When I first approached organizations around the world, Romania was one of the first to put their paws up in welcoming me in. Thousands of stray dogs rule the streets here – as in many countries, puppies are abandoned after they grow better, most aren’t sterilized, and there is an obsession with owning a specific breed of dogs. Anyway, my official visited started with GIA’s (Group Initiative for Animals) where I joined them as they held their annual ‘Dog City’ event in Bucharest. Celebs and canines alike all came out to play in the rain, and I had a total ball. I even entered the ‘longest kiss’ event but force quite before I could snatch all the prizes away! GIA doesn’t have a shelter but rather invites foster parents to bring their ‘strays’ to the event for adoption – 13 of which were adopted on the day! How WOOF is that!
I selected the Oscar’s Oscar the next day at Nature Heritage for our Future. I would love to adopt this old chap – despite the fact that older dogs make better and lasting pets, older dogs in most shelters barely face a chance at adoption - sad, but if anyone sponsors the flight from Romania to South Africa, I’ll promise to take him in! This shelter is one of only 2 registered private shelters in Bucharest and is probably the best in Romania. I can’t say I would want to be stuck there, and while adoption rates are tragically low for the 150 plus that bark inside, the dogs are sheltered and fed – which is a lot more than the ones that prowl and beg for yelp outside.
My travels took me North into the Romanian heartland, and I managed to catch up with a sterilization blitz that takes place in Sibiu twice a year. Romania Animal Rescue (RAR) organizes this event on behalf of Animal Life Sibiu. Dr Daniel Gheoca heads up the operation alongside Stefan Aurelian and the pair sterilized more than 65 dogs on the day that I popped in! Yap about dedication. I didn’t stick around too long in case they removed my balls – AGAIN!
It’s definitely worth saluting Livia Brenner from Romania Animal Rescue Fund too. She escorted me through my view of Romania, and she’s playing an integral part to change the perception of shelter dogs by taking puppies off the street, photographing them and making the public look twice at these ‘Lords of the Street’. She’s also working at giving these street dogs a title – something like ‘Keine’. You can check out some of her images in the image gallery below.
The rest of our stay centered on trying to track down Dracula in Sighisoara- to no avail- thank Dog! Yelp…
