We cannot let these 168 dogs starve!

1. In Serbia, Snezana and Natalija are out of kibble to feed the 168 dogs at their shelter. They will starve if nobody helps them!

"Since the pandemic started, the number of the dogs at the shelter has increased dramatically. People were mass abandoning their pets, and we simply couldn’t play the picking game and decide which dogs we would take to the shelter and which dogs we would leave to die on the streets... So we just took them all in.

Our adoptions have strongly decreased, so our numbers aren't going down and of course, every new dog increases the amount of food we need for them daily, so right now it's our biggest difficulty. Everything else is bearable, but the lack of food is the most crucial problem we have. With everything going on, and with significal drop in our personal funds we simply can’t afford to buy more...

We don’t even have enough food for tomorrow, we will try to find something to give them in the morning but after that we’re out of food... We're doing everything that's humanly possible for these dogs but we can’t do everything alone..."

2. Without kibble, Snezana and Natalija are worried they might have to close the shelter!

"The vast majority of the 168 dogs we have at the shelter would have died on the streets if we hadn't taken them in with us.  Only the strongest dogs can manage to survive on the streets, and that's not the case of our dogs here. Each and everyone of them is fragile in their own way, that's the reason we took them in in the first place.

There will always be dogs that need our help, and although we do our very best to help as many as we can, it's harder now. We're worried that our current lack of funds will prevent us from taking good care of the dogs we have at the shelter, and that we'll be forced to let them back on to the streets. We can't let that happen.

We have so many different dogs, some are big, some are old... They simply cannot go on without food. ..We need help feeding them, now more than ever. "

3. Old and blind, Žuća is among the most vulnerable dogs at tge shelter. He won't survive without kibbles. 

"Žuća was living on the Serbia / Bulgaria border, he often walked 5km to the nearest city to wait in front of a bakery to try to get something to eat. We brought him to the shelter since he is very old and it’s safer for him to be here than on the street.

Žuća is completely blind in one eye and he had problems with his other eye, which we've treated. Žuća is very old and spends most of his days lying and resting. Being 15 years old, any lack of food would be fatal for him. He woudln't be able to fight for his food at the shelter, and also, if it ever came down to this, he would no longer be able to cover large distances to search for food in the outside world..."

4. Snezana's and Natalija's income have been severely impacted by the pandemic. Indebted, the pet food supplier refuses to sell them any more food until they pay off their debt...

"In 10 years, most of what we've done for the dogs and the shelter has come from our personal funds. But unfortunately, the pandemic has now unsettled everything. Snezana and I both work in a company (a company that I own) located on the Serbia / Bulgaria border, but with the closing of borders, both our incomes have severely dropped. We can barely make ends meet for our own families...

We have debts at the pet food stores and also a large amount of debt at the vet's. The pet stores refuse to sell us any more food, until we can pay off our debts... We have been doing our best  so far so that the dogs' quality of life wasn't impacted by our lack of funds but it only keeps getting harder. Food is our primary concern and we really need help providing for them."

5. Snezana and Natalija are not asking for money, only kibbles to feed the dogs.

"Both of us have loved animals ever since we were children, it runs in our families. Unfortunately, it's fair to say this isn't the case for everybody here. In Serbia, dogs are used as pets as long as they are cute and little and as long as their family "benefits" from them in some way. As soon as the family doesn't feel the need to keep the dog, they lose interest and leave them on the street.

We found several dogs with microchips and when we contacted the owners we always got the same answer : “We don’t want them anymore, you can take them wherever you want”... We even found a dog whose owner lived 400km from the place we found him. They had to take him that far just to leave him on the street...

Through all these hurdles, fortunately we still manage to have happy moments. Our proudest and happiest times is when we get pictures from the families that have adopted our dogs and we can see that the dogs are truly happy and that they have a loving family who is taking care of them."

6. If this campaign succeeds, Snezana and Natalija will not receive any money but 1800 kg of kibbles, delivered from Animal Webaction's logistics platform in Serbia.

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

7. Snezana and Natalija keep asking for help, in vain. Without a new stock of kibble, they won't be able to save more dogs!

"Lately, we've had some friends donate funds once or twice but that's it. Just like us, I think people have their own problems and everybody are looking to survive in these hard times, so they would rather spend their money on something other than donating. 

We've tried to reach out to some organizations, but they also have their own problems and majority of them are not interested in helping. Some of them don’t want to help because they would get nothing in return from us but we don’t play those political games, we are only volunteers who want to help animals and nothing else. Personal gains are not our goal.

Still, it’s imposible for just the two of us to have enough funds to take care of everything, without exterior help. We have many dogs and sometimes it's overwhelming, but we can't let them die. We need to fight through this to continue giving the dogs the best life possible."

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 Serbia, street dogs are hunted by the State and ignored by the population, volunteers like Snezana and Natalija are their only hope!

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

If you represent an animal welfare foundation or NGO, please help Snezana's and Natalija's dogs, please contact us and we will put you in touch!

If you would like to come to Snezana's and Natalija's shelter to help them, or if you would like to send them kibbles or a check directly, please contact them via the association's Facebook page (note: direct help is your own responsibility).

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