As Israelis work to weather the horrors of war, people around the country are desperately hoping to be reunited with … their animals. Many had to leave their companions behind while running for their lives. Now, a network of Israeli citizens has organized to rescue, rehome, and even reunite dogs, cats, goats, turkeys, parrots and mice with their frenzied owners.

Ziv Shalev and his veterinarian wife, Dr. Galia Shalev, are running a special war-time operation saving animals from abandoned, closed homes. Some victims only realized they were missing their animals after having re-settled into safer housing and after the shock had worn off. 

“Sometimes the pets are the only remaining members of the family,” Mr. Shalev tells the Sun. The Shalev family hail from a Moshav called Ein HaBesor in the south. Because they are locals, they decided to centralize the numerous animal rescue efforts and open up a headquarters near their home. 

Mr. Shalev, his wife and a handful of core volunteers work to gather requests (they now have a data-base), rescue animals, evaluate their condition, and reunite them with their owners — or place them in foster homes. They also offer first aid for the wounded and leave behind food and water for animals who are hostile. Volunteers have traveled in their private vehicles for up to six hours just to see people get lit up when reunited with their companions.

Mr. Shalev says the volunteer-driven effort is nothing short of inspiring. “We have soldiers accompanying us to dangerous areas, and they’ve gone above and beyond to care for and feed these animals amidst the chaos, even after we’ve left,” he says.

In one event, a kibbutz head of security was killed by Hamas terrorists outside of a private home. His dog, who during life never left his side, decided to stay near him in death. The dog stayed for a few days in her owner’s residence, becoming aggressive and protective. His wife, who had to flee, told volunteers that if she could have the dog back, she would feel she had her husband back, too. During a two-hour operation with three volunteers and a veterinarian, the makeshift crew succeeded.

Shalev says it’s a race to get into the rest of the homes before animals locked inside run out of food and water. So far they have rescued 120 cats and dogs. 

Another activist, the founder of the Israeli Bat Sanctuary — who asked that she only be referred to by her first name, Nora, because of the sensitivity of her work — says she often does illegal things to rescue animals. She’s broken into homes and cars, and driven into areas closed to the public. After receiving a donation from a church, she jumped into her broken down vehicle and drove south. It was just a day after war was declared. 

“I don’t care. I will do everything I need to do to be right there,” Nora said. The 36-year-old vigilante says her left-wing views have been put to the test by the Hamas atrocities. 

“One of my volunteers is in the army special forces and he called me and said ‘I am here and they shot 300 cows. Most are dead. And the rest are dying’,” Nora said. 

Nora recently drove herself home while dodging horns of a rescued goat riding in the passenger seat. She has a number of turkeys running around in her private garden. Nora was able to rescue a few out of some 2,000 she saw on the loose, likely having come from a butcher. Nora has so far saved 70 to 80 animals.

“The army has people that come to tell parents that their kids are dead. We are doing this [for animals],” Nora said.” The state has too much going on to be able to deal with that.”