Description

There are over a million stray dogs in Romania, which means there’s a stray dog for every 18 people living in this country. Most of these dogs seek shelter in crowded areas where they can rummage through trash to find some food. Sometimes, people take them in, but the majority of those who have the luxury to own a yard don’t have the patience or will to train these dogs, and their quick fix is to chain them to a post, as their main purpose is to guard the house, and bark when an intruder approaches. Sometimes, kind souls who don’t have the space or means to take stray dogs in feed them, but without constant care, these dogs remain untamed. The lack of education and empathy in part of Romania’s population leads to animal abuse, in hopes of driving these poor souls away from their temporary shelter – most often, animals respond and end up attacking people who wish them well.

On average, 15000 people end up in the hospital yearly needing care for a wound caused by a stray animal which they have provoked. The media in Romania loves a good story, and as such, massive hate campaigns drive people to call the local dog catchers in an attempt to solve the stray dog problems. Many animal shelters subsidised by local authorities employ a 14 day adoption period, followed by euthanasia, to make room for more stray dogs in their inhumane, cold cages. Animal wellfare activists are struggling to get many of these dogs out in time, but due to the costs associated with this (between £40 and £150 per dog released, depending on the shelter), and lack of private shelters and funding, they only manage to rescue a few souls, out of which some die soon after as a result of a life of malnutrition and abuse. This is not sustainable in the long run, and we wish to invest this grant into preventing all of this from happening.

An average dog litter is 5 pups. £1000, for example, can help spay 37 medium/large dogs or 50 small dogs or. If each animal would have at least one average litter, that’s easily 185 to 250 lives which will not be subjected to a life of torment. Many may contract parvovirosis and require expensive treatment to stand a chance of surviving (average of £200 per 5 days of treatment). If each of these dogs ends up in a private shelter by luck, it’s anywhere from £25 to £65 per month per pup to arrange for their care. That’s £300 to £780 a year, in case an adopter is not found. All of this, preventable by spaying.