We can't let these 160 dogs starve!

1. In Serbia, Ivana and Ana have run out of kibble to feed the 120 street dogs in their care. They will starve if no one intervenes!

"Currently, we take care of about 120 dogs on the streets. We have recently had some losses, we lost some puppies that were sick. Dogs from the street are especially vulnerable to various viruses, and they are therefore really threatened by lack of food and dropping of immunity.  

We've been giving smaller amounts lately, and unfortunately there are some for which we haven't been able to provide food. We are left with half a bag of kibble right now... We are under stress night and day thinking about the lack of food, trying to find solutions. And we are running out of options. Currently, we are not even getting bread that we used to get from a local bakery, we are cut off that supply. 

Consequences are inevitable. Their immune system is first to take a hit, and then they are prone to illnesses of various kinds, which in turn means more visits to the vet and more bills, it is a vicious circle. With winter coming it is literally a question of life and death for street dogs."

2. Weakened by his old age and the consequences of a life spent on the streets, Deka will be unable to fend for himself if Ivana and Ana can no longer bring him kibble.

"Deka is very old, and he has been on the street for a few years now. He lacks one eye, has pains in his bones, and is starting to miss a few teeth, but he is ok otherwise, and very calm nature.

Old dogs are particularly vulnerable to a lack of food, and Deka is clearly not able to fend for himself, he relies on us to have something to eat."

3. Ivana and Ana also host 40 dogs in a makeshift shelter, they too are threatened by the lack of kibble.

"We have 40 dogs in the shelter now, hitting the boundary of the shelter itself, and our own limits. We have taken many puppies at the shelter in the past months, some were sick. Several of them are not so little anymore, but they stayed here since we haven't managed to get them adopted so far.

We are trying to separate them in the boxes according to their temperaments so they can get along. Adoptions have been going pretty slow over the past few months, as people fear the uncertainty of their jobs and the possible financial crisis in the future due to Covid , so they are not thinking about getting an animal. Vacations have also had an impact, and we hope adoptions will increase a bit afterwards.

The consequences of having to keep and care for all these dogs are increased bills. We have more veterinary bills, increased food bills, without even talking about particularly sick dogs who require special food. We are constantly thinking about food and debts issues..."

4. Left for dead after being hit by a car, Sugar was rescued in extremis, paralysed and in a critical condition. Still very weak, he needs kibble to pull through.

"Sugar was hit by a car about two months ago...The poor thing was left in the bushes for two days in temperatures over 40°C. He was barely alive when we found him. He was unable to move. Luckily the spine was not damaged, the vet said that he needs vitamins, walking, swimming and physical therapy and that he should manage to recover.

Now he is walking and things are getting better, but he still cannot sit properly and is fearful. He needs time to get better, and food to keep strong enough to follow the treatments and recover."

5. Debts are piling up and threaten the very survival of the association and the dogs. Ivana and Ana can no longer buy kibble or take it on credit.

"Financially, we are in a really bad situation at this moment. We are getting about 2500 euros annually from the city, and that’s the only amount we can count on with certainty, although pretty modest.  Other than this we are funding our organization exclusively via donations from people who are willing to help, and they are far from covering our needs.

We have huge debts, the highest ones being with the veterinary, but we also have some in every pet shop where we can get food. In each and every pet shop, there is food we can't take any more until we pay some bills already. 

We expect the stress and pressure to pay the bills to worsen because the end of the year is coming, and everyone is taking down their accounts. So we are afraid that we will be completly cut off from taking any more food, and that’s a nightmare. We just don’t know what to do and what will happen." 

6. Ivana and Ana are not asking for money, only kibble to prevent the dogs from starving.

"We don’t have private lives. Also, we’re not earning any money. We are involved in the organization full working time, every day. At least eight hours per day, often even more. We are getting criticized by our closest friends and family members for both. If we get a call about an injured animal, we just can’t ignore that. We talked about that; what would happen to animals if we got regular jobs… and we don’t have an answer. 

Our work made a huge difference. We did hundreds sterilizations and numerous adoptions, and that means fewer dogs on the streets. Also, healthy and fed dogs are not a threat to people’s safety. The most remarkable thing for us is dogs’ lives that we completely changed. Once a dog struggling for life, now a loving pet, enjoying with his new family, happy and healthy, that’s just the feeling that keeps us going forward. 

There are, of course, people who understand the situation and help as they can, however, not everyone recognizes the significance of our work. The majority of people consider us responsible for every animal on the street and expect us to solve any problem. As a result, we often face criticism and what we need is help. I can’t tell we are depressed, but we are not too optimistic either."

7. If this campaign succeeds, Ivana and Ana will not receive any money, but 2000 kg of kibble, delivered from the Animal Webaction logistics centre in Serbia.

Animal Webaction has a logistics platform directly in Serbia, which enables us to intervene quickly and deliver kibble.

8. Ivana and Ana are overwhelmed with responsibilities, their efforts to find more support are not working, and they lack sufficient time to do more.

"We are using social networks for appeals and platform Patreon. We were one of the first organizations to do so, and now there are too many, and we feel like we need to fight constantly for people’s attention. We just don’t have enough time for that because we are almost always at the field rescuing, taking care of dogs, or driving to new homes. Unfortunately, we don’t have regular volunteers to help us. It is tough to keep people helping for absolutely no material reward. Volunteers usually come to help a few times, and that’s it. So income is really unstable and uncertain.

We have stable cooperation with two NGO organizations (from Germany and France) for now, which means a lot to us, but they cannot help us in this fight for food for now. The lack of time to dedicate to searching for funding solutions is a significant problem for us. We plan shortly to contact various embassies in our country because they have some funds reserved for donations. We hope we will get some kind of response and possibly donations..."

9. Campaigns launched on Animal Webaction often fail.

When a campaign fails, Animal Webaction cannot deliver the products. The beneficiary doesn't receive anything and the buyers are refunded. 

10. In Serbia, street dogs are hunted by the State and ignored by the population, volunteers like Ivana and Ana are their only hope.

If you know of a foundation or NGO that could help Ivana and Ana, please invite them to contact us so that we can put them in touch.

If you represent a foundation or an NGO for animal protection, please help Ivana and Ana's dogs, contact us and we will put you in touch!

If you wish to go to the association's shelters to help or if you want to send her directly some kibbles or a check, contact Ivana and Ana on Facebook (note: direct help is done on your own responsibility).

11. If you make a purchase on Animal Webaction, it will be protected by our guarantees.