An animal rescuer from Canberra is heading to Ukraine to save animals caught in the crossfire of its terrible war.
Top of the list are 10 lions and a bear trapped in zoos. Elk and wolves may also be rescued.
Marcus Fillinger is an expert marksman with tranquilliser darts, so he's flying to Germany and then driving across Poland to the war zone.
He plans to team up with a German animal rescuer. The two will drive across Poland to the war-torn land in two vans specially-adapted to carry tranquilised animals to safety.
There are already animal rescuers in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine (the area which is the current target of Russian forces).
But moving the animals hasn't been easy. "Our assistance will provide much needed support to expedite this vital evacuation and resupply work," Mr Fillinger (who describes himself as a "world-leading tranquiliser firearms instructor and remote capture specialist) said.
He will "assist other specialist animal rescue organisations to capture and remove war-affected animals from zoos and rescue shelters and provide transport to safety in Romania and Poland".
On top of Russian regular forces, there are thought to be Syrian and Chechen mercenaries operating - and an Australian would be an obvious target, at least for capture.
And on top of that, in war, soldiers may not make an easy and immediate distinction between a civilian carrying a tranquilliser gun and an armed enemy.
Mr Fillinger has a military background as a photographer with the RAAF, and he thinks his military experience will help keep him safe. He talks of "responsible fear" - knowing how to spot signs of danger.
"Being a military vet, you know what you are walking into. It keeps you alive."
He has a two-year-old daughter. "I want to come home to my daughter, and I'm no good to anyone dead," he said.
But he also has a passion about animals.
His animal rescue charity Alphadog Animal Army, on the outskirts of Canberra, rescued animals from the bushfires in 2019 and 2020.
He also campaigns against the culling of kangaroos, offering "ethical, affordable and sustainable alternatives to costly and brutal culling programs that occur around Australia".
In Ukraine, he will train animal rescuers how to use tranquilliser darts - ("That's the most valuable thing I can do") - as well as helping rescue the animals themselves.
He said that a refuge for animals is being built in Ukraine because of the difficulty of taking animals across the border to Poland and Ukraine which are both in the European Union which has stringent animal import controls.
The German animal rescuer who will work with the Canberran is Michael Sehr, who came to Australia during the bushfires to help rescue animals.
He gained international publicity earlier in 2019 when he was one of the rescuers of a rat which got stuck in the grating of a sewer. The story was covered by global media outlets from The Washington Post down.
"She had a lot of winter flab and was stuck fast at her hip - there was no going forward or back," Herr Sehr told local media.
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