A year ago, Patrick Ottilinger went to Ukraine for the first time. He wanted to take care of dogs that were left there. Since then, the young man has been in the war zone almost every month, helping animals and people. The next trip is being planned.
Planegg – When Patrick Ottilinger came to the bombed-out villages last year a few weeks after the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and saw all the misery that prevailed there, it quickly became clear to the Planegger that it would not stop at a visit. Together with a small team, Ottilinger had rented a Sprinter at the time, packed it with mountains of food, medicine, blankets and other practical items, and drove east with it.
Deplorable conditions
He will never forget the sight. "The dogs left behind starved to death behind closed doors or, in the best case, were abandoned." Spontaneously, the team decided not to go home empty-handed. Ten dogs were allowed to come to Upper Bavaria on the first return trip and were placed here with loving people. But the Ukraine project was far from over for the 34-year-old, on the contrary. Shortly after his return, Ottilinger made plans. As soon as the Planegger had recovered from the mental and physical exertions, it started again – the next trip was on the agenda.
And again, Ottilinger was presented with pitiful conditions. "We soon realized that we also had to take care of people so that they could take care of their animals," says Ottilinger. So he didn't hesitate for long, made his way to Ukraine again and again, expanding his network each time. "The more often you drive, the more you develop and become better and more effective," says the Planegger, who has now undertaken seven aid transports to Ukraine.
120 packages packed with food
He recently returned from a trip, and now he travels together with Robin Hertschek, who runs a zero-waste supermarket in Munich, and Christian Mohr. "Last time, we drove two vans and a pick-up truck with a trailer to Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine." There they bought hundreds of non-perishable foods such as pasta, rice, coffee, flour and ready meals and brought them to the war zone together with the dog food. "In the run-up to the event, we spent six hours packing around 120 packages of food and buying 120 loaves of bread," says Ottilinger, describing the dimension of the aid campaign. The three men ventured to just under a kilometer from the front line. "You only meet tanks and military vehicles there, because hardly any relief troops get lost here."
And yet the need for help is greatest here. "The destroyed houses are provisionally sealed with plastic tarpaulins, so you can see where people still live," says Ottilinger, who of course also brought some dogs back to Bavaria and was able to mediate here.
The four-legged friends are also at the center of his next big project. "We want to buy a used ambulance, convert it and then drive it to Ukraine to castrate dogs in a mobile station, so to speak." Ottilinger has already found four veterinarians who have agreed to take part in the ten-day trip planned for September. Although the 34-year-old knows that the campaign is only a drop in the ocean, he already has figures ready that show that his commitment is not in vain. "If we can neuter around 100 dogs in ten days, that means a few hundred fewer starving four-legged friends next year." And for Ottilinger, that's reason enough for all the hardships.
Martina Scheibenpflug
