Vancouver Island dog rescuer killed helping animals in war-torn Ukraine
Published 8:07 am Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Animal advocates across the province are mourning the loss of a leader, reporting the death of RainCoast Dog Rescue Society founder Jesse Adams.
“It’s with a heavy heart that we, RainCoast Dog Rescue Society, have to announce the passing of our founder Jesse Adams,” reads a post from the Victoria Humane Society. “After a life lived in service to animal welfare, Jesse made the ultimate sacrifice to his beliefs on the frontlines of Ukraine.”
The bond between a person and their pet knows no bounds, capable of enduring even the horrors of war, Adams told Black Press Media this summer.
“When you love something, you’ll put yourself in the way of danger to take care of it, to make sure it’s safe,” he told the Goldstream Gazette in July. “Ukrainians love their animals, and from what I’ve seen, they will do anything to help protect those animals, even if it means putting their own life in danger.”
At that time, the co-founder of Sooke-based RainCoast Dog Rescue Society, along with two other volunteers from Greater Victoria, had been in the war-torn country for three months, volunteering with Animal Rescue Kharkiv to help evacuate animals from some of the most dangerous communities in the Donbas region.
Adams was a hero, says friend Owen Laukkanen.
“He was killed while rescuing animals on the front lines of the war in Ukraine, standing up for helpless animals caught in the crossfire of brutal and merciless violence, knowing full well that his work had already made him a target. That other rescuers had been attacked and died doing what he did,” Laukkanen said. “I think if you knew Jesse at all, you’d know that none of the above would make him pause for an instant. That he would willingly risk his life, again and again, to save the lives of the voiceless and the innocent.”
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