Romanian dog life

Romanian dog life and ROLDA struggling

Most of the locals who privately help the street dogs and other animals have limited income, but big hearts.  They often share their bread and leftovers with packs of dogs who come wandering around human houses and trash bins.

 

photo: A different way of taking your pet to the veterinary clinic.

 

Feeding stray dogs seems altruistic,  but reality is that feeding packs of dogs,  conditioning them to expect to be fed when very close to people’s houses,  can be extremely dangerous––for both people and the dogs.  Packs of dogs that come to associate a certain place with food tend to become territorial, and aggressive toward strangers.  If the dogs feel threatened,   or if the source of food disappears, they may become even more menacing.  Sometimes packs of stray dogs attack people, including children.

 

These horrible attacks are understood by the public and by most news media as atrocious crimes of dogs against people, generating panic and causing humans to hate homeless animals.

The critics of dog behavior usually forget to condemn the many cases of animal abandonment that cause the stray dog problem.  Dogs who were born and raised in homes with humans, who learned to depend on humans for their daily needs, are often abandoned at the edge of town, in the industrial parks or near demolished buildings.

These dogs are suddenly alone, scared and condemned to a miserable life and a likely early death.

 

photo: Dog waiting to be sterilized.

 

 

Dogs are abandoned because they become inconvenient; because they are getting older, and therefore may be perceived as less able to guard human property; because they have had puppies who may also be abandoned;  because they have become sick and the veterinary bill is too expensive… The list can go on and on, but regardless of the pretext for abandonment,  the dog dumped in the road has no idea what he did wrong,  and usually suffers a major psychological transformation.

 

An abandoned dog often still trusts humans,  and approaches strangers,  only to be to be abused by people who are either afraid of stray dogs,  or are sadistic and seeking animals to hurt.

 

 

Missing home and people, an abandoned dog is disoriented. Seeking food, the dog may follow busy roads traveled by heavy trucks.   The dog does not know how to be safe around trucks.  The new noises and new territory full of dangers astound the dog.  Sometimes the abandoned dog wanders accidentally into territory dominated by packs.  Fights break out.  Untreated wounds from these fights become infected.

A body weak with hunger does not long resist the effects of infection.  But the dog also becomes wary, inclined to run from even a person who offers food and help. To provide medical treatment to such a frightened dog requires experienced catchers, and causes much stress to the dog, no matter how gentle the catchers are.

 

 

Once caught, the dog must be sheltered in crowded kennels.   There are no un-crowded kennels.  Most of the major cities in Romania have a few thousand street dogs (at least).City pounds house hundreds of dogs, most caught from city streets in response to public complaints.  Shelters run by local charities are usually better, and dogs are more likely to be treated humanely––but there are also many cases of mass neglect by animal hoarders in Romania, the same as everywhere else.

For every shelter, the volume of work and animals to be rescued and looked after is overwhelming. Usually people call first the charity, hoping to avoid to sending a dog one of the miserable municipal prisons.

 

 

No matter how many efforts are made to prevent fights, to ensure that dogs have decent living conditions, and to find enough money to provide quality care,  crowding hundreds of dogs into the few kennels that shelters have for newly arrived dogs is a huge challenge. Lack of space, lack of trained staff, and the difficulty of controlling infectious diseases in crowded conditions are only some of the problems.

More dogs are always arriving.  The telephone rings continuously.  And even when there is enough money to feed and medicate every dog today, there is constant worry about tomorrow.

 

photo: Disabled dog saved from the train lines.

 

 

ROLDA believes animal charity management should think first if they can afford to feed and medicate each dog they rescue, rather than trying to “save” dogs by crowding hundreds together to fight for insufficient food and become sick from lack of sanitation. Kenneling dogs only to starve them is not “rescuing” them, but criminal.

Unfortunately there are only a few Romanian animal charities that put quality care first, instead of trying to keep every dog.

 

 

ROLDA tries to help every dog, by setting the best example we can of how dogs should be kept and cared for; but we do not try to keep more dogs than the number whose lives we genuinely can improve.

Never helped by public funding, ROLDA has since 2003 built and run two shelters.  We offer quality dog food, medical aid, sterilization,  and rehabilitation for the dogs we rescue.  We also periodically renovate our kennels, so that the dogs in our care can benefit from a clean and safe living space––of course not luxurious, but decent.

 

All of this costs money. Raising funds is difficult in a country where old people freeze to death in their houses, or die because they cannot afford medicines, where some parents believe they cannot afford to send their children to school.  In this country, just  asking people for donations is offensive for some.

Every month ROLDA looks after 450 to 500 dogs.

 

ROLDA is lucky to have a reliable sponsor to help us––the steel manufacturer Arcelor Mittal.  Since 2007 Arcelor Mittal has worked wonders for the dogs we have rescued from their premises,  and has helped ROLDA to grow stronger.

Arcelor Mittal should be a model to be followed by other big corporations in Romania. They chose to invest into solving a problem which normally should have been handled by the City Hall.  They chose to respect dogs’ lives, instead of abusing and killing innocent souls,  who are driven away from other companies’ property,  or are sometimes poisoned.

 

The ROLDA team is busy all year round.  Since 2004 the ROLDA volunteer program has welcomed visitors from all over the world, who pay just 80 RON per night, meals included,  to stay at our shelter cottage. ROLDA is one of the few animal shelters in Romania where volunteers can stay on the premises, among the animals.  We appreciate volunteers who can help our staff with daily chores.

 

photo: Romanian community needs education how to treat an animal.

 

 

 

Sterilizing dogs is the long term solution.  Sterilizing a dog or cat rescued from the streets costs ROLDA around 150 to 200 RON.  We have to do the job,  despite the sterilization campaigns sometimes announced by municipal authorities,  because the municipal campaigns are not followed through to completion.  Animals are left to give birth on the streets, because the presence of these suffering souls creates opportunities for corruption.

 

I was once asked by a volunteer why someone from abroad should contribute to do sterilizations, when the Romanian authorities are so ignorant about the importance of doing sterilization properly, and so corrupt, and Romanians do nothing to change the situation?

This is a good question.

 

 

The answer is, first, that we are doing our work for the animals, not for the ignorant and corrupt officials.  Perhaps many of the officials should be neutered too, but this is beyond our mandate.

Second, we are Romanians too, and we are doing everything we can to change the situation.

 

 

 

ROLDA works with Veti Med clinic in Galati, where discounted sterilizations have been done for the dogs rescued from the Arcelor Mittal steel mill property since 2007.  When funds permit, ROLDA also offers free sterilizations to the community.  People bring their female dogs or cats to Veti Med and pay nothing for the animals to be spayed.   ROLDA pays the clinic.

We are planning to start working with another vet in a village close to Galati, where many animals are abandoned.  The least we can do for them is sterilize them.

 

 

 

We are also hoping,  as a long term project,  to be able to identify and support hard-working veterinary volunteers all over Romania who will do a certain number of sterilizations per year at discounted rates.

Our plans depend on finding reliable sponsors who can provide continuous long-term support to help us through the years that will be needed to achieve visible results.

 

 

We also dream of creating an open shelter for dogs who cannot be rehomed for various reasons,  such as being perceived as too old,   too shy,  or disabled.

 

 

Because we have noticed that some dogs born on the streets seem to feel “alive” only when left to roam freely,  and because we agree that a civilized nation should not have dogs wandering unsupervised,  we have studied the possibility of buying a big piece of land that will be fenced securely. Feeding stations where dogs can also receive medical assistance would be set up at several different locations on the premises.

 

 

Such “open shelters” have been implemented successfully in Turkey and in northwestern Romania by others.  We believe that while the initial cost to buy and fence the land will be high,  this will be balanced in time by savings complared to the costs of operating run a conventional indoor shelter.

The Romanian stray dog problem can seem overwhelming,  as millions of souls need assistance and better lives. Many foreign volunteers who come to ROLDA are shocked by the conditions they find at our local shelters,  which are very from those in western European countries,  and are like a step fifty years back in time compared to what western Europeans and Americans are used to seeing.   Of course it is sad to see so many beautiful dogs wasting their lives on the streets,  with pack of dogs at every corner.

 

 

Luckily for ROLDA,  some people are determined to do more than wail and cry, and are helping us to act on behalf of these animals.  We now have great volunteer representatives in The Netherlands,  the U.S., UK  and Norway.  Our work would not be the same without them!

 

We are aiming to find experienced, reliable animal lovers––either committed individuals or partner charities––to represent us in Germany and France.  ROLDA will sign a memorandum of understanding setting forth the hopes and expectations for both sides.  Our financial accountability and all of our activities are public and transparent.

 

 

We also hope to find companies that can help us by donating food for rescued dogs,  items for the shelter,  and supplies for the dogs,  including medicines,  consumables and surgical supplies for sterilization,  to be used in our charitable veterinary clinic,  now being built to serve the local community.

 

We would like to encourage people to visit our website and learn more about needs, to subscribe as volunteer to help directly our rescue animals or make documentary to inform the public from foreign country about the life of Romanian dogs and ROLDA work.