Stiffness, joint discomfort, difficulty walking: poor Romeo has a lot of arthritis!
3,600 kg
Dry food offered
3,600 kg
Dry food necessary
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Animal Webaction visited the site 26 April 2019 and confirms the situation described below.
In Romania, the pound no longer has enough kibble for its 190 dogs: the strongest kill the weakest!
In an overcrowded pound where kibbles are missing, fights break out, several dogs already died due to their injuries.
Guided by Emma, the veterinarian in charge of the pound, we visited the site on April 26th.
The stock of kibble we saw there is now exhausted.
The city hall agrees not to euthanize the dogs, provided that Emma fills the gap in kibble: if she does not succeed, euthanasia will resume!
The French association WOF begs us to help them.
We would like to send 3 600 kg of kibble as a matter of urgency.
Built to accommodate about a hundred dogs, the pound now has 190 of them, almost twice as many. Dogs are generally housed at 4 or 5 per pen: an extremely high level of promiscuity, which increases their stress level.
The lack of kibble exacerbates tensions and power relations: at the height of the shortage this winter, fights increased in frequency and intensity, several dogs did not survive their injuries.
On April 22nd, a new dog died after being attacked "I can't tell you how much it hurts" told us Emma, the veterinarian in charge.
Without kibbles, only the dominant ones will survive!
Depending on the city hall, the pound and dog maintenance correspond to a public budget, including food costs. Legally, pounds in Romania are required to euthanize animals after a period of 14 days, if they are not sponsored or adopted.
Thanks to Emma's management, and the cooperation of the municipal administration, no euthanasia is currently being carried out, but this involves a much larger number of dogs than expected.
Despite its cooperation, the municipality only has the budget to feed half of the dogs taken in, and cannot increase it. So it's all up to Emma: if she doesn't manage to make up for the lack of kibble, euthanasia may start again!
Because public finances only cover 50% of the necessary supplies for the dogs, Emma and the shelter administrator are doing their best to provide more substantial rations for the dogs.
When we visited the pound, there was only one week left of kibbles, all of them are now exhausted. Emma has managed to buy a few bags in order to hold on more, but knows she won't be able to continue like this, the task is huge!
Lack of food leads to a weakening of the immune system, which can quickly occur: dogs are more susceptible to contract diseases, and there are more contagions.
Emma fights to minimize outbreaks: she vaccinates all dogs on time against the most common and destructive diseases, such as distemper.
However, she was unable to contain the parvovirus outbreak this winter, which resulted in the death of dozens of puppies: "90% of them died of Parvo. This was in January/February in that moment we had a big lack of food and the most lack was of space" Emma told us.
The shelter still has about twenty puppies, we have to help them get out of it!
We can come into action, we have already booked a truck and pallets, but we have to pay it before May 10th.
If the collection fails, we will not be able to pay, the departure of the truck will be cancelled and none of the collected kibbles will be delivered...
If the collection fails, we will refund all donors.
Involved well beyond her official duties as a veterinarian, Emma is everywhere for dogs: search for food, sponsors, promotion of dogs for adoption, care and vaccinations well beyond her time slots etc....
Emma spends a large part of her income at the pound, from medicines to kibble bags. Unfortunately, the needs are too high in relation to her own resources, and her time too limited to combine everything.
Currently, some leftovers are still being obtained from the canteens of a local university, but the activity is about to end for the entire summer period: Emma does not yet know how she will be able to manage without it!
Partner of several shelters in Romania, the French association WOF has known Emma for a long time. On the spot a few weeks ago, Maeva, a volunteer of the association, asked for our help when she returned: "They are struggling to feed the dogs... [...] Emma and her team are doing what they can, but it's complicated. We would like to help them, we have started to make adoptions for dogs from this pound" she told us.
3 other associations in Sweden, Germany and Holland help with adoptions and medical treatment: small, they have few financial resources, and only one of them is able to help with food, on a very occasional basis.
In Romania since 2013, all stray dogs captured by dogcatchers and taken to the pound are condemned to be euthanized after 14 days without adoption or sponsorship. Because they are expensive when properly performed, many euthanasia are often carried out in a very barbaric way.
Because they do not bring back anything once locked up, many dogs are also held in deplorable conditions, kept in overcrowded pens and barely fed...
Only individuals like Emma can make it possible to set up a different system for all these dogs.
Arrived at the pound in November 2018, Emma has already done a lot for her residents, and wants to do much more, including increasing the number of adoptions.
Yet the sacrifices are extremely heavy to bear for her. Employed in a veterinary practice 80% of the time, she spends much more time at the pound than that provided by her job as a regular veterinarian. At the expense of her family (Emma is the mother of a 10-month-old daughter), her career, but also her health.
Motivated by a deep love of animals, Emma is very moved to see dogs suffer this situation. While her determination is intact, she knows that she cannot change things by being alone: we must help her.
This collection is organized by the association WOF. The 3600 kg collected will be delivered to Emma to feed the 190 dogs hosted at the municipal pound.
- Animal Webaction has been helping more than 833 animal welfare associations over the past 5 years, with more than 1,967 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.