Eventually we had to leave. We were meaning to stop by at the rest stops that had become familiar to us and greet those four-legged friends we have there. We had some dog food in our car that we wanted to give to dogs whenever necessary during our road trip. In addition to the rest stops we also stopped at some warehouse area. There were two adult dogs lying by a gate. When we took some food and water for these dogs, also a little skinny puppy ran to us. The dogs had a dog house in the area but there were no water or food in sight. Both front legs of one of the adults were severed and it felt really awful to leave the trio and just continue our drive.

We were at the airport on time and returning the car was a piece of cake. At this point we were thinking how wonderful it was when everything had gone so smoothly! In the end our smiles faded at the point when we were informed that our flight was 20 minutes late. After that we were told that we'd have to wait another hour. Then we managed to find out that our whole flight was cancelled! Then the painful waiting began. We were taken to pick up our luggage, asked to gather up at the info to get more information of the compensatory flight and after that taken to the hotel to spend the night. Eventually it was already 11 pm when we arrived at the hotel and got to rest. Our departure home was the next morning about 15 hours later than the original flight.

Even though the trip was rough and we have a lot of things to ponder for a long time, we have already talked about the schedule of our next shelter visit. It's funny how you really have to think about the next trip already when you're still in Tg-Jiu so the longing to be back at the shelter wouldn't get so unbearable. Sure it'd be more than wonderful if Carmena and Patricia could manage to visit in Finland between these trips but taking care of the shelter dogs and responsibilities in animal protection are more important than anything.

After our trip we have sent petitions e.g. for EU to help save Rona the horse before it's too late. We have also informed EU about the dog shelters of the cities of Gorj County and the mayors who illegally pay a reward for catching stray dogs. The opinions of the representatives of Pro Animals Finland registered association managed to cause a little stir when they were published in a national newspaper of Romania. The article was about the aggressiveness of stray dogs and the problems especially in Bucharest related to this aggressiveness. Our opinions had been commented in several ways - some were ready to send the stray dogs by train to Finland, some wondered what we Finns would think if there were packs of wolves and bears wandering the streets of Helsinki. The stray dogs happen to be predators by nature, so we were told. We have sent a long letter for this newspaper telling very specifically about our activity and about our thoughts to solve the stray dog problem in a humane way. We also added that we'd be more than ready to travel to Bucharest and personally get to know to these "wild dogs" in case the newspaper is willing to pay our trip. There's more conversation of the topic on our forum.

Waiting for the next trip to Tg-Jiu,

Kiia