Roll up, roll up – The Don has fundraising news

Hello everyone – The Don here. Once again I have been asked by the wonderful Hope for Romanian Strays guys to do a guest blog post and I have also been asked to officially launch the winter fundraiser. It is sometimes quite hard work being an online celebrity like I am but I really feel honoured to be asked to help out in this case.

We are now coming into winter, which is not good news for the stray and shelter dogs in Romania. As some of you may remember from the posts last year the conditions for the stray and shelter dogs in Romania are very harsh, with minimal shelter against the freezing, wet weather. This year however, as a result of what is happening in Romania (read previous post for more information) the conditions for the stray and street dogs will be horrific. This means that this year we need to double our fundraising efforts because there is so much more work to do.

Sitting all snug and warm it can be hard to imagine what it must be like for a stray dog in Romania but let me paint you a picture. Imagine living out on the street, with inches of snow and temperatures dropping to well below freezing. Your fur is wet and caked in mud and the only shelter you can find is under a bridge – but you are not safe here because if the men see you they will chase you and beat you to death with bricks and iron poles.
A few weeks ago someone deliberately ran you over in their car and left you to die. The pain was excruciating but you did not die. You survived but now you have a bloody stump where your left leg used to be and your right leg tortures you when you walk on it – but you have not choice, but generally all you can manage is to drag yourself around using just your front paws. You have to move to survive or you will freeze or starve to death. But the pain is horrific and you are so cold – you cannot stop shivering. You do not understand why the men hate you or why you were born into this horrific conditions.

This story seems too horrific to be true but it is – it is based on Maya’s story. Fortuantely for Maya she was hit by a car before the winter hit and so was able to survive for weeks without her back legs. She was also one of the lucky ones because we found her, in extreme pain but clinging to life by the road. We have no idea how she survived for so long but she did and now we will give her every chance for a better life.  Sadly she had to have the badly injured leg amptuated and she will need a considerable recovery time but we will pay for this  somehow because we cannot abandon her after all she has endured.  We hope that maybe someone will step forward and off to cover her vets bills but most of all we really hope that someone will step forward and offer Maya a loving, forever home when she is better.  Could that someone be you maybe?

Maya is just one of many dogs living in extremely bad conditions, fighting daily for their lives. It is because of dogs like Maya who will not make it through the winter without help that we are launching this fundraiser. We will be launching a number of activites including selling items for Christmas and I presonally will be writing a book to raise funds. Yes that is right – you will be able to buy my book and help strays! So as you start to think about Christmas gifts please come and visit this page and look at some of the options here. Every cent goes straight to the dogs as we do not take any admin fees and we desperately need every cent to help dogs like Maya and other dogs like her. Please support us through this fundraiser by donating (paypal: hopeforstrays@yahoo.com), buying gift, sharing our posts and helping us find homes for dogs that will die if we do not get them out of Romania.  And if you have anything you would like to donate to sell as part of the rundraiser please email us.

Thank you in advance for support.