So what is really happening in Romania right now? I hope many of you have already heard the news, but for those who haven't: They are mass slaughtering stray dogs there!!! I would say it's a real holocaust for dogs right now!
Some news in English:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/25/us-romania-straydogs-idUSBRE98O0MQ20130925
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24489505
ja Suomeksi:
http://yle.fi/uutiset/yhdistys_romanian_kulkukoiria_surmataan_julmasti/6851903
http://kulkurit.fi/romaniassa-meneillaan-koirien-joukkotappamiset/
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152191023203858&set=a.170930163857.157765.169194868857&type=1&theater
Many say that the situation is not bad just for the stray dogs, but for all dogs! The catching and killing of dogs in Romania is a huge business and therefore many people don't care at all who's dogs they're catching! So we wouldn't feel safe there at all with our beloved little girls. Couldn't leave them out of sight for a single second, couldn't play outside and would have to have all the papers with us constantly (advised by the German consulate), just in case there would be some doubts about the ownership! This sort of traveling is not for us! Anyway we don't want to go to any human war zones (eg. Syria), so why would we take our girls to a war zone for dogs?!
Luckily we are not alone with our thoughts and there are many people trying to help the poor dogs and bring awareness to others, like for example this German couple:
http://www.travelnaid.de/TnA-Rumaenien2013.html
My heart is totally broken because of this thing (and because of many other animal cruelty issues as well!!!) and if I just could I would adopt them all... Well we all know I can't do that, but at least I do what I can: I'm talking about these things out loud and writing about them, signing petitions and for example last Christmas I donated all my gift moneys to different animal rescue charities in Europe and in Finland. And one day when our family is ready to have room for another fur baby, it will definitely be adopted! :D
What can you do?
- Bring awareness to your family and friends and talk out loud about these thing, make people see the whole picture! Silence makes no difference in this world!
- Adopt, don't buy! This world is already totally full of stray and homeless animals, so there is no need to breed more until everyone has a good home! (have to say here that I think exactly same about breeding humans!)
- Ditch the unnecessary consumerism and for example donate holiday gift moneys to animal shelters, and make many sad souls happy! :)
Let's be kind to all living beings, no matter what color, size or age we are, or how many legs, wings or fins we have!!! Make love, not war! :D
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| Hertta: happy adopted doggy! Loves bananas :) |
~ Ilta
Thank you for this post! Romania is a place I tend to avoid during my travels, which is a shame, since the landscape is supposedly amazing!
ReplyDeletehalf Romanian here; sry to say but this entry is sadly wrong, giving the impression to the misinformed that Romanians are a bunch of dog killing savages.
ReplyDeleteWhile Romania/Romanians certainly have a lot of things to improve, the dog issue is a great disinformation/misunderstanding and catching dogs is certainly not a "huge business" there.
Up until recently the local authorities were not permitted to kill stray dogs (only sterilize and release back). Upon recent developments the law was changed allowing them to do so if they choose to do it!!! Once more: the law does not *require* mass killings, it gives the local authorities the right to put them down if they want to (i.e. not adopted, sick, dog shelters full, etc). That's it!
The very same law is in place in most of the "civilized" Europe (UK included). Gotta love double standards.
Links from foreign people actually living in Bucharest:
http://www.bucharestlife.net/2013/09/08/romania-is-not-a-barbaric-country/
http://www.bucharestlife.net/2013/09/22/hypocrisy-is/
http://www.bucharestlife.net/2013/09/26/hide-your-dogs-the-romanians-are-coming/
--paul
P.S. BBC article is well written and balanced, wandering if people actually read that :)
P.P.S. Stay safe guys!
Hello Paul, and thanx for your comment. We based our decision on the observations and reports from German and Finnish animal rescuers and people working in animal shelters. We trust and weigh those sources much more compared to e.g. newspapers.
DeletePlease find here two reports written by German rescue workers:
http://www.tierherzen-brauchen-hilfe.de/Rumaenien1/gallery.html
http://tierherzen-brauchen-hilfe.de/Rumaenien2/Rumaenienfahrt.html
There are also some people who disagree with the articles published in the Bucharest life.
In any case, we wanted to stay there for many days which means that we will have long walks with our dogs through forests. This is not much fun if dogs must be on lead all the time - in fact it's teasing them since we cannot play. Whenever a dog is free there is a risk that it will run away and the potential consequences i.e. our dogs are captured and killed before we can find them are not acceptable.
For the sake of dog welfare, tourism and the beauty the country has, we hope that the situation becomes better in future. Killing is not the solution! Only sterilisations, adoptions (and not breeding any new dogs!) and the change of human behaviour and attitude (like in lean and agile) works in this situation!!!
http://suomenkuvalehti.fi/jutut/ulkomaat/romaniassa-kulkukoirat-kuristetaan-tai-nuijitaan-hengilta
ReplyDeletehttp://www.badpolitics.ro/razboi-civil-la-ploiesti-cainii-hingheriti-ajung-morti-la-adapostul-de-bucov-peste-1-000-de-caini-omorati-in-ultimele-zile/