30.9.2007

It has been few weeks since we came back from Tg-Jiu and we all miss the shelter terribly. We have already planned on going to our next trip in November. Seems like we’re not gonna have to miss the shelter much longer! Now that Finnair has direct flights to Bucharest, we’ll probably visit the Tg-Jiu shelter much more often.

Serban Ursachi, our vet friend, took the donations for the shelter to Tg-Jiu on the16th of September. Carmena and Patricia were very thankful of the contents and the amount of donations.

Hearty thanks also for all PAFi friends – sponsors, donators, members, volunteers and all those with us in spirit. Over 200 shelter dogs have gotten a sponsor of their own and that’s fantastic! Carmena and Patricia can be at least sure that the shelter dogs will be fed and treated.

For the new shelter we have collected already over 11.000 euros. As soon as Patricia has her wedding arrangements out of her schedule she has more time to get into detail with the architect. Even though we wish to speed things up we all know that it’s no use trying to force things forward. We keep on doing research all the time, here in Finland too. Well done ground work is almost a half of the new shelter, isn’t that right?

Patricia and Diana have worked on making informative posters about the activity of Pro Animals Romania, the chance to adopt homeless dogs from the shelter and the importance of neutering. The posters will be put all over the town.

Pro Animals Romania is still searching extra employees for the shelter since Adi has worked alone with Carmena for over a month. In addition to Adi needing help in taking care of the shelter, Carmena also needs help in medicating the dogs. This week there was a vet assistant in a job interview. According to preliminaries the vet assistant had been interested in working at the shelter and helping Carmena to treat the dogs. Of course the job interview included taking the vet assistant to meet the dogs inside the shelter. The meeting had gone pretty well and there had been no signs of fear or panic attacks.

In general Romania has taken small steps forward in animal protection issues. The national animal protection organisation with Patricia’s father as the chairman had drawn up a protocol which obliges the police authorities of Romania to work in tight cooperation with the animal protection associations of the country. The chief director of the police force and Patricia’s father had signed the agreement this week.

Nine members of the Romanian Parliament had taken the initiative for a bill that demanded Romania to organise an administrative body specialized in animal protection which would serve as a special animal police station. The animal police would do check-ups and supervise the realization of animal protection law in Romania. The bill is now being processed in the Parliament. The national TV-channel ProTv has campaigned loudly for the law to be put in practice as soon as possible. ProTv’s campaign has also responded intensely on animal protection crimes and pleads to citizens to stop the animal cruelty.

Patricia and Mihai have now been moved in together in their own home and their wedding day has been set to the 20 th of October. We have decided to give Patricia and Mihai a gift voucher for Finnair which obliges them to visit Finland. Patricia has expressed her desire to visit Finland and told that if there was some kind of motor sport while Patricia gets to know to the animal protection issues in Finland, she is sure that Mihai would also agree to visit the country. You know men… ;)

It is likely that we’re going to have to wait Patricia and Mihai to arrive in Finland on winter. Then there’ll be also winter sport that Mihai practises. As soon as we’ll get Patricia and Mihai to Finland we’ll arrange a get-together to which all PAFi friends are welcome to join!

PAFi received a small collection of warm college coats of high quality for women. This limited collection has been purchased as a test so if there’s demand we could order more coats.

For the Lemmikki (Pet) Fair on the 20th to 21st of October PAFi will receive a brand-new collection of “shoulder strap baggies” to be sold. The baggie can be used for example for storage of everything small and useful while you’re on a walk with your dog. You’ll also be seen in the dark since the baggie has reflector on the shoulder strap.

PAFi will launch a year 2008 calendar soon so if some of you know how to do lay-out (fold) and wishes to help in this project, we’ll be more than glad to have you as a helping hand!

Best regards Kiia