Galya More

Born on July 18, 1992 in Perm. Graduated from economic school #145, later from the veterinary faculty of the university. Has always been involved in animal protection, first as the leader of animal rights protection organization «Za Zatschitu Zverey» (since 2009), and later as the head of the cat animal shelter «Matroskin».

Quotes:

• It is always easier for me to give than to take. And I jump every day from total despair to pure joy.
• It is tough to be steady, cool-headed, act as if you have protocol.
• It is very difficult to save animals but I feel there is more and more people that support us. I understand already that I am not alone.
• We came up with the term «chatity» («chat» — French for «cat»- ed.)

My story:

I was born in Perm, in a big family, we were three kids, and my father is a military man. Around age of five, I started noticing strange things about myself. I often stayed in village at my grandmother's, and I started saving moles, insects, birds. I saved everyone I came across. Then, at the age of five, I decided — I want to become a veterinary, to treat animals. At the age of eight, I joined my dad for fishing, and immediately understood that fish is in pain and a lot of suffering. With my dad we then came up with the idea to let fish go. My dad is still fishing, and he still catches fish and lets it go. And I don't eat fish ever since. When I was about 12, I stopped eating meat as well; it came naturally to me.

At the age of 14, I started reading a lot about animal protection, about experiments they set up on them. At the same time, I got acquainted with animal rights activists and saved my first cat. I started putting my head into it, going to animal shelters, and gradually I came to understanding that homeless animals is really a serious issue. I became a coordinator for the animal rights organization. Between 15 to 20 years old, I went to animal shelter «Vernost» almost every day. When I graduated from school, I entered veterinary faculty. There was nothing to scare me after years of volunteering in «Vernost» shelter.

At that time, there were very few cat shelters. At the same moment, I realized I wanted to help cats without using toxic communications. When I was 21, we announced we wanted to open an animal shelter for cats. It took us a year to find a room; we had hard limits, including those for the budget. We found it at last, and it was almost around the corner from my house. I thought it was a sign. We went there: it was completely ruined, but I felt at home there. It seemed a miracle, because we had nothing. It was like diving deep but we did it and we made out of it. And people came and helped. It always surprises me. We have amazingly kind people in Perm. In 2015, we carried first cats in. There were ten of them then, and we thought it was a lot. It is ten years now that I am involved in helping animals.

My husband Gosha is currently studying in the High School of Economics, he's doing his PhD on animal rights in Moscow. Then he will come back to Perm. As I travel a lot, mainly around Russia, I love Kazan, Saint Petersburg — but Perm is the place where I want to stay.

At some point, volunteers asked me, «Galya, help us to help.» Now I'm trying to delegate more. We have a strong team of volunteers, almost a family. These are very different people. For example, Danya is a person of a dream. When we opened the shelter, he was in the 10th grade. When he graduated, being a pacifist as we all are, he went for an alternative military service at post office. He wants to spend his life helping animals.

Everything inspires me, really: things from the foreign experience, there are amazing girls in Russia who save dogs. It inspiring how humane they are. I am inspired by people who hide their toxicity, no matter how tough life gets for them. They don't shout about how sad they are. They try to communicate with other people, connect with them, and act without hatred. I am inspired by people doing things that make this world brighter while still staying humans.