Spaying and neutering is the solution
The neutering of both stray dogs and cats and pets is the key element in preventing in a humane way the reckless breeding of animals. By neutering the problems are solved much more efficiently than by killing.
The policy in Tg-Jiu shelter is to spay all the females as soon as possible after bringing them to the shelter. In the city of Tg-Jiu there's only one vet who knows how to spay and neuter properly and he isn't available nearly as always. That's why the shelter dogs are taken hundreds of kilometres to a vet to be spayed and neutered.
In August 2006 in cooperation with Carmena and Patricia PAFi implemented a two-week-neutering campaign in the city of Tg-Jiu. During the campaign the locals got the opportunity to bring their own pets to be neutered or spayed and vaccinated free of charge. This way they also had the chance to get to know to the activities of Pro Animals Romania and Pro Animals Finland. We aimed at building a good relationship with the locals and the decision-makers of the city as well as helping the young people to understand the meaning of animal protection to the community and motivating them to participate in animal protection. Of course we also spayed and neutered some of the shelter dogs during the campaign.
Our association covered the costs of the previously mentioned campaign which means that we paid the local vet's fee, medications and other costs. Our goal was to collect 5.000 euros for the campaign and we succeeded in that. The representatives of PAFi's board and two volunteers travelled on their own cost to witness the implementation of the campaign and help in whatever they could.
For the neutering campaign we managed to get a Finnish vet to lend an extra pair of hands. He neutered and spayed dogs during the campaign together with the local vet. With the Finnish vet travelled a vet nurse who assisted the vets during the operations. PAFi also covered the costs of the accommodation and travelling for the vet and vet nurse. We found it truly amazing that we received such valuable support from Finland and accepted the help gratefully.
It would be very important to start a neuter & release programmes also in cities of Gorj county, but Pro Animals does not have the necessary resources to handle them alone. The co-operation with authorities has been very frustrating as they change their minds all the time and do not respect even signed contracts. The signal is very clear; Romania is ruled by men and unfortunately women who are involved in animal welfare issues are not worth to even to be considered as a co-operation partners if they do not have loads of money to offer and have strategy to solve themselves the problems, which are defenetly community problems, not personal problems of representatives of small local animal protection organizations.
More about our efforts to co-operate with authorities concerning Neuter & Release programme.
Our focus on a regional area to solve the stray dog problem:
1. Cooperation and consensus of a common goal between the decision-makers of the city, authorities and animal welfare organizations. Working together with the authorities and having them follow the guidelines in an attempt to achieve the common goal encourages the community, too.
2. Responsibility. The authorities must supervise the implementation of the animal welfare law and give sanctions to those who commit animal cruelty. Abandoning animals to the streets must be made more difficult so people would find alternative ways to get rid of an unwanted animal or even think beforehand certain consequences, i.e. spay female dogs so there wouldn't be puppies. Pet owners must neuter and vaccinate their pets so the animals wouldn't reproduce or spread dangerous diseases. Animal shelters must be supported financially since the stray dog problem is the whole community's problem and must be solved together.
3. Changing attitudes. Education must be given in schools so the future generations wouldn't make the same old mistakes and would be more aware of animal rights and protection. The change in attitudes comes also with projects that connect people and animals, e.g. the therapy dog program.
4. Neutering. An extensive, regional, long-term neutering program must be planned and implemented to reduce the number of stray dogs. When it comes to Trap-Neuter-Release-programs (TNR) it would be important for the overall wellbeing of animals that the released dogs were under some kind of a supervision (e.g. the dogs were fed, were placed in a safe environment, had people to look after them etc.).
5. Encouraging people to adopt dogs from animal shelters so more dogs would get a home. It is not reasonable or necessarily justifiable in terms of animal welfare to store stray dogs in animal shelters for the rest of their lives. In a long run the situation may also be unbearable. International adoptions could be considered as a choice only if the local work (education, neutering, animal care) done by animal welfare organizations wouldn't be disturbed in any way (i.e. by taking resources away from other work), since it is essential to try to have an impact on the cause of the stray dog problem.
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