She is one of three dogs in chains we rescued. In this day alone, we rescued eight dogs. So tragically sad to see a dog’s life condemned to a square metre or two, and the owner didn’t want her and allowed us to take her.
We drove for eight hours in total one day to visit the vet clinic which we bought in 2020 and had not been able to see before. Close to the border with Serbia and in a very rural area, it is a desperately needed clinic: the nearest vet before we bought this clinic was a four hour drive!
Public shelters run by the local government are always soul destroying places to visit. This one open to the elements of 40C summer and -25C winter too. As we walked away, she was crying, and her cried haunted our sleep. Fast forward to the end of October 2021 and no we couldn’t forget her, and she is now in her forever family home in the UK. She was the only one we saved from here on our trip.
We came here to meet the Mayor for discussions on the public shelter where the dogs lives are all in danger of euthanasia – we made formal proposals. This is an extremely difficult area of Romania to work in due to political, poverty and culture issues.
The life of our rescuers is hard work, these pups became sick in their foster home and we had to stop what we were doing and make the one hour drive to our vet clinic in Ortisoara. When pups have parvo, time is vital to get them onto immediate treatment. Parvo is rife in pups in Romania and the number one killer disease of pups.
Sitting in the vet clinic which we rented in 2020, and seeing the neuter campaign supported by Battersea Dogs and Cats Home felt almost surreal as we have been away from Romania for so long due to the global pandemic. With over 900 dogs already neutered in our campaign, the achievements in the community are enormous here.
In Traian Vuia, we met with the Mayor and some of the children from low income families. Our adopters in the UK donated 50 back to school back packs full of notebooks and pens. Without these, the children could not have gone back to school – and buying them was beyond their means.
This rescued boy was owned – and abandoned – the weight of his matted fur was incredible. Once we had shaved and bathed him, he shrank to half this size! Abandonment of dogs just like this is an every day occurrence in Romania.
We visited the land where the sanctuary is being built in Western Romania. The fences are in, the well ready with fresh water. The building of the sanctuary itself starts in October 2021 and we cannot wait to go back to see it!
Whilst we were in Moldova Noua, we went to see our horse Cardi and her friends. Each horse rescued from horrific circumstances, and all living a dream retirement in amazing conditions.
We desperately need to renovate this building on our land, so if anyone knows a DIY SOS or a team of builders who can go to Romania and help us to do this, please contact us!
We were so happy to see all the farm animals having such a good life. They need hay and food every month too!
The reality of many dogs’ lives in Romania is disgusting bedding, broken kennel roof, rancid water bowl, and a one metre chain around their neck. We took this boy! His name is now Kriss.
We rescued these pups from the local public shelter and all became sick – only one survived, and we called her Emily. The absolute sweetest of pups, we had so much fun meeting her at our rescuer’s home where she is staying:
Another day and another public shelter run by the local government. This boy so desperate to break out from the bars, it was awful to watch as he begged for freedom. We now sponsor him and three others at this public shelter which keeps them alive and well fed.
Of course, everywhere we went, there were strays – every journey we made in the car. Every time we stopped and fed them – wishing we could take every dog and pup in – the reality being that we cannot. It made us angry about the level of abandonment and irresponsible owners not neutering and strengthened our resolve to continue our neuter campaigns. Every day we could see just why our neuter campaigns are so desperately needed.
Of course, there is always one moment of pure happiness. Her owners were giving her up because the dog has become old: she was going to e taken to the public shelter – only our rescuer heard of this, and we went and took her. Her name is Lulu and she is of course, perfection.
Every day and every night of our trip we worked hard – with only one good evening meal in our whole trip, and some nights with less than 3 hours sleep too. With so many meetings arranged with local Mayors, and rescuers and dogs to see, there was no time for rest. We cannot wait to come back to Romania, only the covid numbers – even whilst we were here – are rapidly rising to dangerous levels. A huge thank you to everyone who supports our work, our team of volunteers in the UK and our team and rescuers in Romania are extremely dedicated and hard working – as we literally save lives – every single day.
