said at first they were reluctant to tell Violetta that they were searching for Tasha so as not to give her false hope but Violetta was eventually told after she had to be admitted to hospital after feeling unwell.
“Initially we didn’t tell Violetta about it because I was worried the dog wouldn’t survive the journey, she’s 12 years of age,” said Debbie.
“I didn’t want to tell Granny that she might be coming but now we actually have told Granny that she’s coming.
“She wasn’t well the last few days… but she will be back [from hospital] by the weekend.”
There’s still a few steps to go to get Tasha and Violetta reunited but Debbie is hopeful they will succeed in bringing the two best friends back together again.
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