Some excerpts of the visit to Tg-Jiu shelter on the 10th to 14th of November 2007
(see photos on Finnish version)

Our third shelter visit in a half a year period is now over and I’m once again full of great emotions. I’ll tell you some of the phases of our trip according to my memories and experiences. On our trips there’s always so much going on, most of the things we come across happen completely without any warning so it’s impossible to get all of it saved on my mind.

It’s truly wonderful that on our trips we always have friends who wish to come back with us again and again. This time there were five of us: Anu, Heli, Tanja, Jukka and me. Anu and Heli already knew what to expect but for Tanja this experince was totally new. We had with us eg. nutrition additions, deworming treatments, disinfect products, collars, leashes, work clothing for the shelter employees, headlamps, a halogen lamp, extension cables and other miscellaneous things. The video camera surveillance system that we meant to install on our trip we couldn’t take with us and I’ll tell you more about it later.

Apart from our first shelter visit we have always visited in Tg-Jiu during summertime. This time on our trip we experinced very concretely that it was challenging to work at the shelter in very cold and wintery circumstances. It wasn’t even very wintery weather but we got a little hint of what’s coming since the harsh autumn wind blew every day over the shelter.

Even though nowadays Finnair has direct flights from Finland to Romania the traveling from place to place always takes one day on each direction. The drive from Bucharest to Tg-Jiu and back takes always at least five hours. On our first day we got to the shelter near 8 pm and of course we went to greet Carmena who was still working with Adi and Vasile, feeding and treating the dogs in the warehouse building. The autumnly cool weather outside had immeadiately an effect on the feeble air of the warehouse, it was moist and chilly. I thought right away that we had to get more heaters there as soon as possible. A few words about Vasile, the shelter employee. He quit the job last summer but requested to get back to work in the beginning of November.

When we had said hello to Carmena and greeted the dogs of the warehouse building, we headed towards the hotel. Patricia had promised to meet us there and bring little Ceasar to Anu’s tender care. Many of you may know Ceasar’s story already, we picked up the little thing from a gas station on our way to Tg-Jiu in September. Anu was so attached to the dog that she came now to take Cesse home to Finland. When Patricia had met us at the hotel we were so exhausted from the long journey that after a quick dinner we dozed off quite quickly.

Sunday morning was sunny and we were very happy about that. Patricia met us at the hotel since we were going to go to a local vet to check that the passports of Ceasar and Tasha, the dogs we were taking to Finland, were okay. The passports were also taken to the local health officers to be approved and stamped. Anu and me left with Patricia and Heli, Tanja and Jukka headed straight to the shelter.

When we had had the passport checked we went to a couple of shops to compare prices of radiators and we bought one for the warehouse building, too. When Anu and me arrived in the shelter I went straight away to hug the shelter dogs that were eagerly waiting for us. The joy of reunion brought once again tears to my eyes. I had missed the dogs terribly even though we had taken our previous trip only a couple of months ago.

At some point in the afternoon Carmena and Jukka went to pick up straws from the city of Rovinari close by. Anu, Heli and Tanja were working in the warehouse building and I continued to greet the shelter dogs. Every once in a while I sat a long time on the roofs of the dog houses inside the dog cages, chatting all kinds things with a dozen dogs on my lap and at least a dozen dogs around me. You can’t find listeners as attentive as they were!

When I managed to get myself out of the shelter later in the afternoon, Carmena and Jukka arrived from their trip of picking up straws and we started to carry the bales out of the car. After that Adi and Vasile took the straws to be put inside the dog houses as warmers. Then it was already feeding time for the dogs and the employees carried dog food sacks from the warehouse building in front the shelter. There were plenty of dry food sacks from the floor to the roof on two walls of the warehouse building so it seems that the food donations from the Brigitte Bardot Foundation have fortunately continued. So in the help of PAFi’s sponsor dog program and BB Foundation at least the every day meal for the dogs is secured.

The night began to fall and it was time for us to head back to the hotel to tidy up and eat some snack. Later we were meaning to visit Patricia and Mihai in their home and see some wedding pictures.

As we arrived the hotel we were so hungry that the snack turned into a proper dinner. When we discovered Patricia and Mihai had set up some snack for us, too, our stomachs were completely full. We looked some pictures of Patricia and Mihai’s wedding, they had taken over 700 pictures. In Romania the wedding day starts with civil wedding, after that it’s the ceremonial church wedding. Patricia and Mihai had chosen the longer ceremony for the churchly part which had taken nearly 1,5 hours. The couple had actually stood in the altar the whole time. Patricia told that when came the moment the priest gave them bread, Patricia had asked for more of it since she was about to pass out because of hunger. The wedding had been celebrated after the official parts all the way to the next morning.

When we left back to the hotel the snow had covered the land. Mihai told that he remembered only one year when it had snowed in Tg-Jiu in November and that was a long time ago. We had no winter tire on our rental car so a little fear creeped into our minds whether we would survive the drive from Tg-Jiu to Bucharest if the weather would really cool down at nights and the roads would freeze.

On Monday the weather was no longer sunny but cloudy and coolly humid. First our group headed to the familiar supermarket to buy useful things to the shelter. We had also decided to buy some heaters for the warehouse building. We had a very demanding task in finding a fan heater that would collect moisture at some local shop. A young and friendly local man kindly tried to help us to find one and guided us from place to place. Unfortunately in the end we had to settle for normal fan heaters. It’s amazing how long it takes in Tg-Jiu to find something that would be easily and quickly found in Finland.

When we finally got to the shelter we took our shoppings to the warehouse building and began installing the fan heaters. I had bought extension cords already in Finland and they were more than useful so we could get the fans installed properly. Then it was time to clean up the warehouse and disinfect the puppy pens. At some point each of us spent some time with the dogs outside, of course. We tried to do as much little procedures as we could when they were needed. Bigger treatments we couldn’t perform, we didn’t have a big “a movable clinic” anyways. When Anu disinfected the cages outside, she saw something small moving by the road. After following it she had realized it was a puppy. The wet little puppy was soon warming up under Tanja’s coat and I guess the two became attached to each other right away. Tanja went back to see if there were other puppies nearby but she couldn’t find any.

At 3 pm Carmena headed home to feed her pets and ten dogs living in the piece of land across her house. Jukka and I promised to follow her so we could greet her pets too. Carmena also told that she had heard sounds of puppies the previous night behind the fence of the lot and checked whether she would find something. In the dark she had seen only a glimpse of something small. Now when it was still bright and we would help her she wanted to pick up the possible abandoned puppies to safety.

Tanja left with us to Carmena’s and on our way we bought a transportation box and some treats for Tanja’s little puppy protégé from a pet store. The pet store clerk was friendly although the smell coming from us was probably very “special”, some might say revolting. Of course we thought it was the most natural thing in the world!

When we arrived at Carmena’s there were familiar wet noses and bright eyes greeting us. The pet pack in Carmena’s home had became a little smaller since Patricia had taken some of the dogs and five of the dogs recovering at Carmena’s had been taken to the shelter to get to know to the shelter life. However there were still about twenty pets there.

Then, in Carmena’s guidance, we went to feed the dogs living in the lot across. Both Carmena and Jukka climbed over the high fence to search for the puppies. It didn’t take long before they both came back with four hungry puppies that were cold and motherless poor things. Me and Tanja took the dogs over the fence and we immediately took the puppies under our coats to warm up. Tanja suggested that the puppies were about 6 or 7 weeks old. We decided to take the puppies to the hotel to receive “first aid” since we already had Tasha’s transportation box there for accommodation.

We went to pick up Anu and Heli from the shelter and went to the hotel with five puppies. Luckily the little things were easy to take secretly pass the reception. Heli and Tanja accommodated the puppies in their room and after eating greedily the puppies fell asleep contently in their own little nest.

The evening program included a visit to Patricia and Mihai’s office and home. Patricia had taken a sick dog to the office, she wanted Tanja to check him up. Also a cat Patricia had saved from the streets was there. When we arrived in the office after 9 pm Patricia and Diana were finishing the posters about Pro Animals Romania that they were planning on spreading to different stores all over the city. We also looked through a file Patricia had recently compiled for the ICAW (International Companion Animal Welfare) conference in Berlin. There had been numerous Romanian animal protection associations attending the conference. There had also been some of the Finnish god dog parents (sponsors) who had met Patricia during the conference and talked a bit.

We ate some pizza at Patricia and Mihai’s home and talked about tons of things thanks to our eventfull days. Earlier I had told Patricia about our thoughts to get a used caravan in front of the shelter as a place for the employees to rest and eat and for a little storage room. In Romania caravans or caravan-cars are not very common but there are some brought from eg. Germany. Mihai’s family owns a car company and he’s very often in Germany picking up cars for his clients. We talked if Mihai could bring a caravan for the shelter on some of his trips. Mihai and Patricia had already checked up some prices on the Internet. As their cheapeast caravans cost 250 euros so we are now eagerly waiting for the information on how soon Mihai could bring a caravan for the shelter. It’s certainly needed.

Our conversation encountered an interesting twist when we told Patricia and Carmena about the thoughts Tanja had had after she and Heli had taken five puppies under their wings in their hotel room. Tanja had become very attached to the puppies and couldn’t bear the thought of taking the puppies to the shelter where they would most likely to die. The living conditions at the shelter are so primitive that you can’t avoid the risk of puppies getting diseases. Not even when you do whatever you can to avoid puppies getting sick. So ahead of us was to find the best solution on how Tanja would get the puppies to Finland until they had had all the necessary vaccinations and medications. On that night we couldn’t find any agreement on what would be the best way. The next day would be our last day at the shelter and we would have to find a solution to our problem.

On Tuesday morning Heli and Tanja were completely exhausted after spending a night awake because of the puppies. These “surrogate mothers” were very happy despite the tiredness and ensured that seeing the puppies joyful in warmth and safe had compensated the strains of the sleepless night.

Patricia had met us at the hotel and we were back on track. We had decided to buy one more fan heater since they had appeared to be very efficient and working. We had to buy more extension cables too. We split up so Tanja and I left with Patricia and the others went shopping. At the office we checked up on the sick dog and after that Patricia showed us the little heating center downstairs that could be one option for accommodating the puppies we found the previous day to the day they would travel to Finland.

After that we went to a bank with Patricia to transfer the 4.000 euros of donations to Pro Animals Romania’s account. This time it didn’t take long in the bank so we were soon continuing our way to a local vet. The vet was going to give back Ceasar and Tasha’s passport that had been approved by the health officers. However, the vet was nowhere to be seen and we had to wait for him a while. There were already several patients getting replacement fluids and treatments. The vet assistant was helping all of them nicely and smoothly. Finally we got our passports and managed to leave back to the shelter.

The others had already gotten to the shelter before us, Anu and Heli were already working hard. My job was to install one more fan heater. As I completed my task I noticed that the power of the warehouse building was overloading so much because of the heaters that it couldn’t take much more. At daytime you always need some lighting in the warehouse and the huge pot used on making the puppies and sick dogs meaty soup is always bubbling.

As the air cools down the regular radiators has to be used at least at nights in addition to the fans. So, we figured that if we set up the video camera surveillance system for the winter it would probably need so much power that it would all end up in a short circuit. As you may recall, we didn’t bring the security system with us, we were meaning to send it by mail afterwards. Now we have to rethink and try to consult the Finnish electrician who fixed up the electricity system in August 2006 what to do with the dangerous electric wirings.

Our last day at the shelter had progressed to an afternoon and each of us spent most of the time in our own thoughts. The sadness of leaving catches each of us long before we actually leave. At some point in the afternoon Heli, Tanja and Jukka went back to the hotel since Patricia would soon pick up the puppies to their temporary accommodation. They would take the puppies to the heat centre of the office. Tanja had approved this option earlier the day.

Me and Anu stayed at the shelter and at some point I realized I was scooping some mud poop mess with my bare hands behind the shelter. The water wasn’t running properly and the last cage of the first part of the shelter was already almost entirely flooding because of the blockage. I decided that on our next trip we would invest on a couple of good shovels. When I had removed the worst blockages I thought of checking out the room below the warehouse building. According to Patricia it would be a good place to storage all kinds of useful things but unfortunately the floor was completely flooded with water. As I opened the door I noticed right away that Patricia had been right and the floor was indeed filled with water up to my knees.

 

Heli, Tanja and Jukka returned to the shelter and it was Carmena’s turn to leave since she went to feed the dogs in her home and across her yard. We promised to wait for her return. While we wandered around we noticed three puppies outside the shelter. Their mother was there, too, taking care of her family. Earlier Anu had found one of the puppies straying inside the shelter all alone and we had racked our brains how on Earth had the puppy ended up there. We built the dog family a home of a construction platform, tin plate, garbage bags and straws. While we were building the home the caring mother dog went to the warehouse building, grabbed a big meat chunk and brought it as a dinner for her children.

At some point Adi and Vasile began to feed the shelter dogs and during that some of the dogs began to fight for food. The quarrel ended with one of the fighters being carried to the warehouse building to be patched up. In a pack of hundreds of dogs the fights are inevitable, especially when Carmena is not around to feed them. Sure the dogs picked a fight without any particular reason once in a while, once even I had to stop the arguement by grabbing the worst fighters by the neck. People laughed at me not wondering how I discipline Jukka at home.

Once again it was time to say goodbye to the Tg-Jiu shelter. I tried hard to swallow the tears, it was so heart-wrenching to think of the merciless winter and how the dogs would survive. There are several short-haired dogs in the shelter that will suffer the cold weather and frost for sure. On Tuesday I had noticed that the water in water cups had already frozen.

The day had already turned into a night and the dogs were in their own cages as we got the opportunity for the first time to pick up the little Tasha outside the shelter. We were meaning to take Tasha to the hotel too since we had planned to drive towards Bucharest very early in the morning to get to an early flight to Finland. Luckily Tasha was a sweet little girl and we had been friends for two years so there was a bond and trust between us already. That’s why she didn’t hesitate one moment when I called her name, grabbed her in my arms and began our new life together.

Before leaving we said goodbye to Adi who is a very fine young man. In addition to working hard at the shelter he also studies a master’s degree five evenings a week. Adi’s going to be a teacher but he dreams of a career of a specialized police.

On Tuesday night we were so tired that Heli and Tanja went to bed already before 9 pm. When Carmena and Patricia came to say goodbye to us, the rest of us managed to stay awake just barely. Anu soon sneaked into her room with Ceasar to sleep. Me, Jukka and Tasha stayed for a little while with Carmena and Patricia.

Carmena told about an animal cruelty case that had happened that afternoon in Tg-Jiu. It had been about a horse. There had been some documenting of the case in the local TV-channel, too. Carmena told that she had been interviewed and she was sad that people don’t quite understand all the things that Pro Animals Romania has to deal with. Pro Animals Romania doesn’t have the authority to for example euthanize an animal that suffers. Let’s hope that the cooperation agreement signed by Pro Animals Romania and the police last Friday would help the victims of animal cruelty for example in cases when it’s necessary and urgent to put an animal to sleep. And particularly when the people being cruel to animals must take responsibility for their actions.

For a little while we talked about the new shelter project. Carmena and Patricia told that they would definitely need some local person with enough knowledge and will to help lead the building process. Carmena and Patricia are so busy on a daily basis that focusing 100 per cent on the new shelter hasn’t been possible. We understand it perfectly since we have seen on our trips already several times that every day is full of work and surprising events that demand immediate response. To implement the project you need financial support and also a guarantee that the support will keep on coming steadily as soon as the shelter is ready. PAFi tries to do its best in every possible way for the new shelter. Every now and then it just feels like a drop in the sea.

The return from Tg-Jiu to Bucharest went well and we were at the airport right on time. We went for a walk with Ceasar and Tasha and moved towards the airport hall. We realized right away that our flight was over an hour late and there was going to be some extra waiting to be done at the airport.

We sat down on the benches for a moment with Ceasar and Tasha on our laps and it didn’t take long for an airport vet to come before us and wave at Heli to come with her. I believe the vet remembered Heli from our previous trip on September when Heli had brought Gria and Klenka from the shelter to home with her. I left with Heli and in guidance of the vet we went to a small room. The vet gave one more official stamp on Ceasar and Tasha’s passports. The dogs’ leaving from Romania was also written down on a big thick book. This time we didn’t have to fight with the vet over formalities and getting the stamps didn’t cost us anything.

Then we had one more exciting moment ahead of us. In September we were unaware till the last minute of what would it cost to transport a dog from Bucharest to Finland on a Finnair’s direct flight. We were prepared to pay 18,5 euros per kilo but we ended up paying 5 euros per kilo. Now when I marched with Jukka to the counter of Finnair’s agent we were told immediately that transporting the dogs would cost 18,5 per kilo. Luckily I had a receipt with me of our previous transportation. That caused quite a nice arguement between us and the clerk of what would be the right cost of transportation. Eventually the clerk ended up charging us 5 euros per kilo but said that they had made a mistake in September. In case we would transport dogs to Finland next time on our visit the charge of transportation would definitely be 18,5 euros per kilo.

Every once in a while people contact PAFi asking if they could bring a dog privately from the Tg-Jiu shelter to Finland. It is still possible but in practice it’s very laborious and the costs are multiple in comparison when adopting a homeless dog via Finnish associations working as an intermediary.

Now we are waiting anxiously for Patricia and Mihai to arrive in the beginning of next year to a visit in Finland. We are also already beginning to think of our next shelter visit to Tg-Jiu next spring. I’m also dreaming of getting a truck full of useful things to be taken to the Tg-Jiu shelter. The local timber is expensive and for example the people to build dog houses are very hard to find. We could really use durable dog houses as well as many other things.

We took photos on our trip but time after time I feel that we should have a professional photographer with us. For every photo taken we should take at least one extra photo so the per cent of succeeding would be greater. Taking pictures of four hundred dogs and different situations is really challenging. I’ll go through the photos little by little and send pictures of god dogs (sponsored dogs) when I have enough time. I can’t promise that all the 250 god dogs have been photographed recognizably. I sure have enough pictures of tails and noses, if you want J

With travel regards,