Romania is not a country where you wish to be re-born as a dog. Dogs are mostly considered vermin or used as animals that protect your yard on a chain. Since 2013 killings are legal again in Romania, and since then dogs are chased, hunted and killed everywhere. Abandoning unwanted dogs in the forest or along the streets is common. Dogs as pets are not usual.
But in all that darkness there is light. People like Aniela Ghita, who spend their life for the animals in need. Mostly dogs, but also cats. It makes me happy to see the commitment that she and her organization put into the street animal rescue.
But the view is much wider than taking them off the streets. Rescue means not only collecting the animals from the streets and out of shelters, but also preparing and sending them to a better future in western Europe. Vaccination and sterilization are important parts of that campaign – not only in the private shelter but also offered to peasants and private owners, to sterilize their dogs – so the population is reduced. Recently, they started adoption days, where Romanians can adopt dogs from the shelter, a completely new and unusual approach to get dogs out of the shelter.
It is that comprehensive approach that makes „Hope for Romanian Strays“ work so valuable. The organization is funded by private donors from mostly Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and organizations like their main sponsor from Germany, ProDog Romania e.V. Also smaller foreign organizations like Tierhilfe Lebenswert e.V. support Aniela’s work for the strays.
Thanks, Aniela, for all you do for those who cannot care for themselves – the dogs and cats of Ploiesti, Romania.
Stefan Wolf
2. Chairman Tierhilfe Lebenswert e.V.
Hope for Romanian Strays 