Poor Zoulou's teeth are starting to fall out!
3,500 kg
Dry food offered
3,500 kg
Dry food necessary
On March 10, 70 street dogs will be left without food!
In Serbia, a handful of volunteers struggle to feed street dogs, who cannot be gathered anywhere.
Lacking dog food, they try to use bread and meat waste to feed the dogs, but that's not enough!
Insufficient donations, organisations who refuse to act outside of the European Union: the volunteers are overwhelmed by the expenses, and have no other choice than to postpone more sustainable projects.
Worse, they already had to make the heavy decision to restrict the number of dogs they feed....
The only association that could help them recently can no longer buy food: Svetlana, head of the association, is asking for our help.
To help the association, we want to send 3500 kg of dry food as soon as possible.
In Serbia, Svetlana and the volunteers of her association take care of about 70 stray dogs, whose most fragile were placed in foster care. But they struggle to get enough to feed them...
The stock is depleting very quickly: the remaining stock will only last about 10 days, and the outlook is far from reassuring.
As often as possible, BAK's members obtain unsold bakeries, outdated dried meat (but always suitable for use by dogs) or waste produced by neighbouring farmers when they slaughter livestock in their workshops.
But this resource is fluctuating, in terms of both quantity and quality, and much less suitable for feeding dogs than dry food...
A few months ago, already facing the difficulty of feeding stray dogs, BAK sought the help of Animal Rescue Serbia, an association usually specializing in animal first aid. Exceptionally, ARS was able to get them delivered with 500 kg of dog food, but this stock is now depleted.
However, BAK can't ask this association to help it anymore, as ARS already struggles to finance its own actions and has in any case no vocation to feed the animals. This support was exceptional and unfortunately cannot be renewed.
The association currently intervenes on 3 villages, where it sterilizes, identifies and heals stray dogs. "This represents about 70 dogs that we follow regularly, but of course, there would be a lot more if we widened our zone of action", Marija, a member deeply involved in the association for 5 years, explains.
"We also see daily people of goodwill towards their animals, but far too poor to be able to both feed and treat them. With a sufficient food stock, we could also occasionally relieve them of food costs to allow them to finance veterinary fees", she continues.
A failed collection on Animal Webaction
We are able to take action, we have already booked a truck and pallets, but we have to pay our transporter before March 5th.
If the collection fails, we will not be able to pay, the departure of the truck will be cancelled and none of the collected food will be delivered...
If the collection fails, we will refund all donors.
In terms of animal protection, Serbian context is very unfavourable: despite a relatively good law, mentalities still have a long way to go. Even the authorities are completely resistant to the application of the law, and the situation of the animals remains deplorable.
That's the reason why Svetlana and other BAK's members turned abroad to find support for their actions. The Brigitte Bardot Foundation has already supported the BAK by funding a large part of the sterilizations of stray dogs carried out last year, and Svetlana hopes the help will be renewed.
Unfortunately, volunteers do not know which door to hit to get food aid.
Determined and motivated, BAK's members contacted one by one all the international organizations recommended to them.
At the moment we are writing this text, Animal Webaction is the only one to have responded favourably, with a few others unable to intervene because Serbia is outside the European Union, and the vast majority who did not even deigned to respond...
Even struggling to find help, the volunteers have the hardest time finding food for the dogs they care for...
"
We don’t have any resources other than individual donations, and of course we don’t know how much people will want to give us. Those of us who have a job donate regularly, but we have our own difficulties and some months we are stuck!" Marija says.
After the dog food sent by Animal Rescue Serbia, BAK had the chance to receive a donation that allowed it to buy back for 2 weeks of stock: the members know that they can feed the dogs until about March 10th... But the future is uncertain: it depends entirely on the generosity of donors.
Association members are dynamic and have many projects, including the setting of dog houses for stray dogs in well studied areas.
Unfortunately, it costs money, and the priority is to feed these dogs before providing them with safe places to stay. Therefore, as long as all the money harvested will be used for purchasing food, this project will have to be postponed...
Daily facing the terrible situation of stray dogs in Serbia, Svetlana has been involved for decades in helping them. But after a long time spent working alone in the extent of her personal means, she finally decided to create BAK association.
"The Serbian law in terms of animal protection is rather well done, explains Svetlana. Unfortunately, institutions are very cautious when it comes to enforcing it. As an individual, I had no clout against the authorities, and it was easy for them to ignore me."
"That was the first thing that led me to create a formal association. Today, local authorities are forced to count with BAK, as with other associations in the country." The association regularly brings cases of animal abuse to justice in order to recognize this problem and to systematize enforcement.
Svetlana is also very involved in advancing consciences, particularly through interventions in schools in its sector, or at animal welfare conferences alongside Animal Rescue Serbia.
Finally, field-based action quickly became essential to sterilize, feed and treat the dogs on the streets of her area. Convinced of the strength of the collective, BAK association also works hand in hand with other associations in the country.
Through all these actions, Svetlana invests all her savings, her energy, her health, and her personal life for her cause, but everything holds up at the end of her arms... Let’s not let her down, she needs us!
If the collection succeeds, the 3500 kg collected will be given to the 70 dogs BAK association is currently taking care of.
- Animal Webaction has been helping more than 750 animal welfare associations over the past 4 years, with more than 1,700 deliveries in 8 countries (see photos).
- We make sure to contact each partner association, inquire to ensure its reliability and always ask for supporting documents.
- Our partner associations only receive physical products, which means we never send money. When you offer 10kg of food, we deliver 10kg of food to the association.
- We also deal with transportation ourselves, and make sure all the products collected are properly brought where the association needs them to be, so a quick delivery is guaranteed.
- We will notify you by email as soon as the product bought thanks to your donation has been delivered.
- We will ask the association to take pictures of the food received, and will send you these pictures.
- If you change your mind, we will refund your donation upon request, without charge or proof of any kind.
- If unfortunately the collection fails, we will not deliver anything, we will refund you the full amount of your donation.