Colleagues, friends, and animal rescue organizations are mourning Canadian military veteran and animal rescue volunteer Jesse Adams who was reportedly killed in a drone attack while evacuating animals in war-torn eastern Ukraine.
Adams, who co-founded RainCoast Dog Rescue Society on Vancouver Island, B.C., died from injuries he sustained after an Oct. 25 drone attack near Kramatorsk, according to Ukraine-based Animal Rescue Kharkiv.
The organization said a Russian first-person-view drone struck the windshield of an evacuation vehicle shortly after rescued animals had been loaded aboard. Adams was seriously injured and died in a nearby hospital despite undergoing emergency surgery.
“Jesse joined our teams at Animal Rescue Kharkiv, travelling to front-line communities to save animals and help people,” the organization said.
“When someone travels halfway around the world and chooses to work beside you in some of the most difficult conditions, it means more than words can say. There are hundreds of animals alive today because of him.”
Adams co-founded his dog rescue organization in Victoria, B.C., in 2014 focused on rescuing, rehabilitating, and finding homes for animals who were neglected, abused, or abandoned. He went on to work throughout B.C. and overseas, including in Ukraine, prompted in part by his Ukrainian heritage and desire to save animals in harm’s way.
PHS Community Services Society, which provides support services to vulnerable British Columbians, paid tribute to Adams, saying he’d helped poor people who were struggling to look after their pets, including helping with veterinary bills, pet food, and places for the pets to stay.
“Your kindness made a lasting difference in the lives of countless animals and the people who loved them. You will be deeply missed and fondly remembered,” the society wrote in an Oct. 27 statement.
Prior to his death, Adams’s social media posts showed him assisting in animal evacuations near the city of Kramatorsk, including trying to help a family who refused to leave their village under Russian attack unless their cows, calves, pig, dogs, and cats could come with them.
Adams said drones struck a nearby power station and a house down the road on Oct. 23 while his team was loading animals. No one on the team was injured, he said, adding that “we took the great risks because these people and the animals desperately needed our help.”
SPCA International, which had worked with Adams on rescue missions around the world, called him a “hero to animals” with “endless energy, enthusiasm and compassion for making the world a kinder place.”
“There was never an animal who Jesse would refuse to save, no matter the circumstances,” the organization said. “We will never forget the hope he brought to animals and people facing their darkest moments.”
The final Instagram post from Adams posted, on Oct. 24, said his team understood the danger but considered the missions necessary.
“We took the risks because we would want someone to do the same for us if we needed help,” he wrote.
“We took the risks because there are not many that would have. That’s what @animal.rescue.kharkiv does everyday for their fellow Ukrainians and the animals. They work relentlessly and tirelessly to save lives everyday.”
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, an estimated 1.8 million Russian and Ukrainian military members have been killed, wounded, or reported missing through December 2025, according to an analysis in January of this year from the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The United Nations has documented at least 73, 451 Ukrainian civilians killed or injured.
In addition to the human toll, an estimated 150,000 pets are now without homes in Ukraine.
The Epoch Times could not independently verify the estimates.
