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Report of Tg-Jiu municipal (city) shelter
From June 27 to July 7 2009
Eyewitness report from a Finnish volunteer Tuuli Matero
Introduction:
I travelled to Romania, city of Tg-Jiu, to spend a month at the dog shelter of Pro Animals Romania as a volunteer and to keep a diary of the daily life at the municipal dog shelter of the city of Tg-Jiu. The city shelter is located right next to the shelter Pro Animals Romania maintains.
After having spent 7 weeks at a job training in Pro Animals Romania’s shelter in autumn 2008, I had seen how things were at the city shelter. That is why I knew how to prepare myself mentally for what I would witness on my next visit in Tg-Jiu.
I spent time at the city shelter every evening with Carmena Serbanoiu. She looks after the city shelter on a daily basis and though having extremely limited resources she tries to take care of the sick dogs of the city shelter in addition to the dogs of her own shelter. Carmena and her daughter Patricia Paraschiv kept me updated on the events at the city shelter since I wasn’t able to communicate with the workers of the shelter due to not having a common language.
Here are my notes of the life at the city shelter.
Saturday June 27th 2009
Together with Kiia, Jukka and Anu of Pro Animals Finland I arrived in Tg-Jiu late in the afternoon. Immediately I saw a couple familiar dogs at the city shelter I had seen already on my previous trip in autumn 2008. The state of these dogs was even worse than before and they hadn’t gotten any treatment for their problems. Like last autumn I saw many dogs with different kinds of skin problems at the shelter.
Carmena wanted to show us a dog that had died at the shelter the previous night probably from having been bitten by other dogs. The dog hadn’t been buried yet. Not always the shelter employees even bury the dogs causing the loose dogs of the shelter eat and tear the carcasses.
Carmena also found a dead puppy at a dog house. The shelter employee, Nikolai, hadn’t even planned to move the dead dog away until Carmena had pressured him to. I recall that on my previous trip there had been several dead puppies in dog houses after Nikolai’s watch. These puppies would’ve been left to the dog houses if Carmena hadn’t checked them every night.
There were a lot of small puppies at the shelter. They all were very skinny, they only had stomachs full of worms. The puppies are all sick in general. Viruses and bacteria are able to spread easily since there is no isolated place for treating sick dogs; the dogs all roam in the same place. I have never seen or heard any of the sick dogs having gotten or getting any kind of treatment on behalf of the city shelter.
There was a black female puppy in between the warehouse building and a fence, it was just lying there still. The puppy had vomited and you could clearly see that it was seriously ill and in a need of immediate care. Nikolai didn’t help us to get the puppy out. We decided to wait until the next day to rescue the puppy since it was already time to close up the gates of the shelter for the day.
We took three puppies that were very sick from the city shelter to Pro Animals Romania’s shelter to receive medical care. They would only die if they were left to the shelter maintained by the city.
Sunday June 28th 2009
We were forced to cut the fence to get the puppy out of the area between the fence and building. The puppy is still in a very bad shape and received antibiotics and vitamins immediately.
We fed sick puppies with the donated food we brought with us. The puppies are obviously starving since the adult dogs are too hungry themselves to let any puppies share the little given food. The only food the puppies get is the dry dog food meant for adult dogs which is nearly impossible for a small puppy to eat. Daily Carmena gives the puppies and their mothers meat to eat.
Monday June 29th 2009
Today we saw how Nikolai kicked one of the dogs very hard. Nikolai also yells at the dogs all the time every single day and acts very aggressively towards them. It’s a miracle if someday he doesn’t get bitten since it’s obvious that the dogs are afraid of him and usually are much traumatized after having experienced bad things on the streets. Someday a dog that’s very afraid can attack if Nikolai continues to treat the dogs the way he does and I, like everyone who cares for animal rights, would find that completely justifiable. But what happens to dogs that are found to be “aggressive”?
Stray dogs are often accused of being aggressive though what I’ve experienced I haven’t ever had any reason to be scared when walking down the streets. It’s a whole different thing if you threaten the dogs somehow, even a person would defend oneself in the same position. I find it so wrong that these dogs at the shelter that have gone through a lot now have to face the violence of a shelter employee. It’s not the dogs’ fault that they were first born unwanted and then had had to live on the street without an owner. Then some are caught to the shelter to spend the rest of their lives even in more miserable conditions than they had had to live on the streets.
Tuesday June 30th 2009
Again today we fed the puppies with some wet food that they devoured. We gave the smallest ones some milk substitute that we found extremely useful for them. Mother dogs that nurse the puppies are usually very, very thin and of course, the puppies take away a lot of energy from mothers that don’t have the sufficient energy even for their own needs.
In the first cage on the right side of the shelter is a dog that suffers from severe medical problems. He’s underfed since he’s clearly scared of other dogs if he tries to eat the food in front of the cage. The left front leg of the dog is either broken or somehow injured in a way that he can’t step on it. There are also big infected bruises on both of the front legs, right over the wrist joints. The dog also has either neurological problems judging from its pulsating trembling or something else that would require a vet so the problem could be fixed someway.
Wednesday July 1st 2009
I’m still staying in Tg-Jiu for four weeks e.g. to see what’s happening at the city shelter.
I fed the puppies at the city shelter and a sick dog in the first cage on the right. Later in the evening this particular dog had gotten stuck on the boarded platform by his skinny front legs. The dog was badly stuck and he was so hurt that he tried to bite the helpers. The shelter employee took a tin plate food bowl for pressing the dog’s head away when he tried to bite and yanked the dog loose by its neck. The dog got even deeper cuts on his already injured legs and still the city shelter didn’t provide any medical care for the dog.
Thursday July 2nd – Friday 3rd 2009
I didn’t have any time to visit at the city shelter. I was out researching animal cruelty cases involving dogs in the city of Tg-Jiu.
However, like always, Carmena had visited the city shelter in the evening and told me she took care of some sick puppies and gave a bucket full of food to be given for the puppies and sick dogs.
Saturday July 4th 2009
A little puppy had been bitten by other dogs. The puppy had severe bite marks on its neck, chest, stomach and behind. Carmena gave the dog antibiotics and disinfected the wounds.
Today at Pro Animals Romania’s shelter a couple appeared to ask Patricia if she knew where the Catching service took dogs. They told that the dogs they have been feeding in their neighbourhood had been taken by the dogcatchers but they didn’t find the dogs from the city shelter. Patricia said she didn’t know where the dogs had been taken to and it might be that they had already been killed. The couple was very mad and sad for their dogs. Despite that Patricia told me that she didn’t believe the couple would make any complaint though she tried to convince them how important it would be to file one so this kind of killing madness would end.
Sunday July 5th 2009
At the city shelter I saw a puppy having bloody diarrhoea. Carmena tried to treat him with medicine as well as give antibiotics for every sick puppy like always. However, it’s impossible to know when a dog is having diarrhoea since the shelter employees don’t monitor the condition of the dogs let alone tell about them to Carmena.
Monday July 6th 2009
Today I took a lot of photos of the dogs at the city shelter as well as their skin problems and other medical problems like cuts. I also photographed a dog that had a severe dislocation on his right front leg. This dog also had a badly infected eye and a lot of ticks and fleas which had resulted in nearly nonexistent fur.
Tuesday July 7th 2009
For the fourth day Carmena nursed a puppy that had been bitten by other dogs (see July 4th – notes). In such cases with severe and infected wounds you’d need a vet but the puppy hasn’t gotten any veterinary care on behalf of the city and Pro Animals Romania, a non-profit, completely dependant on donations can’t help every dog very much. They do have c. 400 dogs to be taken care of in their own shelter, too.
I noticed blood and clots in the middle of the city shelter. After a little research we figured out that the blood was coming from a female dog in heat. Apparently her birth canal had been injured from being impregnated so many times or she had been miscarried. However, the dog may have been impregnated again and if so, how can she deliver if her insides are injured. This is something the city employees are not interested in let alone any other instance of the city.
Wednesday July 8th – Thursday 9th 2009
At the shelter things have been the same as usual. Carmena takes care of sick puppies like always and gives a little extra food for the puppies and sick ones. The city shelter still hasn’t provided any care for these dogs.
Friday July 10th 2009
The condition of the little puppy that had been bitten by others has worsened despite Carmena’s efforts. The wounds have been infected and large, hard lumps have appeared underneath these wounds. There is also a concerning lump on the left side of the neck that has no bite marks.
One of the sick puppies had been taken to a new home during the day and the dog catchers brought at least one new dog to the shelter.
I asked Carmena and Patricia about the blue earmarks that some of the city shelter dogs had. I was told that there was no point in those earmarks since they are not marking spayed or neutered dogs or if the dog had been vaccinated. The dogs had been marked for no reason. Maybe their purpose was to make it look like the city shelter was more organized. We also noticed that most of these earmarks had been put on the dogs backwards so the numbers can’t even be read!
Saturday July 11th 2009
The puppy that had been adopted the day before had been brought back to the shelter since it was sick. This clearly shows how people are not ready to commit themselves into taking care of a dog if it gets ill. If there are any problems with the dog, it’s either brought to the shelter or abandoned to the streets.
Sunday July 12th 2009
I didn’t go inside the shelter today, I just watched from outside how Carmena medicated the sick dogs. Carmena also cleaned up the wounds of a bitten puppy.
Tuesday July 14th 2009
The little puppy with severe infected bite marks died today. The puppy would have needed veterinary care from the beginning like these kinds of cases always require.
Wednesday July 15th - Thursday 16th 2009
The dogcatchers brought new dogs to the shelter: a 3-month-old puppy and an adult that was said to be bitten by another dog on the street. The dog was lying in the corner completely immobile, it was obviously terrified of everything he had gone through. We didn’t dare to move the dog to see whether he had bruises that needed care.
One of the three puppies that had lived in a cage had been given to a new home and according to the shelter employee one had gone missing; he simply hadn’t found the puppy when he had come to work that morning.
Saturday July 18th – Sunday 19th 2009
One of the dogcatchers adopted one of the sick puppies, the one that had already been adopted once but brought back due to illness. We don’t know if this person will help the dog to get better. After witnessing the indifference causing the dogs to suffer at the shelter I’m not convinced that the owner of this puppy will nurse the dog, these puppies really are ill. Helping a sick puppy to heal takes time and money.
Monday July 20th 2009
Carmena medicated the puppies as she has done every day. The puppies received antibiotics and medicine for diarrhoea.
Carmena told that she managed to reach an agreement with the technical director of the city hall that the dogs at the city shelter can stay in place at least until autumn before they are moved to the new shelter. The weather is still fine and it’s better for the dogs to live outside. Originally the dogs were meant to move to the new shelter on July 25th. (Addition to notes 08/08/09: The dogs were moved to the new shelter in the beginning of august despite the agreement with the technical director and without telling Carmena).
We were about to leave the shelter for the day when we noticed that the shelter employee had left some of the cages open and the dogs had managed to move from their cages to meet other dogs in a larger space. This always causes the risk of dogs starting to fight so I climbed over the fence to move some of the dogs to their own cages while Carmena guided me from the other side of the fence.
Tuesday July 21st 2009
Carmena nursed the puppies again. The antibiotics she uses to medicate the puppies, however, is not very effective when it comes to the overall condition of the puppies. The puppies should be taken to the vet in order to survive. Carmena and Patricia can’t treat all the city shelter dogs from their own pockets and there wouldn’t even be enough space in Pro Animals Romania’s shelter to treat anymore sick dogs than they already do.
Wednesday July 22nd 2009
It was the grand opening of the new municipal shelter of Tg-Jiu. I arrived on the spot with Carmena. Surprisingly there were much press interviewing Carmena as well as the city mayor and other decision-makers of the city who proudly presented the shelter. According to them the new shelter had cost 300 000 euros.
I find it impossible that they had put so much money on that place. The shelter has been built to an old building that hasn’t even been renovated to meet the basic standards in terms of the space the dogs are kept. Water is dripping through the ceiling so you can clearly see damage the water has caused to the walls and ceiling. I didn’t see any sewerage system, only 20 cm deep rut gratings around the edges of the hall. In the entire hall I saw only water hose that I find impossible to clean up the whole shelter even to a tolerable state with.
No one from the press questioned the project, everyone seemed to be excited about the “great” new shelter. I began to feel sick when thinking how the shelter will look like when it’s filled with dogs – hundreds of dogs. I got so angry when I realized that no one thinks or even bothers to ask how they are going to keep the conditions suitable for the dogs.
Later that evening I was at the city shelter with Carmena. We counted the dogs, in total 140. The number of dogs varies since especially puppies die from contagious diseases and adults die in e.g. fights. Usually the fights are caused by e.g. unspayed females in heat that the male dogs fight over in a cramped space. The dogcatchers bring dogs to the shelter all the time but not as much as they catch from the streets. While I was in Tg-Jiu, 7 dogs died and 3-4 went missing from the city shelter.
Carmena used medicine (Synulox-antibiotic and medicine for diarrhoea) for the need of two to six sick puppies a day. The dosage depended on the weight of the puppy which means that 1-5 antibiotics were used per puppy and medicine for diarrhoea was 1 pill per kilo.
Almost every day Carmena used disinfect and spray to nurse the open wounds of the dogs. She also cleaned the severe eye infections of two dogs with a product meant for eyes and wiped the eyes with a bandage.
Every day Carmena gave the city shelter employees an additional 10-litre-bucket of wet food made of chicken and bread to be given for the sick dogs and puppies. When Nikolai was on duty she also gave an extra bucket of dry food since Nikolai always gives the dogs too little food. The volunteers of Pro Animals Finland brought wet food with them that was given for the puppies. Every once in a while I also gave some dry and wet food for the most miserable and starved dogs.
There were at least 2 dogs that were severely ill and needed immediate veterinary care: the dog with a badly dislocated leg and an emaciated sick dog with its wounds. Due to lack of treatment these dogs were already in such a bad condition that they should be put down. Also an old, brown, slightly boxer-like male dog would need acute help. The dog is severely underfed, he has a bad skin problem on its back that sometimes bleeds and gets infected and his left eye is oozing green secretion. I remember this dog when I visited in Tg-Jiu in autumn. Already then the dog was in a bad shape, emaciated and had problems.
Conclusion:
In this diary I have mentioned so many times the fact that Carmena takes care of the dogs of the city shelter every day. With this I want to emphasize how much she gives from her own personal time, medicine and energy for these dogs.
The dogs would need veterinary care but instead they are left to the shelter on their own. Almost all the puppies of unspayed females die at the shelter since there are so many contagious diseased there. Puppies get easily infected when being already weak, underfed and full of worms and other parasites. The continuous heats, litters and nursing strain the mother dogs immensely and they don’t get any more food than others though they’d really need it.
Even the structures of the shelter are dangerous for the dogs since the dogs manage to climb over the cages that have no roofs. This may result the dogs to hurt themselves in sharp, spiky wires. One female already got hurt this way during my last trip in Tg-Jiu. The dog had climbed over the fence but had badly torn its nipples on the edge of the fence. Carmena and Patricia had rescued the dog under their care and taken her to the vet to be patched up. If she hadn’t gotten any care she could’ve died slowly and painfully since large open wounds would surely get infected in those conditions.
On August 8th 2009,
Tuuli Matero
Photos of temporary and new city shelter
Tuuli's diary has helped Pro Animals Finland and Romania to write a wide report of municipal shelter actions.
The report has been forwarded eg. to EU, many ministries of Romania and international animal welfare organizations.
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