News 11/24/09

The year 2009 is soon ending and it’s time to thank all the friends of the dogs of Tg-Jiu shelter as well as Pro Animals’ for your amazing support! Though the year has been tough on many, we have been glad to notice that our old friends have stayed by our side and also brought us new friends to strengthen our troops for the homeless dogs of Tg-Jiu. Also Carmena and Patricia wish to send their loving greetings and thanks for all of you!

The year has been full of joy, sadness, tears (of joy as well as disappointment), fighting and moments of success. Together we have navigated through the storms and shared some wonderful times and our course is still set on doing whatever we can for the animals.

Food donations from Finland to Tg-Jiu shelter

Though at the moment we’re still not sure whether Brigitte Bardot Foundation will continue to provide food for Pro Animals Romania’s shelter next year, we managed to send 4000 kg of dog food as first-aid to the shelter earlier this month. This amount of food will last about 1,5 months at the shelter and soon we’ll start to collect food for the next food transport. We have been planning on sending more food in January. Royal Canin among others has promised to store all the dog food returned to their main supply for Tg-Jiu shelter. Actually RC has already collected 500 kg of food already now and the food is ready to be picked up!

Here are pictures of the food donation sent to Tg-Jiu shelter and Dona and Daria’s new shelter that’s almost done!

The situation at Tg-Jiu shelter

The things at Tg-Jiu shelter are relatively well at the moment since for the past few months Carmena and Patricia have had two workers. However, Vasile is still playing some tricks on Carmena and Patricia which worry Carmena. In addition, a part-time helper has been at the shelter a few times a week and surprisingly the worker is a woman! The roof of the warehouse has been fixed so it’s waterproof now and keeps the warehouse warm better than before. The space that used to be the temporary city shelter has been in active use and Carmena and Patricia have really needed the extra room since mice took over Dona’s former stall and it has been impossible to clean and disinfect the ground of the stall. This is why the dogs in the stall have been moved elsewhere.

The search for the new shelter continues. With the help of a real estate agent Carmena and Patricia have maybe found a place where the site and the surrounding area are ready to be purchased without any extra work relating to the lot. We still need a confirmation from the authorities and it’s no surprise that it takes a long time. We haven’t figured out what the final price for the site is either. Let’s hope for some good news regarding this issue!

About 6 months ago I told you about the timid puppy that had been living in the basement of an apartment house and was finally rescued in late-summer. Since then the puppy has adapted well to the life at the shelter as she has lived in the warehouse with other dogs and had contact with people. This cute girl named Basa has recovered from her traumas amazingly well during the past few months and loves to play outside with other dogs. We’ll soon add Basa as one of the goddogs. Here is a photo of Basa while she’s outside playing.

On our 09/13/09-newsletter I introduced you some of the puppies that had been hit by a car. These dogs live now in the caravan of Tg-Jiu shelter. I’m happy to tell you that all these puppies have now recovered, even Vlad, who the vet had thought to be a hopeless case and who still on our autumnly shelter trip couldn’t walk. Now Vlad is able to use his hind legs again and walks almost normally! The little kitty that had been ranover had recuperated and what’s even more wonderful – gotten a home! These animals are examples of miracles that give us all strength to keep going as hard as it sometimes may feel.

Here are photos of these little ones.

 
Corin ja Dina

Maria

Vlad

Razvana, too, lived in the caravan with Corin, Dina, Maria and Vlad and recovered from his leg injury. In September Pufica (on the right) was still a little furry thing that we were able to hold in our palm – now she’s a big girl already!

 

These cute little kittens live in the warehouse. Suzy takes good care of them.

Soon it’s Christmas and you are more than welcome to remember also these little inhabitants of Tg-Jiu shelter by giving your closest ones an immaterial Christmas present. You can find more information of these gifts here (deliveries only in Finland).

The municipal shelters in Romania

We have received several messages from all over Romania telling about the appalling treatment of dogs in dog shelters maintained by the cities. These instances have documents revealing that the funds meant for the shelters are constantly directed to decision-makers instead. The situation is no different from Tg-Jiu where the city does the same. As you know, we compiled a report of the case and distributed it to international animal welfare organisations and authorities in Romania as well as in the EU. It seems that corruption lies beneath it all and it may even be somehow organized. We have done our best to inform different instances of the errors and loopholes regarding animal protection in Romania and the action related to stray dogs but so far we haven’t received any help from Romanian authorities. We are now considering whether include a new perspective to our petitions and reports; corruption that still seems to have a strong impact on Romanian officials and which has gotten some attention from EU, too.

Last week Patricia told me that the stray dog hunting season has begun and especially the dozens of stray dogs living nearby the city by the woods are in serious danger. Of course, Carmena and Patricia do whatever they can to stop the hunt.

Thanking you all for your cooperation,

Kiia