Dogs, Cats, and Raccoons of War
What can be learned about the war in Ukraine from people on Instagram that own raccoons.
Note: I wrote this article back in April. Rather than rewrite parts of it to relate to the current status of the war, I thought it could serve as a bit of a time capsule from 6 months ago. The ending is something I wrote before publishing however.
Russia and Ukraine have been at war with each other for almost two months. Many on all sides expected it to last two weeks, either with a feeling of optimism, nihilism, or just pragmatic indifference. You wouldn’t be looked down upon for thinking it would end the way Iraq or Afghanistan did, with a combination of ‘Shock and Awe’ and local collaborators overwhelming the Ukrainian army into collapsing as a new regime was installed in Kiev. Unfortunately for Russia, they are not invading diplomatically isolated countries using the largest military in the world. Russia is stuck in a Winter War situation, a war that was won by the USSR only after letting a Ukrainian general take command of the front.
Whoever wins or whoever just ends up not losing, the real victims of the war are the civilians. A lot of these civilians are telling their stories through live interviews or to family members and loved ones over the messaging service Telegram. I have not had to worry about relatives of mine being hurt, nor have I been on the front lines outside of Kiev. However, I have had some communication with Ukrainian civilians, along with their unlikely companions.
The war started just before 6:00am Moscow time, which for me was just before 10:00pm. I was practically glued to my phone for the next 24 hours, as I’m sure many others were too. Reports were extremely sporadic and contradictory during this time. I remember one particular source on Twitter claiming that the city of Odessa had fallen in a matter of hours. Another one stated that Pro-Russian insurgents had risen up across the Dnieper and started fighting the Ukrainian Army. Given that most experts from all over the world expected this war to be over in days, it seemed believable at the time. With so many of these misinterpreted or just plain wrong accounts of what was happening overwhelming my Twitter timeline, I decided to open Instagram. This wasn’t because I realized that I was too stressed out or overwhelmed, but because I remembered that I follow a good number of Ukrainians and Russians on Instagram. I wasn’t on Instagram to check in with an on the ground reporter or news organization I trusted. I was on Instagram to check in on pet raccoons.
There’s a very long personal story behind how I started following raccoon owners in Ukraine and Russia that warrants its own long form account. What was important at that point was that I was following a lot of people in Ukraine that didn’t have the ear of war correspondents. This bore fruit pretty quickly. The aforementioned report of troops fighting around Kiev seemed believable at first, that’s what happened in Crimea with the ‘Little Green Men’. I found out that this was false from the account ‘raccoon.patrick’.
Patrick turned out to be right, or at least his owner was, I don’t know the extent of his expertise on artillery logistics. As you can see by the time in the upper left hand of the image, this was something that I was focusing on pretty intensely. I learned most of this information passively from accounts I followed, but I wanted to ask some specific questions.
Meet Tosha, Tosha (sometimes affectionately called Toshka) is a raccoon living in Ukraine that I have been following on Instagram since 2018. For the past four years, I’ve mainly seen Tosha show off his unique smile, close drawers that he is hiding in, and generally enjoy his status as a beloved animal on the internet.
More recently however, Tosha’s page has been a bit different. On March 2nd, Tosha’s page posted for the first time since the invasion started six days earlier. The caption read “This is my Ukraine 🇺🇦 this is my land and on it die peaceful people” along with a video. The video is a montage style containing videos of Russian air strikes, injured civilians, and various international demonstrations of solidarity with Ukraine that ends with the message “Ukraine stay strong”. As I write this during the evening of April 14th, I checked to see what was on Tosha’s Instagram story. Watching the stories from beginning to end is a bit of a rollercoaster. It begins with Tosha on his owner's lap, getting scratches and generally relaxing. After this, twenty seconds of footage of artillery hitting some kind of park that has a carousel with dramatic music playing in the background. After this the story goes back to showing what Tosha was doing on this day three years ago.
Because a raccoon is incapable of speaking and comprehending the concept of war and nationhood (for now), I decided to message Tosha’s account so that I could ask some questions. Tosha’s owner did not identify herself by name. The following is the transcript of our conversation translated to English.
Me:
Hi there! My name is Charlie, I have been following Tosha for almost 4 years. I wanted to ask you a few questions about Ukraine and Tosha for the article I am writing. My goal is to get more people to care about what Russia is doing, offering a unique view of the war.
Tosha:
Hi, Charlie! You can ask your questions!
Me:
Thank you very much! Where in Ukraine do you live?
Tosha:
I can't say that during the war
Me:
That's understandable. were you able to stay safe
Tosha:
Looking at what to call security, but relatively so
Me:
Have you communicated with other raccoon Instagram accounts in Russia after the war?
Tosha: No
Me:
How is Toshka experiencing the war?
Tosha:
He has a lot of stress, a broken schedule, he does not understand what is happening
Me:
I'm sorry you have to go through this. Did you expect Ukraine to fall soon after the invasion? Everyone in America was very impressed by the resilience of the Ukrainian people.
Tosha:
No, I am always confident in our army and people, we are a nation that never gives up, we are friendly and stand to the end!
Me:
I personally keep track of many accounts of raccoons and other pets from Russia and Belarus. I expected many of these accounts to support the invasion, but most of the ones I follow have spoken out against the war. Do you think caring for these animals changes a person for the better?
Tosha:
It all depends on upbringing and mentality
Me:
That’s understandable. Finally, is there anything about the war in Ukraine that you want more people outside of Ukraine to know?
Tosha: Our victory is security for many countries too! Everyone should understand this. Everyone should know at what price we get victory, it is our blood, strength, will, unity, fearlessness, love for the people and the native land. I do not know any country that has so bravely defended its land. Knowing the strength of the enemy, who call themselves the second army in the world, we, a small country that does not have such military support, keep a decent rebuff for 51 days, despite the fact that according to the enemy, he had to capture Ukraine in 3 days! Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!
What I got from talking to Tosha’s owner is that morale remains cautious but ultimately very high. When coverage mainly focuses on death and destruction, it's easy to forget the surprisingly positive spirit of the Ukrainian people throughout this war. I should also say that I cannot recall any of these Ukrainian animal accounts I follow ever making particular reference to political opinions. When Zelenskyy was elected in 2019, I saw maybe one or two comments on the election. Even in the weeks leading up to the invasion, the raccoons in both countries were being posted as normal.
With this in mind, I decided to pursue another perspective for this piece. I follow even more Russians than I do Ukrainians (still mainly owners of raccoons and other small to medium size mammals). I decided to DM one of these accounts that I thought could offer some helpful information for this article.
After messaging on Instagram briefly, I was asked to move the ongoing conversation to Telegram, an encrypted messaging service. The person I spoke to has asked to remain anonymous, but I can privately speak to their qualifications. I’ll refer to the person I talked with as “R”. The animal that this person's account is based on I will refer to as J.
____________________________________________________________________________
R: Hi
It’s R
(Identifies by instagram account name)
Me:
Hello! Should I send the question again on here? (question asked on Instagram was about how being a Russian account with an international following has changed since the invasion)
R:
...Once, pizza delivery man, having learned that I am Russian, began to prove to me that the Russians are to blame for the tragedy in Ukraine. He was aggressive and that was scary as he new my address and I am home alone often.
The threats mainly were in instagram.
But that’s pretty much what I have faced.
Me:
I am sorry to hear that happened to you. Have you received a lot of messages of support from outside of Russia?
R:
Yes! A lot of people understand that politics and people are not the same thing
(unimportant clarifying question and answer)
Me:
Do you think J is a cultural ambassador to some degree? If so is that something you see as an opportunity
R:
J is an animal. A pet. Living his life. The blog was done to bring joy to people. It is not a political blog.
(more unimportant clarifying questions and answers)
Me:
do you have any closing thoughts you would like me to mention
R:
Hi I need some time, ok?
R:
My family has relatives on both sides Ukraine and Russia.
I am reading news on both sides and I see how biased they are. These is only part of truth everywhere.
And it’s getting worse.
I think that media is a huge power and it is used to make usual people hate each other because of politics. The mainstream media is a weapon today.
Sanctions against regular people make it only worst. Instead of making people loose trust in their government, they are loosing trust in Western values.
Indeed what tolerance can we talk about when cats and dogs are cancelled if they are Russians? That’s ridiculous. I doubt that cats are taking political decisions.
What is clear to me is that someone benefits from it all, war is always a way to make money for some companies.
____________________________________________________________________________
As I write this addendum 6 months later, I can’t say that much has changed on Instagram. There is plenty written about what’s happening on the ground, and would rather defer to those more knowledgeable than I am to talk about it. Still, as I look at the small sliver of the internet I occupy to find something new, it’s been a lot of the same. One woman I followed in 2017 to see pictures of the two raccoons she kept in her Zaporizhzhia home has continued to post pictures from of the custom birthday cakes she’s been decorating. Between an Adidas themed 7th birthday cake, and one decorated with figs is her holding a picture of her brother that was killed in action back in June.
Even as life goes on, death has come to the lives of so many in Ukraine. If it is not their lives being ended, it’s the lives of their friends and family that were killed in either the fighting or in the strikes on civilian areas. But things need to get back to normal eventually. Morale at home is as important as morale on the frontlines, and everyone likes birthday cake.
From what I can tell, all the raccoons have been ok despite the on going crisis. As we know, they’re also pretty good at sticking around, even when someone wants them gone.