Finally I have some time to write down a few words about our trip to Tg-Jiu shelter on September 5th to 10th. This time my travelogue will be based more on photos than text. At the moment Tuuli and Inkeri are doing a job training related to their studies at the shelter. They will stay in Tg-Jiu for about two months. I’m sure they will take care of the reporting part a bit more intensively.

Our drive from Bucharest to Tg-Jiu went as well as on our previous trips, with a routine, and nothing any special than usually happened during the drive. The weather was hot, about + 35 degrees Celsius. This time we didn’t see that many dogs wandering by the roads. I guess they all had gone to a place less sunny to rest.

It wasn’t any colder in Tg-Jiu as we arrived and at times it seemed as if the whole shelter was nearly deserted since most of the dogs had hidden themselves in to their dog houses, away from the burning sun.
 

At times the dogs cooled themselves off in a zinc tub.
 

Patricia continued her work at the shelter as if the heat didn’t bother her one bit! Patricia told us she loved the hot weather.
 

Jukka helped Vasile persistently for two days though he didn’t feel himself very energized due to the burning sun. Jukka also nailed shut the broken roof of the warehouse.
   

 

The stall Dona used to live was full of life when the little toddlers had overtaken it.
 

The caravan is nowadays “a kindergarten”.
 

Dona and Zuzu living on a yard across Carmena’s home.
 

Carmena and me went to check out the new ”EU-standard quality” stray dog shelter that was under construction in Tg-Jiu. However, at least at this point there was no sign of EU-quality building at all. Carmena discussed a couple of hours with the managers of technical department of issues relating to the building of the shelter and also of the faults she had noticed. After hearing Carmena, one of the managers wondered “why she couldn’t be just a blonde rather than being a blonde with thoughts and brains”. We requested to meet up with the city mayor to discuss about the stray dogs situation in Tg-Jiu, the new dog shelter and cooperation with Pro Animals but the mayor didn’t find it necessary enough to meet us.
 

We also drove to the city landfill that went on for miles and miles. Every day Carmena goes to feed certain dogs living by the landfill. I noticed that there were dogs everywhere you looked. There were also many puppies wandering with their mothers in search of food or hidden inside one of the dozens of pits on the area.
 

Luckily there’s water to be found near the landfill.

When we drove away from the landfill we stopped by to a tiny house a couple of kilometres away. A little girl ran to us with a big dog on a leash. Carmena told that the girl loved her dog very much and told how the gipsies of the area steal the food Carmena brings for the dogs of the landfill. Nowadays Carmena has to throw the food on the ground so it wouldn’t be easy for the gipsies to steal it.
 

When returning from the landfill we found a sweet dog paralyzed from its hind legs. Unfortunately the dog had no chance of getting better so it was sent to the Rainbow Bridge.
 

This little mother that had been abandoned to give birth at some garbage zone is living now in the warehouse. Only one of the puppies survived but it isn’t certain if it will live much longer either. The other dwellers of the warehouse were mostly female dogs waiting to be spayed and, of course, shepherded by the little granny dog, Steluta. The local vet had recently returned from his long summer holiday and was very busy. That’s why there has been also a long line to get a time for spaying.
 

There’s a busy road in front of the shelter. Among the cars that drive really fast we also saw several horse carriages lead by boys who probably weren’t even at school yet. These same kinds of little boys could be seen riding a horse, too. Sure you could also see horses and cows with their legs tied wandering all over the road all the time.

Here’s a picture of the medicine cabinet. At the shelter there are dogs needing some kind of medication all the time so, as you can imagine, there’s a lot of medicine in storage. We brought with us to the shelter tick and flea treatments for about 150 dogs and dewormers for about 250 dogs. There were some treatments in storage for only a couple of dozens of dogs. We decided to postpone giving the treatments for the shelter dogs. We also concluded that if the city isn’t willing to give these treatments for the dogs living in their shelter it’s probably wiser to wait until the city moves its shelter to its new location. They’ve told the new shelter is supposed to be ready by the end of the year. As you know, the current shelter of the city is now situated right next to the shelter maintained by Pro Animals Romania.

On Tuesday Jukka picked up Tuuli and Inkeri from the airport in Bucharest and drove them to Tg-Jiu. Late on Tuesday evening as Tuuli and Inkeri arrived to their “current home” I, Carmena and Patricia managed to welcome them to Tg-Jiu. On Wednesday morning we had an early wake-up call and our drive back to the airport wasn’t very nice and easy due to Jukka’s condition. He had bad stomach flu.
 

Here you can find more photos from the shelter.

Regards,

Kiia