The Romanian Dog Crisis
This April I embarked on my second trip to Romania with the Pack Project. Having been before, this trip really allowed me to slow down and understand the true nature of the situation in Romania. I was also lucky enough to spend plenty of time with the dogs who reside at the shelter in Romania in the hopes of finding them a home.
After reflecting on my time there, I wanted to put into writing exactly what the issue is and why the cause is so important to me.
Who Are The Pack Project?
I first met Laura from the Pack Project after finding out they had named a puppy after me (honestly I cried a little). I’d followed them for a while but this gave me the kick to reach out and offer my help. If I’m being totally honest, I did not expect her to say “do you fancy coming to Romania in 2 weeks time” but how could I say no?! A trip like that had always been a dream of mine, so I hopped on a plane and had a whirlwind two days at Care for Dogs - the shelter out in Romania.
I learnt so much about how everything works and was totally in awe of the amazing people involved. Care for Dogs are responsible for over 500 rescued dogs and also coordinate spay/neuter programs as well as education on responsible dog ownership for the local communities. They work tirelessly to save lives and naturally, rely on adoptions from countries like the UK to adopt dogs and free up space at the shelter. That’s where The Pack Project Come in. Based here in the UK, Laura and a small team of volunteers, promote and coordinate adoptions to get dogs out of the shelter and into loving homes.
Why Romania?
I first started following the plight of Romanian dogs around 2018 after seeing multiple facebook posts from shelters out in Romania. I was so surprised to see the sheer volume of dogs and was shocked to see the situations a lot of the dogs were rescued from.
Despite being pretty well prepared for what to expect, seeing the reality of the situation was another thing entirely. Romania has an estimated 600,000 street dogs and there is very little culture around dog ownership, so the street dogs are treated as pests. At best they are left to fend for themselves and at worst they end up in public pounds where they are kept in horrendous conditions and are often killed in brutal ways.
People often ask why help out in another country when the UK is full of rescues. Firstly, I firmly believe that compassion doesn’t have borders and that we shouldn’t close our eyes to suffering if it’s not in our own country. I also think the two causes are not mutually exclusive issues. There are many people who could adopt from abroad, who may not qualify for rescues in the UK. There are also hundreds of puppies available to adopt from abroad, whereas puppies are not super common in UK rescues.
Why Does Romania Have Such a Big Issue With Dogs?
During the communist era in the 1980’s, people were ordered to relocate from their homes into apartment blocks and in the process were forced to abandon their pets. With thousands of un-neutered animals left to roam the streets, the populations started to grow out of control. Due to their increasing numbers, stray dogs are seen as a nuisance and are typically treated very poorly, often being physically attacked in the street.
Despite this, lot’s of dogs you see in Romania are technically owned. There is very little education around dog ownership, so if people do have pets, they either leave them chained up or allow them to roam around and with no education around spay/neuter, they breed with other stray dogs. When people then get unwanted litters of puppies, they either dump the puppies or worse kill them.
Over the years, the dog population has also become a political sticking point. Public pounds are paid by the government to take dogs off the street, however often this is a worse fate for the dogs, who are kept in dire conditions are often killed in inhumane ways in a bid to save money. There is no motivation to rehome or save these dogs. After 14 days they can be euthanised and this opens space for more dogs and more money.
How is the Private Shelter Different to the Pound?
There is often some confusion around the role of Care for Dogs vs the public pound. Where the pound is a government run facility, Care for Dogs is a privately run organisation, dedicated to saving the lives of dogs and improving animal welfare throughout the country. They take dogs out of the pounds as much as possible and give them a much higher quality of life at the shelter, with the end goal of rehoming the dogs.
They also run education programs, where they work WITH local communities to provide education on dog ownership. They teach young children how to care for dogs in the hopes that the next generation will approach dogs with love and compassion. They also run neutering campaigns where they go door to door, offering free sterilisation to anyone who’s willing to neuter their dogs. The goal is the reduce the amount of dogs who are reproducing.
I’ll never forget hearing that one un-neutered female dog, can result in 67,000 dogs. By neutering, the team helps to reduce dog populations and prevent puppies from being born into a life of suffering. This is the ultimate solution to fixing the problem at it’s core.
How Can You Help?
If you’re reading all this and wondering what you can do to help, then first of all, thank you!! The Pack Project are in desperate need of donations and adoptions. You can donate to our fundraiser through my instagram page and if you wish to enquire about any of the dogs we met, you can contact the Pack Project through Instagram.
If you can’t, simply reposting a dog or sharing article like this is a huge help to the cause!!
What’s Next?
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing tonnes of content from the shelter in the hopes that people will see how amazing these dogs are and offer them a home. I’m also planning to head back in July to feature more dogs and hopefully spend more time with the street team, documenting the amazing work they do!
Need Help With Your Romanian Rescue?
If you have a Romanian rescue, you might be interested in my brand new Romanian Rescue Channel which has launched in my Training Hub. We currently have content on how to help your rescue dog settle in, how to set them up to be successful and will be launching more content very soon. Get 7 days free when you sign up here.
Photo Credits -
@Aaroncandlincreative
@Thepackproject
