We cannot let this shelter's 282 dogs starve!

1. In Romania, Ramona is running out of kibble to feed the 282 dogs at her shelter. They will starve if no one helps!

"There are currently 282 dogs at the shelter and their number has started to grow again after a brief decrease… Indeed, we’ve recently been taking more and more of them in, as owners come to leave and abandon their dogs at the shelter… Adoptions also usually drop during the summer and the latters are deeply impacted by the closing of British borders to all of Ukraine’s neighbouring countries. Most of our planned adoptions are therefore blocked for an undetermined period and the dogs remain at the shelter…

With this increasing number of dogs at the shelter, we struggle hard to feed everyone. Right now, we have barely enough kibble for three more days and that’s a maximum! The inflation in Romania has depleted our financial resources as well as the donations we get. It has forced us to reduce the dogs’ kibble portions for several months now. We can’t afford our usual weekly quantity of kibble anymore, it’s become too expensive for us to keep up! Being unable to get enough kibble is a very stressful situation and we often think about the dogs going to sleep as they’re hungry…"   

2. At the shelter, dogs are getting thinner and start to fight over food: Ramona needs this campaign to prevent further escalation and tragic outcomes!

"Today, our remaining kibble stock is so low it won’t last long. Lacking food and space, we sadly can’t rescue any other dog in distress… At the shelter, the dogs are crowded and they have been eating reduced quantities of kibble for four months, since we’re unable to buy as much of it as before the global crisis. And there are already noticeable, potentially hazardous consequences of the lack of kibble. 

Some dogs are losing weight and fights over food have already occurred in some kennels. I’m very concerned: if we were to diminish their kibble portions even further, they will become thinner and fight even more ferociously, out of survival instinct and resource guarding… With many of them being vulnerable, most wouldn’t make it through!

This summer is canicular and we have to make sure the dogs stay hydrated and refreshed all the time, providing them with large quantities of water… This scorching heat can take a toll on them and, without enough kibble, they will weaken even more rapidly. If this campaign fails, we’ll have to stretch our extremely low stock even further and it will result in tragic ends for the dogs!" 

3. Nike was rescued from the streets and had to be amputated: she relies on this kibble delivery to survive with her disability and overcome past trauma.

"Nike is an eight-year-old dog who was found on a busy road a few months ago. We had to take her to the vet, since her leg was in a really bad condition… She had to be amputated, otherwise, she risked a severe infection to spread all over her body. When she arrived, she was emaciated, definitely underfed and most probably just had a litter but the puppies were nowhere to be found. 

Before we rescued her, she surely had a life of deprivation and probably used to be a shepherd dog, living in harsh conditions, before ending up abandoned in the wild… She is learning to trust humans and therefore needs a lot of care, attention and proper diet. She is slowly adapting to her amputation and kibble is essential for her to build enough strength to live with her disability."

4. Inflation and lack of fundings have made the shelter's financial situation worse: indebted, Ramona can no longer buy kibble for the dogs!

"The biggest difficulties we’re currently facing are funding-related and it’s hard for us to see that we’re unable to order enough kibble for the dogs… We’re mostly reliant on sponsorings, donations and fundraisings and they’re getting lower and more unfruitful than ever! Prices are soaring and we’re struggling to pay for every shelter-related expense... 

Now, the way people donate is greatly impacted by the global context: because of the inflation and the war in Ukraine, many donors have either redirected their help towards Ukraine or aren’t donating anymore (and if so, way less). Not to mention the effect of summer vacation, which is always a time of the year where donations drop…

We owe money to the vets, to the kibble supplier… And with these extreme temperatures, the water bills have skyrocketed over the last few months, as we had to make sure the dogs were provided with enough water to survive. As long as adoptions don’t start again, there’s still a huge number of dogs to feed… Most of them have already known hunger in the past, we can’t let them down! We need this campaign to succeed so we can solve the kibble issue for a few weeks and stress less over our debts.” 

5. Ramona isn't asking for money, only kibble to prevent the dogs from starving.

"I’ve always loved animals and felt the need to save them… I joined the shelter in 2013 for the first time and I've been committed to it ever since! I even officially became the association's vice-president in 2017. Thanks to everyone's actions at the shelter, like helping, saving or sterilising strays, some people have started to realise the importance and benefits of sterilisation. We even have people who initially came to ask for our help with a dog they had found and came back later to start volunteering! 

In Romania, back in the days, people mostly used dogs for protection purposes and they weren’t considered as friends or family members, but rather as objects… This old mentality is still very persistent in people’s minds: dogs are often chained and aren’t sterilised, so puppies are just thrown away, as well as ageing dogs, who are regarded as ‘useless’... If things in Romania are changing, it’s very, very slow.  

Public shelters are still dreadful places for the dogs, we all know how they’re treated and how their fate ends in those places: dogs are kept in minimal conditions, caged, with minimal resources and if they don’t die there, they’re euthanised after 14 days anyway… Dogs in distress only have associations like ours to rescue them ethically, but without more support from the Romanian public and institutions, our actions are hindered and limited.” 

6. If this campaign succeeds, Ramona will not receive any money but 2400 kg of kibble, delivered from Animal Webaction's logistics platform in Romania.

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

7. Ramona and the shelter’s supporters are doing their best, but donations are too low and fundraisings aren’t working: Ramona needs us to get kibble!

“We had very disappointing results with our recent fundraisings, these don’t seem to work much… Our historical supporters and donors are still there for us, which is great. But the amounts of food and money we receive are extremely diminished due to the global situation and the fact that we get less help during the summer, as people are focused on their vacations… Every donation, be it very small, is still very useful and greatly appreciated by us. They’re currently just not sufficient for us to get enough kibble for the dogs to eat their fill…

I’d love to have more local people taking part in our actions. Not only by donating, but coming to help us, even in the form of socialising, taking care of, or walking the dogs… Every way to get involved is always so valuable! It’s such a pity most people are indifferent to animal welfare in Romania and, when they're sensitive to the cause, they lack the means to help. Therefore, our only option is to turn to foreign organisations to seek much needed help for the dogs. This is why we’re appealing to your generosity and kindness with this kibble campaign. We, at the shelter, are like family to our rescue dogs… They went through a lot! We cannot let them suffer, even less from starvation. The success of this campaign is our last hope...”

8. 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. 

9. In Romania, it is difficult to find funds for kibble, there are no grants, no foundations. Many abandoned dogs die alone in the streets, in complete indifference...​

If you know of a foundation or NGO that could help Ramona, please invite them to contact us so that we can put them in touch with each other.

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

If you want to help Ramona at the shelter or if you want to send them kibble or a check directly, contact her via Facebook (note: direct help is done on your own responsibility).

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