Once again, our utmost thanks to you for supporting our vital and essential work for the animals in Romania! In 2011 our spay/neuter programs were more successful than ever, with 4459 spays/neuters funded for the animals of Romania! Our total now approaches the funding for 14,000 free spays/neuters in Romania! These spays/neuters, along with our funding for veterinary care and veterinary training and education, are what makes Romania Animal Rescue a unique charity in Romania.

 

This month Romania Animal Rescue was able to sponsor the spay/neuter for 100 dogs from the town of Moreni. As soon as the weather clears a bit, RAR vets will again travel to Tecuci for free spay/neuter of up to 100 animals!

 

The HSUS Spay Day will be held in two cities: Craiova in February, and Tg. Jiu in April (at their request). Thanks to 2011 donations, we are now able to offer 200 free spays/neuters for Craiova, and 150 free spays/neuters in Tg. Jiu!

 

Dr. Aurelian and Dr. Petrisor and Vet Tech Ruth Osborne (who just moved to Romania from the UK to help train more Romanian vet techs with the RAR vets) will be providing training for a vet from Bistrita (thanks to a donation for sponsorship by Charlotte to Romania Animal Rescue) through the Veterinary Training Camp. Our hope is that this vet will then join the other vets trained by RAR: Dr. Lidia Nistor from Botosani, and Dr. Florin Lucacia in Baia Mare for the Think Stray campaign.

 

We have also provided 1000 educational booklets for the Think Stray campaign in Baia Mare to help them with their school educational programs (thanks to a donation for the printing of these booklets by Mayhew Animal Home International, UK).

 

Earlier this month, we sent you great news that the Romanian Constitutional Court decided that dog euthanasia is unconstitutional under Community law. This news is a great victory for the people of Romania, their dogs, and animal welfare advocates around the world. Independent news website, Bikya Masr, just wrote about this decision, and Romania Animal Rescue's position, in their blog:

"Nancy Janes, founder of Romania Animal Rescue, is one of many who see a different solution to Romania’s population of stray dogs. Her program has helped find homes for hundreds of stray pooches as well as spay and neuter over 12,000 homeless animals in Romania."

I hope you enjoy this month's newsletter, and thank you all for your support and prayers for the animals everywhere.

Dear friends,

We entered 2012 with big plans and expectations for what we hope to be one of the most fruitful year in terms of numbers of spay and neuter surgeries and vets that we will train into modern surgical techniques. RAR is the only charity that trains veterinarians in Romania and this is a key element in decreasing the number of unwanted cats and dogs because we have a lack of trained small animal vets.

Right now the weather in Romania is cold and heavy snow storms hit the country and our poor homeless animals are in need of shelter and food. Our work is to make their life easier by preventing as many dogs as possible to become pregnant and give birth in terrible conditions. We are so happy that with your wonderful help we prevented hundred of thousands of litters and making a great difference for so many dogs. With every surgery we do we change the life course of so many animals that do not have to endure cold or hunger.

Thank you for joining and supporting us in the quest for no more homeless dogs in Romania and god bless you!

 

Message from Brinda about the need for the shelter for her animals in Turda:

Because it is former agricultural land, the ground is very soft and the engineer told us that we have to cast concrete or stone, as a platform for the kennels. But only the concrete for the 900 square meters costs 3000 EU. Then we need to buy the panels for the kennels. One piece costs 100 lei (23 EU) and we need at least 100 pieces. We have the dog houses, we can reuse them. No need of funds for that. Building strong kennels is the most important step. Because the land is on the country side, we have to build solid kennels so the dogs cannot run away and get lost or get killed by the peasants.

At the brewery, the kennels are improvised with iron wires and the dogs break through all the time. But it is not a real big problem because someone stays there all the time.

Dear Nancy, this is our story. The Trei Frati Patati Association (Three Spotted Brother) needs urgent help. The Mayor has said that the city pound will be ready in March or sooner. We are very aware that the life of our 160 dogs depends on the speed of getting our new shelter built. That's why we say that every bit of help is more than welcome.

Congratulations for all the efforts you are doing. You are a great lady and you have helped lots of Romanian strays.

All my best,
Brindusa

Hi, everybody! Unfortunately, I have bad news about the Spay/Neuter Day from Tecuci. We are not able to be there because of the weather. All roads are blocked because of the snow and we are going to do the campaign next week or later when the weather will permit us. Until then, I wish you an easy winter and many hugs!

I want to thank all the donors who are supporting us with the free Spay/Neuter program in Tecuci. Thanks to your generosity here, in Tecuci, we have noticed increasingly fewer puppies and kittens. We cannot be happier to see the difference on the streets from this point of view. I talked to the mayor and asked him if he saw as many puppies on the streets as he used to. His answer surprised me a little bit and my ears were so happy! You don't hear every day a mayor from Romania saying the Spay/Neuter Program is good and we see fewer dogs on the streets, believe me! He admitted there is a very big difference between before the castrations of the dogs with owners and after the castrations. He thanks all of the people involved in this great project and told me he hopes we will not stop now! We make the difference and it is very important to go on! Our mayor promised he will continue the support for the castration of stray dogs. We are so grateful to all good and loving people who donated for Romania Animal Rescue and we are also so grateful to Nancy Janes because she answered our animal's needs! God, we are so lucky she exists in this world and we met her! Thank you everybody for all your support and involvement! Neuter/Spay, No More Stray!

King's story begins in a forest from where I saved a lot of dogs. One night, I was going to feed a female dog that still lived in that forest. I couldn't save her until now because she is very scared and she doesn't let me touch her. I was staying on my knees trying to touch that female dog when I saw a white spot in the grass. I approached and saw King crouched in the grass, trembling. Immediately I noticed the wounds on his body and his face and I knew he was used in dog fights. All he could do is just smell my hand. He had no intention of hurting me, so I touched him gently. He was too weak and frozen to react. After 5 minutes I had the courage to use a leather belt as a collar for him. After I took him in my arms and put him in an improvised cage so he could have a safe, warm place to sleep. The next morning, I returned to the forest and took him to the vet. He was examined and dewormed. The doctor told me to wait until he gains some weight before he could have surgery on one of his front legs. It is dislocated. Now he is fostered in a lady's yard with two other dogs saved by me. He already feels better and looks better. I decided that on Sunday I would bring him to the vet for that surgery. Dr. Petrisor Stefan will do the surgery to King and Nancy Janes from RAR will pay for all his veterinary treatment and surgery. It is not the first time Nancy has helped me and for this I want to thank her soo much. Without their help we couldn't do as much.

Nanu in Craiova

This article has been edited from the January 17 post on the Save the Dogs website:

We are very happy to inform our supporters and partners that our new Footprints of Joy dogs shelter will be completed according to the initially foreseen schedule and modalities.

We would like to take this opportunity to mention all the associations which have contributed to the fund-raising: our partners Hundhjalpen and Friends of Homeless Dogs, as well as Nancy Janes and her Romanian Animal Rescue (who spread our call in the USA), the English foundation Dogs Trust, Italian Enpa and LAV (by means of their national headquarters but also with the support of several local branches), Turin association La Pulce and our Montecarlo delegation.

Thanks to this valuable outcome, STD is now able to start thinking about the new veterinary clinic, already in the pipeline. The ultimate phase of Footprints of Joy project will be presented on the association's websites and Facebook.

In particular, if in the coming months the funds are inadequate for carrying out medical and veterinary activities and international adoptions, we will be obliged to cut sterilizations and dogs' flights towards Italy, two of our fundamental tasks on which the life of thousands animals relies on. We hope to keep having your support during 2012, as to go on building a better future for our treasured Romanian stray dogs.

Nancy with Lord Harry at the Bucharest Spayathon, 2010

Lord Harry enjoying a biscotti at the Athenee Palace Hotel, 2010

Dr. Olson with Lord Harry on the way to the Tecuci Spayathon in 2010

Dr. Olson and Lord Harry at home in Alaska, 2012