Abandoning an animal is a decision that is always traumatic to the pet and sometimes to the owner. In most cases, pet abandonment is avoidable. There are many excuses said by pet owners who abandon their pets, the most common being the animal’s age, health, size, and behavior. If their pet gets pregnant, an owner may choose to abandon her to avoid dealing with the birth and her litter. Alternatively, some people choose to keep the mother and abandon her litter to avoid taking care of more animals in their household.

A pet owner’s personal situation is also a factor. Financial issues such as increased debt, sudden unemployment, or job relocation often lead to pet abandonment. Other personal reasons include the birth of a child, declining health, and moving to a place where pets are not allowed.

Pets are also abandoned for inhumane reasons. For example, people making money off animal breeding, fighting, or racing, will abandon animals when they are no longer considered “valuable assets.”

While pet abandonment happens all over the world, it is prevalent in low-income communities such as Galati region. To deter animal abandonment caused by financial issues, ROLDA helps low-income pet owners pay for veterinary bills and offers free microchip identification. These microchips are registered with the RECS database, which can trace if a dog has been abandoned.

We encourage pet owners who are considering abandoning their pets to contact us to receive them in our shelters (if space is available). If no spaces are available, we try to help them to cover the vet bills, if their decision is made because financial reasons.

ROLDA does not condone animal abandonment. Pets are not accessories that can be thrown away and forgotten. Pets are loyal, loving companions who need love, care, and devotion.

Please contact us if you can’t keep your pets. It’s the responsible thing to do! And don’t forget that abandoning your dog, for example, is punished by current Romanian laws!

ROLDA has representatives in Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK where our dogs are rehomed as long as the adopter complies with our rules and regulations implemented to protect our dogs’ health and safety.

ROLDA does pre-adoption home checks and post-adoption monitoring. Every adopter must sign a contract stipulating dogs are returned to ROLDA if necessary when no foster or other adoption alternative is available.

We also request that every adopter provide us with photos and videos of their adopted dog(s).

ROLDA takes responsibility for each dog it rescues and rehomes, and we are committed to ensuring that every dog receives the quality care they deserve.
We take responsibility for each dog from beginning to end.

In the late 90s, spaying, and neutering were not standard practices in Galati. Its local pound, where dogs were electrocuted and skinned alive during the communist regime, was still operational.

Though electrocution and skinning have been banned, the pound, and many others across Romania, continue to provide appalling conditions for captured dogs.

Our founder, Dana Costin, horrified by these findings, devised a sterilization plan in Galati to prevent future unwanted births of stray dogs and cats who would eventually end up in these hellish places.

ROLDA’s first sterilization campaign was in 2004 and since then, over 20.000 dogs and cats have been sterilized. Every year, ROLDA has been conducting sterilization campaigns in their community, slowly but significantly diminishing the stray animal population in the area.

ROLDA helps impoverished pet owners by providing food and medicine for their pets. We created #FriendsForever for seniors to help pay for their pet’s vaccinations, sterilization, identification, as well as emergency vet care like surgeries, long treatment care, etc

Galati is located in one of the poorest regions in Romania, and we believe in helping the members of our community keep their pets healthy and safe.

But Galati is just one piece of the puzzle and in East of Europe (ex communist block) many more animals and their humans need ROLDA.

Most of these families can barely make ends meet, but they always manage to share what little food, water and shelter they have with their pets, many that have been rescued from the streets.

These humble people are animal lovers who want to provide a loving home to animals in need. They do not deserve to be separated from their pets, and ROLDA ensures they remain together forever.

ROLDA focuses on rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming stray dogs in Galati, Romania. Our first dog shelter opened in 2003 and the second, 4 years later. In 2023, we extended our commitment for animals in need by opening the first sanctuary for senior and disabled cats. Most of the animals rescued have suffered illness and injury due to starvation, neglect, and abuse. We provide our rescues with the best nutrition and medical care to ensure proper healing and growth.

Our staff and volunteers are continually working with our rescues to help them overcome the physical and emotional trauma they have suffered while living on the streets.

Once we believe our rescues are ready for domestic life, we find them forever homes. Because ROLDA runs no-kill sanctuaries, our rescues remain for the rest of their lives with us unless they are adopted. Euthanasia is only an option when a veterinarian determines that the animal has no chance of living a pain-free life.

ROLDA is a humane alternative to the inhumane Galati Public Pound that is notorious for abuse. ROLDA always had and continues to protest against the Galati Public Pound and all the illegal public pounds in Romania. We continue to fight for their closure or reformation to adhere to the humane laws and treatment these dogs deserve.

The effects of the pandemic and economic crisis determined ROLDA to offer small grants regularly to a number of small charities spread across Romania, in danger of closing down because donations dropped. When the war from Ukraine started, ROLDA expanded its efforts across borders, to reach animals in need in the neighboring country.

Dear special friend of ROLDA,

You may guess I would begin with a story about a dog. However, this time I want to write about you because no matter how desperate I am to save dogs in need in Romania, no matter how this consumes me every day, this is not everything that makes me who I am. I want to improve and avoid mistakes. Sometimes I struggle to communicate and may not rise to your expectations. But I am also keen to deliver good news about a rescued dog; not just because I care about each and every dog, but because I want you to be happy that you support us, I want you to feel respected, appreciated and correctly informed.

In brief, today I write about you and how important you are in my life because you make me better, more responsible, more receptive to supporter’s wishes, and part of a community, the ROLDA community, spread all over the world where we share the same values, dreams, and ethical principles.

I thank you from all my heart for being an amazing ROLDA supporter and for not giving up on me when I was late replying to an email or when I failed to save a dog (even if my whole team tried everything) or when I asked too often, too much. Your moral and financial support made ROLDA shine in our rescue missions or at least keep going in the worst moments.

You will be pleased to know that:
● after many months of struggling through a hell situation, we finally restored water for the dogs from our large shelter;
● the dogs saved from our local public shelter early this year were rehomed in the UK, US and Canada and are now living a better life than the ROLDA team does!
● during 2021 we successfully rehomed dogs in Sweden and Switzerland too;
● despite the horrible travel restrictions, we were fortunate to welcome volunteer visitors from Switzerland who helped us create a 2022 calendar to raise funds;
● the “spayathons” held in different villages from the Galati county were successfully completed, and at the start of September we started offering sterilizations to families with pets from the disadvantaged community of Smardan;
● we created two more websites, one to cover the crypto donations and the other to provide a way to honor the memory of our supporter’s furever buddies who had passed away;
● we celebrated 15 years anniversary together with our team, foreign affiliates and incredible supporters;
● we created the first products that were delivered for free around the world to our Ambassadors;
● due to the increased abandonment of dogs, which added to an already enormous stray population, ROLDA started the first-ever National Study in Romania to find out why Romanians tend to abandon their dog. We aimed to go to the roots of dog’s behavior problems and work together with the owners to prevent/limit these abandonments;
● working with specialists, we created the first ever online ABC for kids who need guidance to learn to look after their furry buddies responsibly, to offer them (under adult supervision) correct assistance and care;
● we managed to stretch every dollar long enough to reach animals in Tulcea (a county across the Danube river) by working together with some local volunteers…

…and we hope to not stop here but wisely spend every dollar or euro received to create more good for animals in Romania, a poor country where homeless dogs and pets from poor communities struggle but deserve a better life.

Together with the entire ROLDA team, we would like to thank you once again, but never enough,  for your support. I hope that every time we give you good news or need support, we will look around and not be alone.

We wish you good health, Holidays with peace, silence and a Happy New Year!

I write this letter because it’s important that this dog story be told. I don’t intend to make you sad, but if you read the letter until the end, you will agree with me that we still can save the dog’s World and reshape the future of many who still have a chance and for whom it’s not yet too later.

I came as a puppy into your family and you liked me at the beginning.

But when I grew bigger, you put me on a chain in front of your house. And forget that I existed in your life. I remain alone in my small World, in my little improvised doghouse and this is how years were passing. Days when it rained inside, when I freeze, when I starve, days when I was so alone! And this is how years were passing and I became old.

My legs hurt, and my eyes were tired. I felt many times so sick. And so alone! You grabbed me one day and chased me off your garden. That day, I became a stray, one of the many dogs that become homeless when we get too old.

It’s my last winter …and again, I haven’t eaten for days, it’s hard to walk to search for food, it’s hard to eat it with my teeth, I got really tired. So I lay down, on the floor near the wall of a house, which could be mine, and I fall asleep. That day I got my wings and I moved up in the clouds, in the Dogs Heaven where my dreams come true and where I am fine.

Why it has to be like that and people can’t be dogs’ best friends on Earth, while we are still alive? I write this letter because I know you care. I know some people do care about dogs like me. I remind you shelters are overcrowded and some dogs still have a chance to be rescued. No dog should die nameless, starving, freezing, no dog deserves that because you might not know, but we, dogs, hope until the very last moment.

Please help shelter dogs! Every euro gives hope, food gives warmth and helps us to stay alive and continue to hope to be rescued by real humans. And at ROLDA, thanks to you, we do help dogs. We shelter them until a forever home is found. Or for the rest of their lives.

00:00
If I will take only 1 minute from your time, I would quickly tell you that ROLDA continues to need you to transform the lives of abused and neglected dogs in a country with 2.5 million strays. Because every minute in Romania a dog is hit by a car and suffer until he passes away, alone. When you will finish reading the whole message, 1 more will be gone in dogs Heaven, either from under a truck wheel or from a horrible dog pound.

00:20
Please listen… I have 40 more seconds left to give meaning to time that is passing too quickly, word after word, second after the second and to ask you to stay TOGETHER and empower this time with the gift of life. Because you have the power to make from this minute a unique opportunity. This minute, it’s the time of a whole life. A life like Pingu’s.

00:30
We can transform a dog’s life to prevent him to end up under a truck wheel or in filthy prisons called public shelters. Pingu was saved by ROLDA from the local public shelter, he was living in a kennel full of large dogs which wouldn’t give this gentle dog any chance for survival. With eyes full of tears, our mind was blocked by hundreds of images of dogs we already met during that day, but in that second, when we saw Pingu, we knew he is too vulnerable and needs our help. ROLDA saved Pingu from sure death, we transported him to our shelter and in June he travels to a forever new home in Canada.

00:50
10 seconds left won’t be enough to describe a visit to the public shelter, how dogs climb the gate, how they stuck their heads between bars, looking into your eyes to see your soul. But to cheer you up, I have enough time left to tell you how gorgeous Pingu’s smile is today. Every minute is vital especially for those who run out of time, suffering in this cruel world. The good news is, for some, we can make a difference before it will be too late. It only takes a minute, but it will last forever. My time expired, a promise is a promise. If you love all dogs from your big heart, be the promise they need.

How can you help us?

PS.: For me, for ROLDA team and all wonderful supporters like you, 7884000 minutes already gone, from the beginning in 2006 when we officially became a registered charity. 15 years already passed. Together, we are the change for animals in need.

For our 15 years anniversary, we couldn’t have a dream to celebrate this moment with anyone else but you. Because with you, together, we’re the people we’ve been waiting for to give these animals a better future.

A few years ago, a child was killed by dogs in Romania. Media presented this subject but solutions were searched only during the time this subject was hot. We, at ROLDA, consider that animals and people can live in harmony, but rules must be respected, on both sides. Romania, and especially the rural part of the country, lack education and this affect both animals and people.

With some guidance, children can learn to understand dog’s body language and avoid, as much as possible, interacting with aggressive dogs. At the same time, they can learn when a dog is playful and shows friendly behavior, which doesn’t require extra precaution. Starting from these ideas, observing the community needs and problems, ROLDA decided to start a different education program: Speak (dog) Toto language!

Dogs’ different “moods” are presented on a leaflet, which will be distributed especially in the villages surrounding Galati (and hopefully, if the program proved to be successful, in other parts of the country, too).

Communication is the way in which humans and other species understand each other. If people have the advantage of verbal, articulated communication, dogs and other animals have ancient ways of “talking” to each other. They use certain body positions and sounds to communicate their emotions and desires, both to their own kind and to humans. By barking in a certain way your dog can “tell” you how excited or scared he is to do something or when put in a new situation.

On the other hand, by adopting a certain posture he could convey the desire to be left alone or a clear wish for some playtime. Dogs are clever animals. They can learn up to 200 human words, and actually, understand their meaning. If they can adapt to our language then what’s our excuse? Why can’t we learn some Toto language basics? A few basic notions regarding stances and specific sounds it’s all we need to get along!