Year End 2011

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As 2011 comes to a close, we reflect back on all of the great achievements Romania Animal Rescue has been able to provide thanks to all of you! The year kicked off with the rescuing of the 30+ dogs and puppies from an abandoned house in Ploiesti in February, to then later in the year providing funding for free spay/neuter for 100 dogs in city of Ploiesti.

Our monthly spay/neuter programs in Tecuci and Iasi ran in full swing this year providing spay/neuter for hundreds of animals. RAR was able to provide free spay/neuter campaigns in Moreni, Targoviste, Galati, Braila, Nicoresti, Reghin for Fiducia shelter, Glina, Baia Mare, Craiova. We were able to train two Romanian vets on surgical techniques via the Veterinary Training Camp (sponsorships for Dr. Lidia of ADOR in Botosani and Dr. Lucian of Baia Mare provided by RAR).

We have had thousands of animal welfare educational booklets printed and distributed to teachers in Iasi, Tecuci, Craiova, Nicoresti and just recently in Baia Mare for the Think Strays campaign so that the children can be educated on how to treat animals as well as the importance of spay/neuter and compassion for their fellow beings.

Many animals were adopted to many countries. Dogs and puppies went to Holland, Austria, Hungary, the USA, the UK, and Denmark. These little souls were all from the streets, living a nightmare, until discovered by Romanian friends who asked for Romania Animal Rescue's help in finding homes for them. People opened their hearts and homes to the less fortunate voiceless companions, and we thank you for this! Many of the animals RAR finds homes for are injured, blind or partially paralyzed, making their adoptions even more amazing!

Our Spayathon was a miracle in itself--over 1200 spays/neuters in 10 days were performed by the RAR team in Craiova at the Spayathon location. Nearly 200 were performed at the Family Vet clinic in Craiova, bringing a total of 1400 spay/neuters in May. These donations helped the citizens of Craiova and Speranta Pentru Animale Craiova for the care of their animals and to help humanely control the unwanted street dog population. Friends from the USA; Mary, Bonnie, Dr. Bachman, Dave, and Rory joined with our new friend Carol from Animal Care Austria to help the animals in Craiova. RAR friends from past Spay Days and Spayathons came to help out from all areas of Romania: Mihaela from Association Tomita in Tecuci, Lelia from Iasi, Andreea and Otilia from Animal Life Sibiu all donated their time and care to help out the animals from Craiova.

RAR has been able to provide numerous veterinary care and treatments for animals at the clinics Alma Vet in Bucharest and Family Vet in Craiova with our partners Dr. Aurelian Stefan, Dr. Petrisor Stefan, and Dr. Irina Corbu. We have also donated to help animals in other numerous regions of Romania with medical care and treatment.

Thank you all for allowing RAR to continue to be an outstanding charity in Romania. It is with your support that these and so many other accomplishments have been possible.

Dear Friends,

It is the end of the year and everyone of us gathers with family and friends around the Christmas tree. Santa came and brought presents for everyone and together with this a lot of smiles and happiness. I must thank you for being Santa for all the Romanian animals throughout the year and the best present ever that someone in need would like to receive is HOPE! Hope for a better present and a better future, hope that one day hunger and cold will no longer exist. With your help Romania Animal Rescue brings hope and light to countless souls that otherwise would not stand a chance when facing the harsh street life in Romania.

With more than 4000 spay and neuter surgeries this year we definitely managed to make a great difference for the better and altogether to change the way people think about their animals. You, our wonderful supporters are the ones who make our poor animal's world go round and they are thankful for this from the bottom of their souls. We count on you to support our projects in the next year too!

January

FPCC has graciously allowed us to use their educational booklets. Chrissy, from Romania Animal Aid and Romania Animal Rescue, have hired a former English teacher to hold in-class educational programs for students! Mayhew International has sponsored the printing of 5000 booklets for this important campaign!

February

Romanian animals got a lot of attention during HSUS/HSI Spay Day International. On the weekend of February 12-13, simultaneous Spay Day events were held in Tecuci and Craiova, 500 km (310 miles) apart. Thanks to donations to Romania Animal Rescue, 93 animals were spayed or neutered in Tecuci and 50 in Craiova during the events. The veterinarians then returned to Craiova and spayed or neutered 50 more animals. The events received coverage on television and in newspapers, getting the word out about the importance of spay and neuter.

Twenty-six dogs and 13 puppies, some as young as 11 days old, were abandoned in a house in Ploiesti, Romania when the owner died. Chrissy Phillips of Romania Animal Aid, Carol Byers of Animal Care Austria, Anu Raatikainen from Finland, Dr. Aurelian Stefan, Dita, Mihaela Teodura, Mr. Brenner worked with RAR for this mission of mercy. Mihaela made sure the dogs were fed and kept as healthy as possible. All dogs were transported to Hungary for adoption. They were all adopted by October.

March

The Independent Charities Seal of Excellence is awarded to the members of Independent Charities of America and Local Independent Charities of America that have, upon rigorous independent review, been able to certify, document, and demonstrate on an annual basis that they meet the highest standards of public accountability, program effectiveness, and cost effectiveness. Romania Animal Rescue has a new dba name: Animal Spay/Neuter International (ASNI). ASNI is now a part of the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) in the United States.

Dr. Aurelian and his wife were the recipients of the Grand Prize in the Humane Society Spay Day Photo Contest last year. They attended the Genesis Awards presentation in Los Angeles--an all expenses paid trip for the Grand Prize winners! Dr. A. was able to tell the attendees all about the plight of the animals in Romania, and about RAR's good work to help.

April

RAR has earned a permanent spot on GlobalGiving, which provides an additional funding stream of donors to RAR.

Stray Animals Day raised awareness in 17 countries that the problem of stray animal overpopulation affects us all. Romania Animal Rescue participated with a Spay Day in Tecuci.

May

In total the Craiova Spayathon spayed/neutered 1218 animals: 150 cats and the rest were dogs, 98% of whom were females! RAR then continued with the funding for 182 more spays/neuters bringing our grand total of donated spays/neuters in Craiova to 1400 for the month of May. Many of the local people from Craiova brought their dogs to this event to have them spayed/neutered; proof that compassion is cool in Craiova, Romania. Rory and Nancy met with the Vice Mayor of Craiova, Dinca Marinica. He has asked RAR to start an in-school educational program there!

Please view a video that Crissanca put together on the Craiova Spayathon.

June

We now have a humane catch trap in Tecuci to be able to catch the dogs. This trap will help us bring in more stray dogs to be spayed and neutered in Tecuci.

July

In late July Adopostal Fiducia contacted Nancy Janes asking if we could provide spay/neuter for their shelter dogs. At first the plan was to spay/neuter 100, but then another donation from the fabulous Romania Animal Rescue donors allowed the RAR team of vets and techs to offer even more free spays/neuters! The plans were sealed in August and after Dr. Aurelian returned from his working holiday in Greece, he and Dr. Petrisor set off on the 9 hour drive to spay/neuter at Fiducia shelter!

Once again, you made it possible for RAR to say "yes, we can do that for you" to another deserving shelter and group of people who care for their animals. Most Romanians love the animals, yet lack the funds to properly prevent the birth of unwanted puppies whom they cannot afford to feed, thus leading to abandonment.

Thank you for helping us to help them to spay/neuter the animals.

August

RAR helped in the rescue of nine dogs and puppies from a US military base near Constanta (the Black Sea area). These dogs and pups were rescued by some US personnel based there, right as the dog catchers were coming to get them! Many of the dogs and pups were hidden from the dog catchers, but some were taken to the pound by the dog catchers and a large ransom was paid to retrieve these dogs.

Dr. Aurelian Stefan has been nominated for two WSAVA awards, the Excellence in Veterinary Healthcare award and the Service to the Profession award.

91 dogs were spayed/neutered in Tecuci this month, and then 38 dogs and cats were spayed/neutered the following day at our first Spay Day in Nicoresti. Dr. Aurelian Stefan, Dr. Pepe Stefan, and Dr. Ruth Osborne were onsite in Nicoresti to perform the procedures, and help the community know that compassion is cool.

September

We funded 409 procedures in Moreni, Targoviste, Fiducia, Visina, and Tecuci, bringing our total to 12,835. We currently have two ongoing spay/neuter programs in the cities of Iasi (Romania's second largest city) and Tecuci.

Dr. Aurelian and Dr. Pepe trained Dr. Lidia Nistor through their Veterinary Training Camp. Dr. Lidia is from the city of Botosani, and belongs to the charity ADOR. Romania Animal Rescue was able to provide the $1500 scholarship needed for this intense training program for Dr. Lidia, thus enabling her to start great spay/neuter programs for her community.

Bitza, the dog that was allowed respite at a restaurant until he was hit by a car was rescued, treated by Alma Vet in Bucharest, and rehomed to Denmark.

RAR at Fiducia shelter spayed/neutered 144 dogs for Mrs. Lidia in September. Watch a video of this spay event.

October

Ambi is the little dog that was found in a trash bin in Braila with two broken legs. With her legs healed she had surgery to remove the final pins and to be spayed. Ambi is scheduled to be adopted in the UK in January!

November

Dr. Aurelian Stefan trained a local veterinarian, Dr. Lucaciu Florin, from Baia Mare, Romania this month. The training lasted one week, where Dr. A. taught modern spay/neuter techniques, including anesthesia, organ removal, and choosing the right suture materials. Showing how quickly and safely animals recover from sterilization procedures demonstrates that spay/neuter is the best and most humane method of caring for our four-legged friends. RAR has now sent a sponsorship for the spay/neuter of 60 dogs in Baia Mare under the skills of Dr. Florin.

We just received a grant from Mayhew International for the printing of 1000 more educational booklets for Romanian school children! These booklets will be sent to Baia Mare, Romania to help launch their new program, Think Stray Campaign.

On November 25, Think Stray posted an article about our sponsorship of training Dr. Florin Lucaciu on surgery techniques at the The Veterinary Training Camp in Craiova.

December

10 6-week old abandoned puppies transported from Bucharest to Hungary for Adoption in Austria.

Toto (a.k.a Bruce) was transported to the US for adoption in Oregon.

Rory and Nancy delivered 700 pounds of supplies, ranging from dog crates to surgical instruments, to Garden Grove, California, for shipment to Romania in preparation for next years Spayathon in Botosani. 100 spay/neuter procedures are being sponsored for Moreni by Romania Animal Rescue this month, to be performed by the FPCC vets. 50 spay/neuter were provided for Targoviste by the RAR vet team. Suzie, an injured dog from Targoviste, was sent to Rome for eventual adoption to the USA. Maya, a puppy with a hernia, received excellent treatment by Dr. Aurelian.

Labus (a.k.a. Wish) is a paralyzed dog from Tg. Neamt. She was living on the streets and dragging her hind legs to get around. Fur Angels Abroad asked for RAR's help in getting Labus to the USA for adoption. Labus was transported by Adriana Hartan to AlmaVet in Bucharest where she was treated for her injuries and fostered by our dear friend Marius until she could be spayed and transported to the USA. On Dec. 29, Labus will arrive in Denver, Colorado, where she will begin her forever life in the USA as a much-loved dog, with a wheelchair.

Krissie K.

First off I can not say enough wonderful things about Nancy Janes and Romania Animal Rescue. The best part and most wonderful thing about this nonprofit organization is that the animals come first and continue to be first, their safety and a chance for them to experience what they should of from the start love! Nancy Janes and Dr. Aurelian Stefan went above and beyond the call of duty to help my husband and his fellow Marines rescue a pack of dogs that adopted my husband and his men while stationed in Romania. I new this task would not be easy, she could of said sorry we can not help you once I contacted the group but instead she excepted this challenge with open arms. This task was a lot more complicated than expected, everything you can imagine and more went wrong. From one of the puppies being injured and needing medical attention asap days before the transport was scheduled to the dog catchers showing up hours before the scheduled of the transport and inhumanely capturing the dogs, not willing to release them and almost starving the dogs to death, while we fought for two weeks to get the dogs released to safety.

I live on the east coast so Romania is roughly 7 hours ahead, Nancy is on the west coast which is 3 hours behind my time. So if you can image the time difference being another major issue plus my husband not being available for days. Nancy was wonderful helping us save these poor souls from a horrible fate. We spoke at all hours of the day, night or I should say wee hours of the morning, trying to coordinate ways to get the dogs medical care, to safety and on the plane to the United States. Where these dogs would live with me waiting for their new Marine and Air force owners to come home to retrieve them. With the help of Romania Animal Rescue we were able to save 8 dogs. There is so much more to the story with ups and downs and Nancy being their to lend an ear to our lose of two of the puppies due to natural causes and checking on the dogs often to make sure the dogs as well as myself were OK.

We truly are blessed to have Nancy's and RAR help through the whole ordeal. I wish only the best for this group and hope I can give back to them as much as they gave to us. Keep up the great work RAR!!

Oana Popescu, Craiova, Romania

We, the volunteers of Speranta Pentru Animale, worked with RAR for the success of the largest spay/neuter campaign that ever took place in Romania. I am talking about the spay/neuter marathon that took place in our city Craiova, between 15-25 May 2011. 1218 dogs and cats were spayed during this mammoth event! RAR work is something that deserves praises. We are looking forward to further collaboration with Nancy Janes and Romania Animal Rescue. Where are the dogs sterilized? I think the answer to this question can be given by the hundreds of people who attended the Spayathon, some of whom have travelled from as far as 60 kilometers with their dogs. Through its actions RAR has created itself a well established and respected position as a leading animal rescue and welfare organisation in Romania.

Tenna, Denmark

I wanted to share with all of you, the story, of my adopted dog Bitza from Romania. He came home to me the 27 September this year. This is what adopting a streetdog is: Giving a lovely soul the chance for having a new life... Don't be fooled; it's a lot of work, wake hours at night, trips to the vet, and so on. But the joy, yes the joy, is so big I can't describe it in words. Everyday is a happy day with Bitza. I love him more than words can say. He is a part of my family now, a wonderful, wonderful dog that I had the luck to adopt. A big thank you also to Nancy Janes and Romania Animal Rescue, and Dr. Aurelian Stefan and his staff at Almavet. Without these people Bitza would not be here with me today. Romania Animal Rescue paid Bitza's vet bills, and his flight to Denmark. Thank you Nancy Janes!

Mihaela Raducanu, Association Tomita

I want to tell you how I met you wonderful people. I'm from Tecuci, Romania. The situation for the street and abandoned dogs was miserable for me to see every single day. I suffered watching them, knowing how they were suffering. I contacted Marcela from Cutu Cutu organization in Bucharest asking for help. She told me about Romania Animal Rescue and Nancy.

I started emailing Nancy and we developed a close friendship. I began to understand the need for spay/neuter, and Nancy was willing to try a new idea.....a Spayathon......in my town. In May of 2010 Romania Animal Rescue and their team, along with some volunteers from GIA in Bucharest, came to Tecuci. It was an amazing event! 632 animals were spayed/neutered in 1 week by RAR - no one had ever done something like this for us! Nancy assigned me as the project director for Tecuci, and said that RAR would try to return to Tecuci every month to provide 100 free spay/neuters for my town! Well, true to their word, RAR vets now come to Tecuci to provide up to 100 free spay/neuters every month for the animals and the people who care about them!

RAR went to Nicoresti to spay/neuter for Sandie Tanner's orphanage, and at Sandie's request RAR was able to provide her with 100 educational booklets for the children of the village. RAR also helped my friend Maria with the 40 animals that she has that needed to be spayed neutered. Thank you Dr. Petrisor Stefan, Dr. Aurelian Stefan and Dr. Irina Corbu for always being there for us!

I was given 1000 educational booklets for children's educational programs in Tecuci. I understand from Nancy that these books were made possible for us by FPCC, who published them and allowed RAR to use them, and by a grant from the Mayhew Animal Home International in the UK who paid for the printing of thousands of booklets.

Through RAR I met my dear friend Carol, from Austria. Carol was at the Craiova Spayathon that RAR did in May. While we were both volunteering there, Carol offered me the opportunity of a life time: To follow my dream to go to Veterinary University so that I can become a skilled vet to work with RAR! I am now attending Veterinary Univ. in Bucharest as well as directing the Tecuci spay/neuter program for RAR.

Thank you Nancy Janes, Dr Aurelian and Dr Pepe for 1430 spay/neuter procedures in Tecuci, Romania! Also we are grateful to RAR for helping us to send 10 abandoned puppies to Austria where they will be adopted. Yay!! Another 10 lives saved thanks to this wonderful team and, of course, thanks to the generous donors! Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all the help you have given to the animals in Romania.

Alex Ionescu, Ploiesti, Romania

Thank you to Romania Animal Rescue Supporters from Ploiesti, Romania!

RAR provided 100 free spay/neuter surgeries in Ploiesti in November, 2011. They were massively needed. RAR also helped at the beginning of 2011 in Ploiesti, when a dog hoarder died, and over 30 dogs were about to be thrown in the street by the inheritor of the house. RAR stepped in and helped prepare the dogs for adoption. None of these dogs ended up in the streets or in the horrible local pound. They're all adopted to good homes now.

This could not have been possible without the support of you the RAR donors, and I thank you!

*Note: Thanks to Chrissy Phillips of RAA, Carol Byers of ACA, Dr. Aurelian Stefan and Dr. Irina Corbu, and FPCC in Romania for working together with RAR to get all this work done to help the animals!

Lelia Creanga, Iasi

I have been working with Nancy and Romania Animal Rescue for one year and I have personally witnessed their wonderful work in Romania:

1. Nancy Janes and Romania Animal Rescue Inc spayed / neutered 500 dogs in Iasi starting from April 2011, complying with a partnership contract with Iasi Town Hall and the project is ongoing. RAR helped to rescue and rehome 8 dogs from Iasi. The doggies spayed/neutered in Iasi by RAR are registered, have ear-tags and have been tattooed and their numbers and photos are archived in the public register of Iasi Town Hall.
2. RAR and Nancy Janes carried out a school educational project in Iasi during 2010-2011 school year, also based on a contract with Iasi Town Hall.
3. I personally took part at the Spayathon in Craiova where RAR funded 1200+ spay/neuter procedures for dogs and cats. Nancy personally got involved and worked alongside the volunteers from Craiova and the local NGO, Speranta pentru Animale and also together with great US volunteers who came to help and support Nancy and Rory in Craiova. At the big Spayathon RAR funded spay/neuter procedures for local shelter dogs, strays, but also for dogs and cats brought by their owners to be spayed/neutered by RAR's great vet team. And this is only my personal experience....But just like me, there are more other persons Nancy and RAR helped, individuals from RO but also Romanian charities like GIA, APAM, Speransa pentru Animale Craiova. Last month, RAR payed for spay/neuter in Ploiesti where FPCC vet teams did the procedures.