Whenever we went out for a walk with my son in Lviv, we tried to visit some local attractions. There is no zoo park, but a pound for animals which were abandoned or found wounded and hurt somewhere in danger. Two sanctuaries for such animals in Lviv, not far to reach, we visited very often. The veterinary surgeon kept different animals that he collected for recovery. The structure and installation for keeping his animals was very simple, space too small and for too many different species he opened his shelter. He works almost without any funding and depending on donations and contributions from friends and visitors.
A lot of different kinds of birds are held in cages close to the entrance: owls, a stork, prancing peacocks, rare breeding pigeons, a single ring-necked pheasant a common and a great white egret, turkeys, different kind of chickens, a raven, bantams and some buzzards and eagles on the back side of his sanctuary. Besides the native species I was surprized to find some special birds like the Californian quail or some rare wattle pigeons. Raccoons, badgers and foxes were held separately and in the back corner two llamas.
I was really impressed by the enthusiasm of the veterinary who worked with modest means and almost no resources and I started photographing the birds and doing portraits of them not knowing how to support this major and valuable initiative.
