Here is some news from Carmena and Patricia before PAFi’s trip to Tg-Jiu shelter on Saturday.
From Tg-Jiu shelter
There are many new dogs at the shelter and everyone of them are puppies, that have been found on the streets and appearing at night-time on the shelter yard and in front of Carmena’s own home during the last few weeks. Patricia wrote that they have gotten twenty puppies during two weeks.
Tg-Jiu has avoided floods and heavy rains but there have been more thunderstorms there than usual. The storms cause panic and restlessness at the shelter and usually a few dogs break out from the shelter. Sadly, two dogs have been killed after they ran straight under a car. The staff is trying to fix and make the fences stronger but hundreds of dogs in panic are well able to break strong fences.
Patricia told us that some time ago Carmena had been wondering why some of the shelter dogs seemed hungry. When they looked into it, the women noticed that the workers had been careless about feeding the dogs and not made sure that every dog was given enough food. It’s obvious that feeding hundreds of dogs isn’t easy and that it will take hours if it’s done properly. Carmena and Patricia decided that one of them would be present during feeding time to check that the dogs are fed correctly. This adds to the women’s work load because time is precious to them. But the dogs come first to Carmena and Patricia.
A vet who came back from New-Zealand to Tg-Jiu has gladly treated the shelter dogs and helped when needed the most. The vet in question still doesn’t have an official practice licence in Tg-Jiu so she/he is unable to provide receipts for any treatment. Carmena and Patricia have had to pay the vet from their own pockets. A vet who has been helping at a shelter in Craiova, has been on vacation during July and I hope that when autumn comes, the vet will continue to help the shelter dogs by operating on and neutering the shelter dogs once a month.
From the city shelter
The situation is horrible at the Tg-Jiu city shelter. There hasn’t been any water for a month at the shelter to clean the cage floors. You can imagine what the smell is like and how much bacteria there are. It is difficult to breathe inside the shelter and the air quality must be unhealthy for both the employees and the dogs. There are also many sick and suffering dogs at the shelter. Carmena continues to visit the city shelter daily and does what she can to help.
The city shelter has hired a new vet who seems to be okay. The vet has even ordered some medication to start treating the dogs but that’s not all. It is pointless to start treating the dogs when the dogs’ living conditions are infested with bacteria. You would have to clean and disinfect the shelter first and then start treating the dogs. The vet is now waiting for the city officials to discuss his/her proposal to clean the shelter inside and out.
Over the summer, the city shelter has received many dogs that have been brought there by the pound after they stole the dogs from their owners. When the owners have come to collect their dogs, they have had to pay fines. Carmena and Patricia reported these events and so charging fines was considered illegal and then terminated. We can only wonder how crazy it can get. People who are willing to take care of their dogs, get fined but those who abandon and neglect their dogs, don’t receive any punishment.
How Carmena are Patricia are doing
Carmena’s domestic help had quit at the middle of July which has added to Carmena’s work load for now. Having some help at home is crucial to Carmena because she has so much to do every day around and outside the city. Horses Dona and Daria also need a lot of care and human contact every day. Otherwise you cannot handle them without being afraid of getting kicked at or bitten.
Patricia visited the island of Zakynthos in Greece in July with her husband to see some friends. Patricia told me how sad she had been to see many homeless dogs there. She also saw many sheep and goats, among other animals, living in really poor conditions. Patricia thought Zakynthos was even more behind (if that’s possible) than Tg-Jiu on animal welfare matters.
On September 1-10, Patricia will be in Timisoara, where she will have seven exams on veterinary topics. Patricia must pass at least four of them to continue her studies. It is hard to study when you have both mentally and physically tough work days. Let us hope that Patricia has enough strength to make the dream, that it so important to her and us, come true.
General information
People have reported Carmena and Patricia numerous incidents where the city pound have captured dogs and abused them in front of children. When a private individual has gotten the courage to report this to the city government, they have gotten a reply to take care of their own business. This reply seems to be normal when it comes to the government and the welfare of animals.
About a week ago, during a thunderstorm, a deer was in trouble when it fell into a deep pool that it couldn’t get out of. Carmena found out and made tens of phone calls to the fire department, the police and hunting clubs to get help. Finally, someone from the rescue centre came to help and so the deer got up from the pool. The media had been called there and the credit went to, who else, than the staff of the rescue centre. Nobody mentioned Carmena at all. The deer had injured its hind legs but a vet stated that the injuries weren’t incurable. The deer was taken to recover at the forester’s house. Patricia went to check up on the deer the next day and saw that it was doing well. What happened after that? Hunters had slaughtered the deer and destroyed its body. When she tried to find out more about it, everyone was covering each others tracks. Carmena has once again received threats from different places and an order to mind her own business.
A week ago a dog was killed at a country village in Tg-Jiu. A neighbour killed the dog in front its owner. The brutal act was committed by a female. The owner tried to get a vet to help the dog when it was still alive. The vet refused to help because the vet knew the killer. The villagers had even filmed the dog’s last moments but nobody went to help when the dog’s life could still have been saved. The owner took the dog’s body to be examined at a veterinary laboratory to receive evidence from a brutal killing. What happened after that? The dog’s body had been destroyed in the fore mentioned facility and the owner had been given a statement saying the dog might have died from rabies or some other disease. Why did they do this? The staff members of the facility in question include the wife of the vet who refused to help the dog. She had of course wanted to cover up her friend’s cruel act.
Something awful happened the other day when a dog was killed in the city of Brasov and the events also led to the death of a person who came to rescue the dog. On Facebook, you can send your condolences to the family of the man who was killed. These events will surely make us think about how unprotected Carmena and Patricia are fighting for animal rights while getting death threats. Death threats aren’t hard to execute by some crazy person who doesn’t appreciate a human’s life anymore than an animal’s life.
Our trip to the shelter 8/7-10
Although the news were sad and depressing, we are glad to be able to go back to visit Carmena, Patricia, the shelter dogs and cats, as well as Dona and Daria at the Tg-Jiu shelter. We shall give Carmena and Patricia many greetings and hugs from their Finnish friends. We will build at least some new cages during our trip to the shelter.
I hope that all of us would send some strength and positive energy to these adorable and relentless friends of ours in Tg-Jiu.
-Kiia-
-SM
