I have found out so much about what is really happening in Romania over the last few days. I wanted to try to find a way to offer lasting help. Something that would help the rescuers and the dogs, something that would be lasting and consistent. But, its almost impossible. Many many of the people in Romania see the dogs as vermin. Local businesses will not help to build or support the rescue workers for fear of losing other business. The areas where the shelters are located are often very poor and local people resent the money spent on the dogs for food and treatment when they cant easily feed themselves or their families. Forget the legal side of building a shelter and buying the land, the reality is that you can buy land to build a shelter, BUT because of the corruption and criminality you can not guarantee that the land will remain yours or that if you die the land will not be taken back by the local council. If you do buy land and attempt to build anything you are at physical risk of being beaten or killed, as are any workers, in fact you probably wouldnt get local workers, you would need to operate completely on volunteer support, probably mostly foreign volunteer support . Anything you do manage to build is at risk of theft and fire. It clear that money will not help this situation at the moment . Romania and many of the people in power and making the decisions in Romania are corrupt. The EU appears to have very little influence or power to push animal welfare changes through . Social media is king and will continue to have more influence than any highly paid politician or political institution/government/organisation . However, and this is IMPORTANT. Money will help the day to day lives of these dogs and the rescuers . Please give to the rescues you know are doing good work , they need to feed the dogs and provide medical help on a day to day basis, this is so important. As for the bigger picture ............throwing money at this wont work, there needs to be a fundamental change in the way the people of Romania feel about animals and the corruption , intimidation and criminality within the government and at local level must be eradicated and the EU needs to step in and explain CLEARLY to Romania what are the expectations of being a part of the EU. If you want to do more I would canvass your MEP. I would join every Romanian and animal welfare group that is trying to do something. Stand up for what is right. You are one person but the power of social media is staggering, the power of your local MEP....well, yet to be seen. Transporting the dogs out of Romania is becoming more difficult now with the introduction of new transport regulations. Because of this there are fewer transport companies and many are not able to meet the new criteria. This will no doubt make transport more expensive and there will be fewer journeys made, at least at the moment . I feel, as do many others, that the Pet Passport process will end, or change drastically, and again this will influence the ability to bring these dogs out of Romania . Which, by the way, we all know isnt the ideal solution, rather they were in their own countries with proper animal welfare than transporting them for days .Every other country has its own issue with dog rescue, in the UK we cant cope with the number of dogs abandoned and in need of homes and medical care . The cost of a pet passport and transporting a dog from Romania now is around £200 -£250 . In the Uk, personally I have been rehoming through local rescue, providing back up to the dogs for life and we ask for a donation of maybe £150 ....we can not even recoup the cost of bringing them here. This is where support and donations are so vital. Anyone that thinks money is made on these dogs in the UK is very wrong. In Romania it is becoming more and more expensive for the transport companies to operate and so we will see the cost of transport continue to increase, this isnt sustainable and at some point cost will make it prohibitive to move the dogs. Even now we are asking for £150 donation for these poor dogs who are often in poor condition, potentially needing rehabilitation because of the trauma of the shelters and also often needing medical care . How much will people pay and at what point will they go to the local Dogs Trust and pick one up for £30 ? At the moment people who adopt Rommie dogs do it because they want to help and thats why they pay so much but going forward there is going to be a limit to what people will pay. Not only that but in our world of instant purchase, it is very difficult to ask people to choose a dog and then wait maybe a month or more before you actually see it .Especially if it is a pup. In that time circumstances can change and adoptions fall through . Im left feeing very frustrated this week, as are thousands of other people who are trying to help. This weekend Ill take a break, recharge and then Monday is another week :-)
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 12:36:13 +0000
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