The faith of horses owned by gipsies 

Horses are being considered working tools for gipsies and even ways to be wealthier. Having no respect for this nobile creatures, horses have a very sad and traumatized life. 

Horses life don’t worth anything…

  While returning from the dog shelter from Turceni, on February 2009,I saw in front of my car, a van loaded with horses. I couldn’t go foward so I was just driving behind of them all the way back to Tg-Jiu. I saw that a poor horse, red-brown was down, trying to raise on his feet but unable to do so, as the other horses where all over him and they were tied by their head. At one point, another black horse fall over this red- brown horse whom I wasn’t able to see anymore.  I didn’t know what was going to happen with those horse, but as the van had foreign plates I thought  that they were sold by gipsy to foreigns for slaughter. Anyway, we just couldn’t stand and look, so we called Police to ask a team to come and check their papers, including sanitary-veterinary transport licence. The problem was that before entering Tg-Jiu, the van turned left on a auxiliar road, so the Police just went another way. But, we followed them, aiming to stop them somewhere. Soon, the van entered a gipsy district in Tg-Jiu and four gipsy men went down. We went down also, and started to put them questions about those horses. 

We found out those gipsies have bought the 8 horses ( that were crowded in this van) from  a fair and they feed them over spring and summer  and in autum they will sell them to other people or give them to slaughterhouses ( for 2-5Ron/kg)

One by one the crowded horses and taken down, falling brutally over their backs, on their knees etc. They were frightened and scared, traumatized, being in the hands of those gipsies.

I have asked the gipsies to handle them with care and they asked : "Why do you care so much? They are just some horses………"

The faith of horses owned by gipsies

 Police takes action

Unfortunately, this kind of cases described next are very often seen in our county, and not only. 

The gipsies living near the shelter were organizing a meeting, every Thursday, on the plain near, bringing horses to test them. They were torturing them with an inimaginable cruelty, forcing them to carry tones of sand climbing a hill, in order to show theirforce and to able to sell them at a good price, beat them until they were full of blood and were down on their knees.

This thing was happening frequently. We opossed to this savage practice, tried to talk to the gipsies and asked them stop this, but had no luck, on the contrary we were sworen and even whipped.

So,we couldn’t bare anymore see the poor horses tortured like this, and we decided to call the Police, although we knew that there was a risk in doing this.

To our surprise The Direction of Rapid Intervention, the so-called "masked" policemen, arrived at the shelter in less then 4 minutes, acted with promptitude, put the gipsies down on earth with the gun to their heads. They put them the handcuffs and brought them to the Police.

article in a local newspaper —->>

It was a real movie scene, people from the Customs which is near, were looking very surprised and didn’t know what was happening.

At the police, they were fined according the Law 205 – for Animal Protection – for the bad treatment to animals.

DONA’S STORY

April 2009

Through the resolution from 19.03.2009, it started the penal investigation against Bonculescu Stelian, for committing a crime according to art.208, alin.1, Penal Code, taking into account that at 08.11.2008, he stole from the posession of the injured party, Serbanoiu Carmena, a horse, causing a prejudice of 2000 ron. FRom the investigations made, it was decided that at 08.11.2008, the blamed Bonculescu Stelian, went to a land property of Pro Animals Tg-Jiu, where it has the quality of presiddent the injured party Serbanoiu Carmena, from where he stole a horse. It resulted also that during Mai 2008, the injured party Serbanoiu Carmena took in her care a horse that has been found abandoned in the area of canine shelter from Narciselor street, from Tg-Jiu, being established afterwards that the horse belongs to the blamed Bonculescu Stelian, who had been sanctioned according art.2, pnt.19, Law no.61/1991, the horse remaining in the possesion of the injured party, who provided her the medical treatment and food. After the situation of the horse improved considerably, the blamed party went to the land of the injured party, from where he stole the horse. The prejudice wasn’t recuperated. Taking into account the material of the penal, results that in this case are applicable the art.10,b,Penal Code, as through its concret way and means used the deed don’t represent the level of concret danger  of a crime, bringing a minimal touch to the social relations regarding heritage. Also, taking into accoun that the blamed party is known with penal history, but condemned for other types of crimes then the present one, we appreciate that appling a sanction with administrative character is enough for re-educating the blamed party. Therefore, it is confimed the proposal of the Police representatives for not starting the penal against Bonculescu Stelian, for the crime accoring Penal code, as it hadn’t been committed this fact, as the blamed party stole the horse from the property not fenced.

Conclusions:1.Removing sentence under the penal from the crime of theft of Bonculescu Stelian. Applying the fine of 700 Ron. 2. Not starting the penal investigations against Bonculescu Stelian. 3. Judging expenses of 100 ron paid by the blamed party.

April 2009

As a coincidence, at exactly one year since being found first time, on 07.04.2009, we saw Dona passing with the gipsy and the other mare, right near shelter. We were shocked to see her state, looking very weak and sick. Asking the gipsy about some wounds on her front legs, he said that " she fall down on her knees several times, as I make long trips with her, pulling the carriage". We told him to care for her, as she looks pretty bad and remained to meet next day. 

On 09.04.2009, the gipsy passed again with her, late, when he though we weren’t there.  When we looked at her, she was more weaker then the other day, and the wounds on her front legs were bigger and severe. Then, we decided to call the vet and Police. When Police came, and he was asked about her state, he said that "I use her at work daily, I just returned with her from a village ( about 60km distance) and tomorrow I am going again. I can’t treat her, but I give her to you if you withdrow the complain to Police for theft".  When he was asked to give a written declaration he refused, almost hit a policeman and ran away, leaving Dona with us.

She had visible open wounds, on her back and blood on her body. When the gipsy was asked from where are the wounds he said " I beat her from time to time, it is normal".

At her front legs she had a huge infection, and she could hardly walk.

We have asked help to transport her at our home. On the way from shelter to home, we have drived through the city. Being very weak and not fed,  she fall down on her knees again on the streets, she raised up alone, but blood was running out her front legs, so we had to bandage her to stop the bleeding

Second day, at home, we called the vet  but also the inspectors from the Sanitary Veterinary Direction, who came and noticed her poor state of health. They also issued papers stating her situation.

At our home,we have started treatment( as besides her wounds and infection she has also a respiratory problem), that will take a lot of time. Hopefully she will recover taking into account her situation.

We have deposed complains at the Police but also at the Sanitary-Veterinary Direction, together with sanitary-veterinary certificates and photos, in order to fine the gipsy and we can adopt legally Dona.

February- March 2009 

The file of Dona theft from our garden is under investigation by the Police. Unfortunately, things go extremely slow, also because Police don’t give any importance to animal cases.

Here is an answer from the Police on 11.12.2008 given to our addresses from 08.11.2008 regarding Dona’s theft, that states that our complain has been registered in the evidence of the paperworks with known authors and after the investigations the file will be send to the Prosecutor Institution with legal proposals.

So on 16.02.2009, the Police sent the file to the Prosecutors’ Institution, who, after the prosecutor’s decision, sent it back to Police on 04.03.2009, for starting again investigations.

As ou can see, if an animal is neglected, abused or stoled the Police treat it like an object, nothing more. 

January 2009

On 13th of January, the gipsy "owner" of Dona came to the shelter saying that the Municipality Catchers collected  Dona and his other mare and  took them into the public shelter. He came to ask us to speak with the Chief to give Dona back to him without paying the fees. We called the catchers chief who said that they pick Dona and the mare up because someone complaint they busted into their lands. Next day we went to the Public Horse shelter where we found Dona.

 She was so sad, with her eyes dirty and in tears. When I called "Dona" she turned her head in an instant coming to the fence. We gave them some breads to eat, as all they had was straws. She was very weak and didn’t look too well. Unfortunately, legally we couldn’t take her out of there, so we had to leave.

 The next day, we saw the gipsy passing near shelter with Donaand that mare, sign that he got them back.

The file of Dona had been sent by the Police to the Court of Law, waiting for a trial to start. 

December 2008

 Everyday, since the gipsy stole Dona, he passes with her and his other horses in front of the shelter. He brings them every day around 16-17 o’clock to the field near the shelter and leave them there until next day in the morning. He does this like the other gipsies as he has nothing to give them eat.  In the day he uses them at work and then he bring them to field to eat what they find. He also leave them on the rain, snow and frost and with no water Dona, lost lots of weight lately and the signs of not being well taken care of, started to be easily seen.

 November 2008

On 8th of November 2008,we received a phone from  our worker from the shelter who told her that the gipsy " the owner" came at shelter saying that he has Dona. When  we heard we thought we were going to die, so we run in the courtyard to see if it is real. Indeed, Dona was no where. We deposed an intimation to Police stating that the gipsy stole Dona from our garden. The chief of gipsies contacted us and proposing a blackmail: to give them 1000 Ron and to take Dona back but also to withdraw the intimations from the Police ( what was impossible).

Since then we are living a nightmare. We can’t do anything legally to take her back, because we have to wait for the investigation of the Police that we don’t know how much it will take , taking into consideration the fact that the Police don’t give any priority to animal cases and neither guide too much after the Animal Protection Law.

It is very hard, as we see the gipsy everyday passing with Dona and his other poor horses in front of the shelter bringing them to the field from 4 pm to 10 pm the next day, to eat grass,but now being so cold they stay during night in the rain, in the cold, with no water and no other food. During day, the gipsy use them to different works, mainly to carriage.

September 2008

So, we decided to take her to our home, where she could stay free and have much more space. She is a gorgeous horse now, very clever and from time to time too naughty. We brought her a friend, Zuzu,a small horse that we found abandoned on a national road between cars who unfortunately despite our efforts, didn’t survive.

June-July-August 2008

Soon, the results started to be seen .
 Here is Dona, if you recognize her………We can’t forget when she was laying down back in April, almost dead and people were saying " let her die…"  and we said "NO because she will live".Those people  thought that we were crazy probably, but despite our extremely hard work, we have no doubt that we did the right thing……Dona is the most beautiful horse for us….The scarces remained from all her suffering, but she changed her hair and she got lots of weight. Daily, besides the other kind of food, we were also bringing her grass and took her for eating on a field. We couldnt let her alone because of the gipsies.

When Dona recovered, the gipsy who let her to die started to say that he wants her back. From our side, this was out of question, to give her back to this awful man, but he started to threat us that he will steal us, that he will kill us, that he will cut us a leg and an arm etc. We deposed an intimation to the Police for this threatenings.

May 2008

There were days, weeks extremely hard. Her state was very bad, she couldnt stay on her feet, she was falling down and we need several people to raise her. There came vet, assistants, gipsies , who said that she must be put to sleep because she will not survive. But, we said NO, putting to sleep is the easies thing to do and at some cases it is made only by cowardice. So, we decided to fight for her life, as she was fighting too, not willing to die. We had to keep her hanged up under her belly for several weeks in order to strenghten her legs and also bringing her the best food. We were also asking vet assistants to come to make her the treatment everyday. Because she stayed layed down so many times, and probably had fallen also in the past, on her left side she had huge wounds and got a very bad infection at her right leg. Daily, we were cleaning her wounds very careful. But, despite her situation she never gave up and her will of life gave us the power to go on….

08th of April

The next day, in the morning, we saw her abandoned, laying down on the field from the back of our shelter. We have found out the the "owner" said that he will let her to die.We called again Police, whom unfortunately didn’t know about the Law for Animal Protection so couldn’t apply it, and also the vet who made a treatment.

She had different bloody wounds on her body and a gipsy told us that it might be from the iron whip used by gipsies to beat horses.   We cleaned her wounds. Her son was staying near her, smelling her all the time.

But, there were gathered also some dogs from the gipsies district waiting to eat her alive, as it had happened in the past.

We fed her and we could hardly raise her on her feets, transporting her to the stable we made. The Policeman had also made a report stating that we will take the mare to our care.

07 th of April

 We have been announced that a horse was laying somewhere in the city, and the gipsies – trying to raise her – dragged her on the concret. There came also the Police who fined the owner with 200 Ron for leaving her without surveillance. The horse was very weak and skinny. The gipsy took her into his carriage to carry it home and we told him to take good care of her, to feed her, as we will visit her the next day.

We have found out that three weeks ago she had been found on the streets alone so the Communitary Police and the Public Catching Service took her to the horse Public Shelter. The gipsy had tried to take her out but because of formalities couldn’t do it sooner, accusing that she lost weight while staying there.

November 2008

The inspector and vet who has that area told us that they have seen Rona and she was looking better.  We intend to visit her again soon to check her situation.

April 2008
After two weeks

We were there again together with an inspector from the Sanitary -Veterinary Direction, with a vet , with the Police but also with a representative of the press. Unfortunately, here despite the fact that we proove and bring evidences that a horse is not properly taken care, is injured and the owners have no financial means to take care of him, it is impossible to take the animal away . The inspector put the owner to write and sign a declaration stating that he will provide  the horse the food and medicines needed, in the contrary case they will give up the horse and we will overtake her.

April 2008

 The new stable we build especially for Rona is waiting for her…………..

20th March 2008

Although we took care of Rona for a long period, the owner didn’t want to give her to us to offer her a retirement decent place, despite the fact that she will not be able to work again because of her condition and he has no financial possibilities to take care of her without getting any benefit from her work.

So, we went there on Friday 20th of MArch, together with representatives of Police and vet, but also with Pro Animals Finland representaives.

Bellow you can see the home of Rona’s owner. We found Rona with the other mare in a garden and as you can see her state wasn’t good. Still very skinny and weak and with her leg still hurting her when walking.

We had been trying for hours to negociate to take Rona but her owner refused saying that he would better kill her than give her to us.

After more then 4 hours of discussions, the vet made a report where he wrote the bad condition in which Rona had been found, gave the owner a fine of almost 450 Euros ( paid half in 48 hours) and gave a term of 2 weeks to recover Rona.

8th – 15th of March

We returned and we found her in the stable, covered and with food but the feet was much bigger then the other days, due to the untreated infection. We gave her to eat and the vet assistant make her the injections needed.

Although there were 60 km daily, we went there with the vet assistant to make Rona the treatment needed and in the third day the feet was looking better. Anyway, due to her situation it won’t ever be possible to put her to work again, so those owners will not feed her in vain as they consider with bring any benefit, so she is a "lost case" ,the death for her would mean to be left to starve and die. But, we decided to try to offer her a home, a calm life from now on….

7th of March

Here is RONA, as we called her. On 7th of March, a journalists from the national TV post called us and told us that while driving at about 30 km distance from Tg-Jiu she saw a skinny horse laying down on a field looking as if she is sevearly injured. We went there together with two vets and found the female standing, but after checking her the vet found her extremely weak and with a problem on her right back leg. While standing near her and thinking what to do, there came a woman who said that the horse belonge to her but because she is weak, sick and injured and because she has no money, she will abandon her in the woods nearby to leave her to die.

We weren’t shock by this attitude, but we told her what this animal abuse and abandn means in the terms of the new Law for animal protection, like prison and huge fines. We called the Town Hall to give us a hand, to transport thye horse somewhere for a short time until we find a way to move her in Tg-Jiu, but the officials didn’t want to involve.So, we were forced by the factors that didn’t depend on us, to leave her there and to return next days with some treatments and food.

 THE SAD DESTINY OF HORSES

PRO ANIMALS charity is one of the first and  the fewest organizations that involved in actions regardig horses since 2005.

The faith of horses is terrible unfortunately in entire Romania. Horses’ abuse cases had been regularly presented by national mass-media.

Our association concentrated from the beginning on stray dogs situation, being considered the worst taking into account the methods used by the authorities for decreasing their number and also the people’s attitude.

But, the horses situation is more then dreadful :people, especially gipsies, put them to carry huge loads to see who’s the powerful horse, they whip or hit them with shovels them until blood is running or until they fall in their knees, when they are sick they just let them starve, abandon them and leave them to die alone. Their end is dramatic, mainly because people have no respect for those animals, just consider them some working tools that care thrown away when something wrong and replaced.

During time we faced several cases when horses had passed through huge sufferings. You can read here about an abuse case and our involvement together with the County Police, but also here about the faith of horses found abandoned on the streets by the municipality.

 September 2008

Due to a tragic accident happened at the begining of September, when a horse got out in a national road and one person died, the authorities took drastic measures against stray horses as well as a part of the local press who started a campaign against them. We are aware that measures must be taken in order to not have horses wandering on the national roads, but unfortunately instead of starting taking measures against owners who leave this horses free , the measures are taken against horses whose only fault is to have irresponsible owners.

So, when horses are being found wandering the streets, the Communitary Police together with the Public Catching Service collect them and take them  to the public horse shelter. Unfortunately, the conditions the horses are kept in there are awful, they have to leave for days without food and water or any medical care. If the owners want to pick up their horses they must pay a tax of 50 Ron plus 10 Ron for a day spent there. 

Having no financial means or not needing the horse back( as some must pay too much and they rather buy other horse) are the causes why this public shelter became full so the Authorities decided to take all those horses to the slaughterhouse from Alexandria city who uses their meat for salami sold in Belgium. A sad end for tens/hundreds of horses……

Here are some photos from the Public Horse Shelter:

In the first days when we went there we found lot of horses, very weak and skinny, staying in the mud and dirt, with no water or trace of food.

We tried to collect them some grass and some leaves as hey were starving. We found out , unofficially, that those horses haven’t been fed for a long time.

After there appeared an article in the local press regarding the dreadful conditions this horses are kept in, the Authorities decided to take " measures" : so they brought them some hay and water and invited the press to come and write about this, and about the fact that we are wrong. But, photos, films and witnesses don’t lie..

But, what those "journalists" ( who fallen bellow the dignity of a real journalists when accepting to write unreal things just for different advantages) didn’t write about is the fact that this few hay had been thrown into the mud and horses were dissperately trying to eat but also about the  dirt they were living in.

 April 2008

February 2008