Why we exist

Founded in 2011 by a Russian-born trader Anna Kogan, Forgotten Animals (originally called Big Hearts Foundation) became the first international organisation to work in remote overlooked towns and regions of Russia.

Unlike in the main cities Moscow and Saint Petersburg, animal welfare community there was virtually nonexistent.

After gaining a full understanding of the animal welfare issues in these underserved areas, Anna set of to build a mighty group of like-minded professionals committed to building a society that treats animals as equals. Instead of merely fighting the consequences, our approach targets the root causes and uses the best expertise and knowledge from around the world. Along with our deep understanding of local culture and mentality we have the tools to fight the problems efficiently and effectively.

Forgotten Animals is an officially registered charity in UK, Russia and, since December 2019 – the US. With only 5 paid employees (some part-time) and many volunteers around the world, we carry out or support projects in nearly more than 30 cities regions.

After starting with companion animals, over the years we managed to extend our reach to help wild, captive and farm animals. We have built an amazing community of hundreds of hard working, caring individuals, inspired them and gave them the basics to effectively help animals. We have the experience and the ability to scale up this impact across regions and areas where animals are suffering. The degree to which we can do this depends on the amount of support we get.

Forgotten Animals closely collaborates with a some of the most successful and forward-thinking animal welfare organisations around the world in order to bring positive change in this region deemed difficult to work in. We can show, by example, that it is possible and is getting easier with time, to change the lives of animals for the better.