"Finally I have some time to write down a few words about our trip to Tg-Jiu shelter on September 5th to 10th. This time my travelogue will be based more on photos than text. At the moment Tuuli and Inkeri are doing a job training related to their studies at the shelter. They will stay in Tg-Jiu for about two months. I’m sure they will take care of the reporting part a bit more intensively. 

Our drive from Bucharest to Tg-Jiu went as well as on our previous trips, with a routine, and nothing any special than usually happened during the drive. The weather was hot, about + 35 degrees Celsius. This time we didn’t see that many dogs wandering by the roads. I guess they all had gone to a place less sunny to rest.

It wasn’t any colder in Tg-Jiu as we arrived and at times it seemed as if the whole shelter was nearly deserted since most of the dogs had hidden themselves in to their dog houses, away from the burning sun.

At times the dogs cooled themselves off in a zinc tub.

Patricia continued her work at the shelter as if the heat didn’t bother her one bit! Patricia told us she loved the hot weather.
  

Jukka helped Vasile persistently for two days though he didn’t feel himself very energized due to the burning sun. Jukka also nailed shut the broken roof of the warehouse.
   

 The stall Dona used to live was full of life when the little toddlers had overtaken it.
  

The caravan is nowadays “a kindergarten”.
  

Dona and Zuzu living on a yard across Carmena’s home.
  

Carmena and me went to check out the new ”EU-standard quality” stray dog shelter that was under construction in Tg-Jiu. However, at least at this point there was no sign of EU-quality building at all. Carmena discussed a couple of hours with the managers of technical department of issues relating to the building of the shelter and also of the faults she had noticed. After hearing Carmena, one of the managers wondered “why she couldn’t be just a blonde rather than being a blonde with thoughts and brains”. We requested to meet up with the city mayor to discuss about the stray dogs situation in Tg-Jiu, the new dog shelter and cooperation with Pro Animals but the mayor didn’t find it necessary enough to meet us.
 

We also drove to the city landfill that went on for miles and miles. Every day Carmena goes to feed certain dogs living by the landfill. I noticed that there were dogs everywhere you looked. There were also many puppies wandering with their mothers in search of food or hidden inside one of the dozens of pits on the area.
  

When we drove away from the landfill we stopped by to a tiny house a couple of kilometres away. A little girl ran to us with a big dog on a leash. Carmena told that the girl loved her dog very much and told how the gipsies of the area steal the food Carmena brings for the dogs of the landfill. Nowadays Carmena has to throw the food on the ground so it wouldn’t be easy for the gipsies to steal it.
 

When returning from the landfill we found a sweet dog paralyzed from its hind legs. Unfortunately the dog had no chance of getting better so it was sent to the Rainbow Bridge.
  

This little mother that had been abandoned to give birth at some garbage zone is living now in the warehouse. Only one of the puppies survived but it isn’t certain if it will live much longer either. The other dwellers of the warehouse were mostly female dogs waiting to be spayed and, of course, shepherded by the little granny dog, Steluta. The local vet had recently returned from his long summer holiday and was very busy. That’s why there has been also a long line to get a time for spaying.
  

There’s a busy road in front of the shelter. Among the cars that drive really fast we also saw several horse carriages lead by boys who probably weren’t even at school yet. These same kinds of little boys could be seen riding a horse, too. Sure you could also see horses and cows with their legs tied wandering all over the road all the time.

 Here’s a picture of the medicine cabinet. At the shelter there are dogs needing some kind of medication all the time so, as you can imagine, there’s a lot of medicine in storage. We brought with us to the shelter tick and flea treatments for about 150 dogs and dewormers for about 250 dogs. There were some treatments in storage for only a couple of dozens of dogs. We decided to postpone giving the treatments for the shelter dogs. We also concluded that if the city isn’t willing to give these treatments for the dogs living in their shelter it’s probably wiser to wait until the city moves its shelter to its new location. They’ve told the new shelter is supposed to be ready by the end of the year. As you know, the current shelter of the city is now situated right next to the shelter maintained by Pro Animals Romania.
 

On Tuesday Jukka picked up Tuuli and Inkeri from the airport in Bucharest and drove them to Tg-Jiu. Late on Tuesday evening as Tuuli and Inkeri arrived to their “current home” I, Carmena and Patricia managed to welcome them to Tg-Jiu. On Wednesday morning we had an early wake-up call and our drive back to the airport wasn’t very nice and easy due to Jukka’s condition. He had bad stomach flu."    Kiia Vasko

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Visitor: Pro Animals Finland

"This time there were five enthusiastic travellers going to Tg-Jiu: Anu, Carita, Heli, Jukka and me. Of these travellers only Carita was a first-timer though we had "prepared" her for the trip already for several weeks and we were certain that this trip wouldn’t be Carita’s last. 

 We knew that this shelter trip would be a bit different from our previous ones since e.g. we knew that there was an extension part built next to the shelter Pro Animals Romania maintains and to which the city of Tg-Jiu has collected stray dogs from the streets. We also knew that in the city’s part of the shelter the dogs weren’t properly treated and Carmena gives these dogs food every day and tries to medicate the sick and injured ones that would be completely neglected without her help. So of course we were a bit nervous of what we’d have to face and how we’d react to that.

Before the trip began I had hoped that we could go and see Rona, an abused horse, Carmena and Patricia have tried to confiscate from her loony owner. Actually we really did get the opportunity to see up-close how the new animal welfare law, promulgated in January 2008, was adapted at its worst in Romania.

On this trip we also visited several cities of the Gorj County. In those cities they have started to collect stray dogs to shelters maintained by the cities. The mayors of these cities brag how these shelters are EU-standard quality. They also pay the locals to collect stray dogs to the shelters. In shelters these dogs have to survive pretty much on their own.

But why don’t I tell you about the phases of our trip in a chronological order.

Very early on Wednesday morning we gathered up at Helsinki-Vantaa airport. We had an enormous amount of things to be taken to Tg-Jiu and we had this feeling that this time there might be some extra weight. When our luggage had been weighed we discovered that we had 48 kilos of overweight! Although we tried to talk about charity and homeless dogs they didn’t give us any mercy – we had to pay 5 euros per extra kilo so we’d get to take all the things with us. We thought that if every godparent would pay 1 extra euro in addition to the next goddog fee we’d easily cover these extra kilos. Our luggage consisted of worm treatments, vitamins and nutrition additions, towels, fleece blankets, puppy pens, care equipment, a rug for Rona the horse, gifts for Carmena and other miscellaneous things.

The flight to Romania went well so we arrived in Bucharest at 1.00 pm. The luggage came in a moment through the carousel (last time some of the luggage came not until the next day). We got a spacious rental car for our use and soon we were on the road outside Bucharest. The sun was shining warmly and we noticed the spring was already far. We tried to pay attention if there were stray dogs alongside our way to see whether the number of them had increased or decreased in comparison to the previous trip. 

There is a NATO Summit in Bucharest in April and we had heard rumours that the streets are "cleaned" from stray dogs before the summit. Also local mayor elections have effected to this "cleaning". We concluded that there were somewhat less stray dogs than before. We didn’t see any dogs in the airport area; usually there has always been some friendly furry friends saying hello to us.

On the way from Bucharest to Tg-Jiu we usually stop by at the same highway rest stops. The first stop, a so-called "refuelling stop", is about 60 kms from Bucharest. During our many trips there have always been the same stray dogs begging for food from people. We always buy a bag of rolls and share them to these friends.

We experienced a nice surprise on our way to Tg-Jiu; we didn’t have to drive through the city of Pitest. They had built a detour around the city so we saved time about an hour. 

When there were still a couple of hours to go we visited the second rest stop. Also in there we have friends who come to say hello with their tails wagging. This time one of them was keeping a distance. We were wondering why but could just hope that nobody had treated him/her badly. 

After arriving in Tg-Jiu at 7 pm we naturally headed straight away to the shelter in which Carmena and Patricia were already waiting for us. Also the only worker of the shelter, Vasile, was still there likewise Diana who is helping Patricia with the education and therapy dog programs. We heard that Diana and Patricia had been cleaning the shelter for four days before our arrival. 

The guardian dogs of shelter were attentive and delighted for the reunion! We were relieved to see that Kiti was in a better shape and cheerful again. Although it was already quite dark outside we quickly checked the extension part of shelter (the "city part"). There were many friendly dogs but some of them were clearly sick and weak and in a need of medical care.

Then it was time to move to our hotel. In the reception we were clearly told: "NO DOGS". We smiled and assured that we wouldn’t bring any dogs to the rooms. As usually we accommodated ourselves to the rooms and had some evening snack in the hotel’s restaurant before going to sleep.

On Thursday morning we woke up early and after breakfast we headed to Kaufland’s supermarket that had become very familiar to us. During our numerous Tg-Jiu visits we have bought lots of equipment for the shelter from this supermarket. So we did this time again.

We arrived at the shelter around 10 am and were welcomed by the guardian dogs and a guardian cat. We had some delicious frankfurters to share with them. After this "ceremony" we headed to different duties around the shelter. Anu was quickly taking the warehouse building of the shelter under her command like she had done many times before, began to clean up the cages and recruited Carita to help her. Patricia told that there were a couple of piles of rags and junk nearby the shelter that we could go through and take the useless stuff to the landfill site. Heli and I began to clear up these piles while Patricia helped us by giving instructions. Jukka’s job was to unpack all the equipment we had brought from the supermarket and mingle with the dogs. 

There are always so many things to do at the shelter that on our trips during the daytime we have hardly any time to gather up and chat. Everyone is always doing their best to help at the shelter and of course whenever we have some time we try to ask Carmena and Patricia about some things that we find puzzling. 

On our first day we had the chance to see a bit more closely how they are treating the dogs in the part of the shelter that the city maintains. The shelter is taken care of to some extent but the truth is that the dogs don’t even get enough food to eat. Already on the first day we had to witness the sad fate of a young female dog that had died the previous night. There were no other visible causes of death than a completely dried up and empty stomach.

During the day Carmena took two puppies from "the city’s side" to Pro Animals Romania’s side of the shelter. Otherwise the dogs would most likely have died in there. They also let us enter inside "the city shelter" so we managed to get a real look at what was happening in there and how were the dogs doing. Sure there were dogs looking good and healthy but since the females and males are there all together, there are sometimes serious fights especially between the males. There was actually already a badly injured dog in the warehouse building; the dog had gotten into a fight with another male dog. And since the females that are not spayed and males are mixed in the city shelter, you can easily imagine what that leads to.

Carmena also told us that dogs disappear from the city shelter very often and no one is willing to tell what has happened to these dogs. A sick dog had already disappeared during the first night or early morning of our trip when no one had been there on the spot to witness.  City Hall’s Shelter

At noon Patricia came to tell that she and her mother were going to see how Rona, the abused horse, was doing. They have tried to "take the custody" of the horse from its lunatic owner. A stall that has been built for Rona to the shelter area is already waiting for her. So I took off the cover layer of my clothes, the so called shelter gear, and we headed towards the village on the outskirts of the city of Bumbesti Jiu to check up on Rona. 

On our way Patricia told that in the morning a woman had come to the shelter and asked for Pro Animals Romania to feed the homeless dogs of some car market area since according to the rumours Pro Animals’ have plenty of food. Patricia had wondered the source of this rumour and told that even if they have sacks of food in their storage they are meant to last for the shelter dogs for months and there were no extra food to be shared around the city. It is likely that there are lots of rumours like this circling the city and the locals have no desire to check whether the rumours are true or not. They simply assume that Carmena and Patricia will take care of all the problems relating to animal protection issues if the problems are just reported to them.

After we had driven about an hour we arrived in the village surrounded by beautiful landscapes. Rona is owned by some Romani people of Romania and already a glance at the surroundings in which these people live in signs that they don’t have much wealth. Rona was already abandoned by her owner but when the owner and his family realized how interested people are in Rona, they demanded to keep the horse. It is likely that the strategy of the family is to use Rona for getting some money. The fact is that Rona can’t be used as a workhorse ever again so in that way she’s not worth of money. We could’ve paid hundreds of euros to get Rona away from her lunatic owner but would that have been the right thing to do ethically speaking? If we had paid good money of Rona, wouldn’t that have lead to people gossiping about it all over the county and soon there would’ve been tons of horses like Rona waiting to be rescued by paying of course?

We tried to persuade Rona’s owners for over an hour but to no avail. Eventually Carmena informed that the next day we’d be back with a police, vet and reporter of the local TV-channel. Rona’s owner acted very arrogantly and didn’t seem to care much about who would come to check the situation. 

We came back to the shelter feeling a bit under the weather with Carmena calling numerous people and arranging a meeting for the next day to have some clarification for Rona’s situation. We also drove to check out the dog shelter that had been built on the outskirts of the small town of Bumbesti Jiu. They will probably start to collect stray dogs to this shelter some day. The shelter was still empty and such a poor excuse of a construction that I’d rather see it empty also in future.  Bumbesti-Jiu photos

In the afternoon I spent a couple of hours mingling with the shelter dogs and taking pictures. It was somehow comforting to be in the middle of hundreds of friends, sharing them my thoughts of the injustice of the world and other puzzling things. When I had shared my thoughts and hugged the numerous dogs of the shelter I moved on to check out the caravan brought from Germany in January. Unfortunately there had been a little mice invasion going on in there. In the back of the caravan was some shelter equipment nicely put on shelves. The front part was for changing clothes and lunch breaks. While I was there looking around I had this thought that the next time maybe we could bring an eco-toilet to the shelter since the surroundings of the shelter are getting so lively that soon there’ll be no chance to use the "natural toilet" anymore. 

After my check-up in the caravan I realized that it’d be impossible to try and find all the holes through which the mice come inside. We had brought an ultrasound-mouse trap to the warehouse building but since there’s no electricity in the caravan we couldn’t install the mouse trap in there. Anu and Carita continued to clean the cages and Heli and Patricia washed the dirty pallets found nearby the shelter. We figured we could use those pallets somewhere in the shelter.

 When the day had already began to turn towards the evening we dragged one of the dog houses donated for Pro Animals Romania’s shelter to "the city part of the shelter" since there were too few dog houses in there. One of these donated dog houses had been taken there already in advance. When we tried to buy a couple of pallets from a store across the shelter to use as an extra shelter for the dogs we were harshly turned down. There were tons of pallets outside the store but apparently the attitude towards the dog shelter was so negative that no cooperation whatsoever could be expected from their behalf. By the way this store mentioned above sold products from Rannila and Ruukki. 

At some point in the afternoon we found out that about 200 meters across the road a newly-opened Honda-store was having an opening ceremony and there would be fireworks later that evening. We promised to stay at the shelter as long as the fireworks would last since the dogs would be very restless. The fireworks began at 7:30 pm and for some reason they had decided to shoot those fireworks right across the shelter. Our group split around the shelter and we tried our best to calm the dogs down and luckily this time we managed to avoid panic and the accidents the panic might cause. When we had secured that everything was alright in the shelter, we finally exhaled in relief and went to tidy ourselves up to the hotel.

Later in the evening we were invited over Patricia’s to eat some pizza and catch up on things. On our way to Patricia’s home we also visited her office. There were the office cat Mitzi and a tiny little Bitza that Patricia had saved nearly hairless and stomach full of worms from the city early-March. Bitza was really the liveliest little dog! The dog continued relentlessly to challenge the bigger Mitzi to play. We were glad to see that Bitza would have a happy future ahead of him after the rocky beginning he had had.
 

At Patricia’s we gave Carmena the things we had brought for her from Finland. We were happy to see how delighted and excited Carmena was when she went through the sent gifts. While we watched how touched Carmena looked we were really glad that we had realized to bring something personal just for her since these gifts obviously had a cheery effect on her. We had brought cosmetics, jewellery, scarves, coats, gloves, vitamins and even warm handmade woollen socks that are really important while working in the shelter. As a little hint for Sanna; we will need more of those socks next winter! We also gave 720 euros that were donated for Carmena personally. Carmena asked us to pass on her most sincere thanks for all of her friends in Finland and told that she would want so badly to come and greet you in Finland. That’s what we hope, too!

It was already a little past midnight when we wandered back to our hotel and got under the covers to sleep a little.

The Friday morning was sunny again and when we had had some breakfast we went to the shelter after stopping by at the supermarket. When we arrived at the shelter I almost immediately left with Carmena and Patricia to see Rona, the horse. On our way we picked up a local vet and stopped by at the police station of Bumbesti Jiu. Two police officers joined us. Also the local TV-channel of Tg-Jiu had sent a reporter and cameraman to do little reportage of the rescue operation of Rona for the evening news. 

The animal welfare law of Romania was renewed in January 2008 but the authorities aren’t really aware of the contents of the new law. That is why the police officers of Bumbesti Jiu first had to read the printout of the law Carmena had with her and tried to delve into it. Also the vet found the law completely strange to him and that we had to realize the hard way on the next few hours.

Our "rescue team" of nine members arrived at the home yard of Rona’s owners about 10:30 am and called the family to negotiate. The negotiators of the family were Rona’s so-called main owner, his wife, brother and grandmother. First they checked Rona’s condition and it was obvious that Rona would never rehabilitate to be a workhorse. After over three hours of negotiations and pressuring the result was that Rona’s owner was given a fine and if Rona’s condition wouldn’t improve in a couple of weeks, the owner would be given another fine. After this second fine if there’d be no change for the better in her condition they would start to think whether Rona should be moved elsewhere.

We were completely amazed how these authorities couldn’t do anything else for Rona. When I was interviewed for the news of the local TV-channel I clearly expressed my shock and how the Romanian authorities seemed to be completely useless also in these situations. Of course our comments were translated to the police authorities and so they began to flood with explanations. Carmena and Patricia told us afterwards that it might have been that the police wouldn’t have even bothered to show up if they hadn’t known that Finnish animal protection people would accompany Rona’s rescue operation.Photos of Rona’s rescue.

At some point in the middle of the rescue operation Heli called me and told that the municipal dogcatchers of Tg-Jiu had come to the shelter and were taking one of the dogs from "the city side" away. We asked Heli and others to take a video clip of the event so we could use it against them if necessary. Heli called me again and I asked Heli to give the phone to the catcher so he could tell Carmena where they are taking the dog. After the phone call Carmena told that a company with its warehouses nearby needed a guardian dog and the dog from the city shelter had been taken there. Carmena and Patricia promised to check if the dog had actually been taken to where they had said and not someplace to be killed.

While driving back to the shelter Carmena read us a local newspaper. It was said in the newpaper that the mayor of the city of Rovinari was bragging how the city had a 1,5 hectare EU-standard quality shelter and that he’d pay the citizens 10 leis per caught and brought stray dog. We decided to visit at the Rovinari shelter later in the afternoon. The shelter is located about 30 kilometers from Tg-Jiu.

So we soon headed towards Rovinari and the shelter maintained by the city. When we arrived we witnessed an agonizing view. The shelter sure had a 1,5 hectare so-called large, fenced area but there were only a couple of dogs there and trucks drove across the area all the time bringing tree stumps.

The shelter itself was about 150 sq meters and completely opposite of EU-standard quality. We managed to get inside the shelter and realized immediately that there wasn’t even enough water for the dogs. There were also two immobile dogs in a very bad shape. Patricia and Carmena carried the dogs to the car to take to their own shelter to receive proper care.

During our visit an employee of the shelter came to feed the dogs with half a bucket of dry dog food. He threw this food to the ground for the dogs to eat from as if he was feeding chickens. About 40 dogs tried to grab as many bites from the ground as they could to fill their empty stomachs. There were several dogs locked in cages and these dogs were given no food while we were at the shelter even though we pointed it out several times.

While we were at the Rovinari shelter we noticed that an awful smoke appeared all of a sudden from somewhere. I felt nauseous right away and several dogs began to cough too. When we got outside the shelter I had to check where the horrible smell came from. There was a piggery behind the shelter and for some reason they were burning garbage right behind the dog shelter.  Photos of Rovinari shelter
 

When we got back to the Tg-Jiu shelter we needed to take a couple of dogs to the vet. I left with Patricia to take Scoopy from the shelter and one of the dogs of Rovinari shelter, Nelli as we named her, to be examined. The other dog brought from Rovanari, called Nalle, stayed at the shelter since we assumed he was suffering from hunger and weakness. 

The local vet examined Scoopy first. For already several weeks Scoopy had had some trouble breathing and there had been some leaking from his nostrils and eyes. This vet in question had examined Scoopy many times earlier and diagnosed many diseases according to the dog’s symptoms. This time when he had seen Scoopy he was certain that Scoopy suffered from maxillary sinus infection. Scoopy was given medical fluids to his vein and we hoped that this time the diagnosis would be correct. After examining Nelli the vet suggested that the wisest thing to do was to take Nelli to be x-rayed to a human hospital. Those x-rays would show if there were multiple fractures in Nelli’s body. If it would turn out that Nelli would only have leg fractures the vet could fix those. Because Nelli’s legs and tail moved and they were sensitive to touching we agreed that there would probably be no fractures on Nelli’s spine.

After we came back to the shelter from the vet I was quite exhausted and felt a vicious pounding in my head. I hoped it would pass soon because I knew that at its worst I’d have a hell of a night ahead of me. 

Anu and Carita had continued the cleaning of the cages on Friday and secured that the warehouse building was also cleaned up. The local bypassers had been interested in what had been going on at the shelter. There had been even a local gypsy youngster singing and dancing for the ladies! The road right next to the shelter is very busy and there’s constantly also Romani people walking or going with their carriages. I can imagine the locals had been wondering to see how we all worked at the shelter sweating like on a marathon!

Heli and Jukka had focused on the instructions of how to build the extra warehouse and had begun to put the pieces together. This construction had quite of a number of different kinds of parts and we had been prepared already earlier that we might not be able to build the warehouse by ourselves. Even the fact that there are so many things to do at the shelter and there’s no use making any plans makes things harder.

We also had another challenge when pursuing to put the warehouse together. Even if we had put together the framework during the day, we couldn’t have moved it behind the locks. This would have meant that someone could’ve stolen the frame from the shelter. We concluded that the construction should be built ready in a day so no one could steal it. We are trying to get Mauri with his team to help with the extra warehouse as soon as they return Romania in May. I doubt that it won’t take long till these professionals manage to build the thing together

At 7 pm Carmena told us that she had to go home since the newsclip relating to Rona, the horse, would be in the evening news and Carmena wanted to see it. We promised to finish up the chores at the shelter and give Vasile a ride home. We did some cleaning up in the warehouse building and said the dogs goodnight by checking that everyone had a place to sleep, the bowls were full of water and there was food to eat. It was already 9 pm when we locked the place up and drove back to the hotel. 

Carmena and Patricia came at 9:30 pm to meet us at the hotel. We ate some evening snack there and talked about our day. Carmena told about the evening news related to Rona and called the manager of the TV-channel to ask a newsclip in DVD-format for our use. Before we even noticed it was already past midnight and we were all awfully tired. We wished Carmena and Patricia goodnight and went to sleep.

Soon after I went to bed I woke up to realize I had a terrible headache. I tried to take pills for the pain but they were no use and at some point I started to feel really ill and that lasted for hours and hours straight. Naturally at the daybreak I was pale as a ghost and completely exhausted. I was meant to go to the bank with Patricia before 9 am and see the Carbunesti dog shelter after that but I was forced to stay at the hotel to rest and have others do the things I had agreed to do myself.

After noon I was starting to feel a bit better and called Jukka to pick me up to the shelter. Even though I had been in a really weak condition I was terribly disappointed that I had lost half a day. When I arrived at the shelter I was relieved to find out that all the agreed things had been wonderfully taken care of and even the washing machine bought for Carmena waited in the back of our rental car ready to be taken to Carmena’s home.

Jukka told me that once again there had been some difficulties in the bank. First they had once again questioned how to deposit the donations to Pro Animals Romania’s account but luckily it had all sorted out in a reasonable amount of time. Anu told that when they had bought the washing machine for Carmena she almost had lost her nerves since the salesperson had written a receipt after another. Anu had also felt that they had doubted whether her Visa-card was forged since she had to sign five receipts before they managed to buy the washing machine!

Anu joined Carmena and Patricia to check the shelter maintained by the city of Carbunesti. They were not let inside the shelter. However, Patricia climbed over the closed gate and got a few photos of the shelter itself. There had also been a little cattle shelter in the shelter area with a cow tied to a short tether and a youngish calf. Carbunesti photos
 

Heli and Jukka had tried to explore the caravan once more trying to find possible mice holes. Unfortunately there were so many hideouts that finding any holes was impossible. We hope that the ultrasound-mouse trap in the warehouse building would have some kind of an effect also on the caravan. 

I spent the Saturday afternoon with the shelter dogs since the next day I wouldn’t get the chance anymore. I was feeling a bit wistful when I petted the dogs and thought how I’d love so much if on some of our shelter trips I could just spend every day with these friends without having anything else to do. Sure helping at the shelter and other things related to Carmena and Patricia’s routines are important but the shelter dogs enjoy to be petted and talked to so much that I’d feel awful if I’d pay no attention to them.

At some point I noticed that Jukka was washing the corridors of the shelter with a hose and filled up water bowls with the friendly guidance from Vasile. Anu looked to be very much in her thoughts sitting with a little puppy in her lap and having adult dogs hassling around her on a roof of a dog house. Carita and Heli were also wandering around the shelter petting the dogs, promising to come back soon. Every one of us was probably more or less thinking about the departure home the next day, feeling a bit sad.

At some point we managed to say goodbye to the dogs living in the city’s side of the shelter since the employee left at about 3 pm and would come back not until the next day.

In the afternoon, as usual, Carmena went home to feed her dogs and the dogs living across her house. Every day she also goes to feed some stray dogs living nearby a landfill site. Carmena told us that in the past few weeks the dogs in that particular area have increased rapidly so if there were 15 dogs earlier, now there were at least 50 of them. This might be due to dogs being collected from the city streets and "transported" nearby the landfill to be killed by e.g. hunters from time to time. 

As it started to get dark we headed back to the hotel. Later in the evening we were meaning to go and say hello to Carmena’s pets that we terribly had missed. And of course we had to take the new washing machine to Carmena and install it to its new home.

When at about 9:30 pm we arrived at Carmena’s gates, we already heard some joyful barking. We were greeted by twenty wet noses and wagging tails. Carmena’s pets are the most wonderful little creatures and delightful personas. I also went to say hello to the dogs living across Carmena’s yard. Unfortunately it was already so dark that I couldn’t recognize which dog was which but I surely noticed how happy the reception was also in there and how the dogs ran around the yard feeling cheery. In January Carmena had brought a pregnant female to the yard. The female had given birth to four sweet puppies. The puppies were now a month old and ran around briskly with the adults and were curious to sniff my trousers. As I lifted the puppies in my lap I heard satisfied puffing. The puppies smelled still like babies
 

The evening had once again turned quickly into a night and we noticed that it was already past midnight. It was time to say goodbye to Carmena’s pets and leave to the hotel to get some rest. 

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Our finish volunteers during Sept.-Oct.2008

We were very glad to find out back in June that two finish vonlunteers want to come for about 2 months to the shelter, so we eagerly waited that days. Being used to work alone, with no help, it was kind of hard to have someone and to split the work, but little by little we started to use with this. Tuuli and Inkeri were very helpful for us here, they did everthing they could, from cleaning, to feeding, taking dogs for a walk, going to the vet and assisting surgeries, helping to make treatments to dogs, wahing laundries, etc. We just want to say a huge THANK YOU, Inkeri and Tuuli for all your support !

Bellow you can read few words from them, see the photos bellow and also hope to have more news soon from them.

"October 13th 2008 

Time has passed by quickly and it’s already three weeks since we sent our first greetings from here! A lot of things have once again happened. The smallest puppies of the warehouse have caught a disease much alike the kennel cough that even the vet doesn’t seem to recognize. Unfortunately a couple of puppies have already died from this mysterious disease. We have helped to nurse the sick ones back to health though now also Liza, the mother dog, and a puppy we named Pyry (whose name Patricia and Carmena have eagerly learned to pronounce) have gotten sick.

Liza and Pyry are now living in our apartment until they recover or until we return to Finland. Patricia and we have taken Liza and a couple of sick puppies to a vet on several consecutive days now to receive antibiotic shots. The puppies seem very healthy already, a bit exhausted though. Liza and Pyry are still coughing but they seem very brisk – they’re probably very pleased with their new temporary home

Carmena took us with her to have a look at the public horse shelter mentioned in previous newsletters. The horses at the shelter are on their way to be slaughtered. Carmena had to make many different calls so the guard would even let us inside the area. We saw many very skinny and dirty horses and horses with many kinds of illnesses. There were also small foals among them. The horses had to walk in mud up to their pasterns. The horses had an access to inside but it was hard especially for the small foals to climb over the high threshold. The horses were given hay to eat that day, we wonder if it was because the media was going to come for a visit later the same day. Carmena also told that on their last visit very skinny and weak horses had been taken away or died.

As you know, every day Carmena checks the city shelter next to the shelter she maintains. One evening when we were with Carmena we found two already dead puppies from a doghouse and one that died the next night in the warehouse we had taken the dog to. Carmena tried to medicate the dog but we all knew it wouldn’t make it. A couple of days later Carmena had found a dead adult dog from a bush next to the city shelter that we went to check the next day. Carmena told that the dog had gone to a new home from the city shelter but she didn’t know why the dog was found dead. No one else seemed to know either what had happened to the dog or at least they were not telling. On another day Carmena heard that a dog from the city shelter had died from being bitten by other dogs. Tuuli and Carmena went to look at the dog to a few moments of drive from the shelter. Only a few little holes were found on the dog’s stomach. God knows what has happened to the poor dog. Nine puppies next to us watched carefully as we examined the dead dog.

One day seven little puppies appeared next to the puppy yard. Three of them disappeared the same day apparently taken away by gipsy children. Four puppies were left to dwell near the puppy yard. Luckily on the previous day Carmena and Vasile had collected clothes and covers discarded by the gipsies so the four little puppies were easily hidden under those covers. One of those puppies we wouldn’t even have found on feeding times if the pile of clothes hadn’t moved!

Now we have paid the rent and soon we’re going to pay for water, electricity and gas. Since we don’t have any idea what the price level is like, we’re a bit anxious to know what kind of a sum of money it’s going to be. Luckily Patricia has generously helped us when it comes to taking care of the apartment and other things, too. Sometimes it feels as if we couldn’t even get everything done without Patricia’s help or even just her presence. You see, the locals can’t or aren’t willing to communicate with us in English. We’ve come to know that it has been inevitable to learn some words in local language though we have coped with body language and improvisation in our daily interaction with the locals. At times we have been positively surprised by learning that the sales person has known English quite well and eagerly provided us service.

We have also suffered from momentary home sickness, the fact that when the change runs out in a store we don’t get any gum in exchange, having sales persons willing and able to communicate with us and walking down the street without getting stares from people and sometimes even “animalistic” behaviour All in all we have been truly happy about the fact that we left to Tg-Jiu. We have learned a lot of such different culture when living in a foreign country a bit longer than on a normal holiday.

October 17th 2008

On the evening the dog catchers brought about 10 dogs to the city shelter. The dogs were brought in a small cage on a pickup’s roofed platform. Some of the dogs belonged to a gipsy woman who had had to give up the dogs and some were caught from the streets. The cage was way too small for that many dogs. The dogs had to lie on one another, one dog had panicked and pushed its head between the bars and got stuck. The dog was released unharmed, though. Patricia told that the dog catchers don’t dare or aren’t able to move the dogs out of the truck themselves. They catch the dogs by using different kinds of tools that cause the dogs have a panic. Due to fear the dogs may act aggressively towards them. We saw a couple of tools that were used for catching. One was a rigid “leash” made out of wood and iron wire, the other was a tool that reminded of enormous tongs that were used to get a grip of the dog’s neck. When the dogs had panicked in a small, dark cage they had apparently bitten the back door since it was all bloody.

October 18th 2008

Patricia had taken Pyry the puppy and Liza along with the other sick puppies to a vet to get antibiotics and other medication for their cough. However, this morning after we had woken up we noticed that Pyry had already decided to give up. It was too small and weak to survive the disease. Now Liza is still living in our apartment and hopefully it will recover from the disease as well as losing her puppy. "

Inkeri and Tuuli playing with dogs in the shelter. Ricky was the most charmed by their presence, wanting to be the only petted and kisses.

Tuuli and Inkeri taking dogs out for a walk. Our dogs loved to be out in the grass.

Watching surgeries and neuterings at the vet clinic.

Help unloading food like yoghourts, milk, meat etc 

Those who are the happiest are our dogs, who are waiting eagerly to have new people around them. They are very sociable and love to be hugged, petted, walked on the leash outside the shelter or just receive a calm word. As you can read on our website, any animal lover is welcome to visit us and don’t forget that this would make a big difference to our dogs ! Read bellow the experiences of our visitors and their thoughts.

"Our third shelter visit in a half a year period is now over and I’m once again full of great emotions. I’ll tell you some of the phases of our trip according to my memories and experiences. On our trips there’s always so much going on, most of the things we come across happen completely without any warning so it’s impossible to get all of it saved on my mind.

It’s truly wonderful that on our trips we always have friends who wish to come back with us again and again.

This time there were five of us: Anu, Heli, Tanja, Jukka and me. Anu and Heli already knew what to expect but for Tanja this experince was totally new. We had with us eg. nutrition additions, deworming treatments, disinfect products, collars, leashes, work clothing for the shelter employees, headlamps, a halogen lamp, extension cables and other miscellaneous things. The video camera surveillance system that we meant to install on our trip we couldnt take with us and will tell more about it later.

Apart from our first shelter visit we have always visited in Tg-Jiu during summertime. This time on our trip we experinced very concretely that it was challenging to work at the shelter in very cold and wintery circumstances. It wasn’t even very wintery weather but we got a little hint of what’s coming since the harsh autumn wind blew every day over the shelter.

Even though nowadays Finnair has direct flights from Finland to Romania the traveling from place to place always takes one day on each direction. The drive from Bucharest to Tg-Jiu and back takes always at least five hours. On our first day we got to the shelter near 8 pm and of course we went to greet Carmena who was still working with Adi and Vasile, feeding and treating the dogs in the warehouse building. The autumnly cool weather outside had immeadiately an effect on the feeble air of the warehouse, it was moist and chilly. I thought right away that we had to get more heaters there as soon as possible. A few words about Vasile, the shelter employee. He quit the job last summer but requested to get back to work in the beginning of November.

When we had said hello to Carmena and greeted the dogs of the warehouse building, we headed towards the hotel. Patricia had promised to meet us there and bring little Ceasar to Anu’s tender care. Many of you may know Ceasar’s story already, we picked up the little thing from a gas station on our way to Tg-Jiu in September. Anu was so attached to the dog that she came now to take Cesse home to Finland. When Patricia had met us at the hotel we were so exhausted from the long journey that after a quick dinner we dozed off quite quickly.

Sunday morning was sunny and we were very happy about that. Patricia met us at the hotel since we were going to go to a local vet to check that the passports of Ceasar and Tasha, the dogs we were taking to Finland, were okay. The passports were also taken to the local health officers to be approved and stamped. Anu and me left with Patricia and Heli, Tanja and Jukka headed straight to the shelter.

When we had had the passport checked we went to a couple of shops to compare prices of radiators and we bought one for the warehouse building, too. When Anu and me arrived in the shelter I went straight away to hug the shelter dogs that were eagerly waiting for us. The joy of reunion brought once again tears to my eyes. I had missed the dogs terribly even though we had taken our previous trip only a couple of months ago.

At some point in the afternoon Carmena and Jukka went to pick up straws from the city of Rovinari close by. Anu, Heli and Tanja were working in the warehouse building and I continued to greet the shelter dogs. Every once in a while I sat a long time on the roofs of the dog houses inside the dog cages, chatting all kinds things with a dozen dogs on my lap and at least a dozen dogs around me. You can’t find listeners as attentive as they were!

When I managed to get myself out of the shelter later in the afternoon, Carmena and Jukka arrived from their trip of picking up straws and we started to carry the bales out of the car. After that Adi and Vasile took the straws to be put inside the dog houses as warmers. Then it was already feeding time for the dogs and the employees carried dog food sacks from the warehouse building in front the shelter. There were plenty of dry food sacks from the floor to the roof on two walls of the warehouse building so it seems that the food donations from the Brigitte Bardot Foundation have fortunately continued. So in the help of PAFi’s sponsor dog program and BB Foundation at least the every day meal for the dogs is secured.

The night began to fall and it was time for us to head back to the hotel to tidy up and eat some snack. Later we were meaning to visit Patricia and Mihai in their home and see some wedding pictures.

As we arrived the hotel we were so hungry that the snack turned into a proper dinner. When we discovered Patricia and Mihai had set up some snack for us, too, our stomachs were completely full. We looked some pictures of Patricia and Mihai’s wedding, they had taken over 700 pictures. In Romania the wedding day starts with civil wedding, after that it’s the ceremonial church wedding. Patricia and Mihai had chosen the longer ceremony for the churchly part which had taken nearly 1,5 hours. The couple had actually stood in the altar the whole time. Patricia told that when came the moment the priest gave them bread, Patricia had asked for more of it since she was about to pass out because of hunger. The wedding had been celebrated after the official parts all the way to the next morning.

When we left back to the hotel the snow had covered the land. Mihai told that he remembered only one year when it had snowed in Tg-Jiu in November and that was a long time ago. We had no winter tire on our rental car so a little fear creeped into our minds whether we would survive the drive from Tg-Jiu to Bucharest if the weather would really cool down at nights and the roads would freeze.

On Monday the weather was no longer sunny but cloudy and coolly humid. First our group headed to the familiar supermarket to buy useful things to the shelter. We had also decided to buy some heaters for the warehouse building. We had a very demanding task in finding a fan heater that would collect moisture at some local shop. A young and friendly local man kindly tried to help us to find one and guided us from place to place. Unfortunately in the end we had to settle for normal fan heaters. It’s amazing how long it takes in Tg-Jiu to find something that would be easily and quickly found in Finland.

When we finally got to the shelter we took our shoppings to the warehouse building and began installing the fan heaters. I had bought extension cords already in Finland and they were more than useful so we could get the fans installed properly. Then it was time to clean up the warehouse and disinfect the puppy pens. At some point each of us spent some time with the dogs outside, of course. We tried to do as much little procedures as we could when they were needed. Bigger treatments we couldn’t perform, we didn’t have a big “a movable clinic” anyways. When Anu disinfected the cages outside, she saw something small moving by the road. After following it she had realized it was a puppy. The wet little puppy was soon warming up under Tanja’s coat and I guess the two became attached to each other right away. Tanja went back to see if there were other puppies nearby but she couldn’t find any.

At 3 pm Carmena headed home to feed her pets and ten dogs living in the piece of land across her house. Jukka and I promised to follow her so we could greet her pets too. Carmena also told that she had heard sounds of puppies the previous night behind the fence of the lot and checked whether she would find something. In the dark she had seen only a glimpse of something small. Now when it was still bright and we would help her she wanted to pick up the possible abandoned puppies to safety.

Tanja left with us to Carmena’s and on our way we bought a transportation box and some treats for Tanja’s little puppy protégé from a pet store. The pet store clerk was friendly although the smell coming from us was probably very “special”, some might say revolting. Of course we thought it was the most natural thing in the world!

When we arrived at Carmena’s there were familiar wet noses and bright eyes greeting us. The pet pack in Carmena’s home had became a little smaller since Patricia had taken some of the dogs and five of the dogs recovering at Carmena’s had been taken to the shelter to get to know to the shelter life. However there were still about twenty pets there.

Then, in Carmena’s guidance, we went to feed the dogs living in the lot across. Both Carmena and Jukka climbed over the high fence to search for the puppies. It didn’t take long before they both came back with four hungry puppies that were cold and motherless poor things. Me and Tanja took the dogs over the fence and we immediately took the puppies under our coats to warm up. Tanja suggested that the puppies were about 6 or 7 weeks old. We decided to take the puppies to the hotel to receive “first aid” since we already had Tasha’s transportation box there for accommodation.

We went to pick up Anu and Heli from the shelter and went to the hotel with five puppies. Luckily the little things were easy to take secretly pass the reception. Heli and Tanja accommodated the puppies in their room and after eating greedily the puppies fell asleep contently in their own little nest.

The evening program included a visit to Patricia and Mihai’s office and home. Patricia had taken a sick dog to the office, she wanted Tanja to check him up. Also a cat Patricia had saved from the streets was there. When we arrived in the office after 9 pm Patricia and Diana were finishing the posters about Pro Animals Romania that they were planning on spreading to different stores all over the city. We also looked through a file Patricia had recently compiled for the ICAW (International Companion Animal Welfare) conference in Berlin. There had been numerous Romanian animal protection associations attending the conference. There had also been some of the Finnish god dog parents (sponsors) who had met Patricia during the conference and talked a bit.

We ate some pizza at Patricia and Mihai’s home and talked about tons of things thanks to our eventfull days. Earlier I had told Patricia about our thoughts to get a used caravan in front of the shelter as a place for the employees to rest and eat and for a little storage room. In Romania caravans or caravan-cars are not very common but there are some brought from eg. Germany. Mihai’s family owns a car company and he’s very often in Germany picking up cars for his clients. We talked if Mihai could bring a caravan for the shelter on some of his trips. Mihai and Patricia had already checked up some prices on the Internet. As their cheapeast caravans cost 250 euros so we are now eagerly waiting for the information on how soon Mihai could bring a caravan for the shelter. It’s certainly needed.

Our conversation encountered an interesting twist when we told Patricia and Carmena about the thoughts Tanja had had after she and Heli had taken five puppies under their wings in their hotel room. Tanja had become very attached to the puppies and couldn’t bear the thought of taking the puppies to the shelter where they would most likely to die. The living conditions at the shelter are so primitive that you can’t avoid the risk of puppies getting diseases. Not even when you do whatever you can to avoid puppies getting sick. So ahead of us was to find the best solution on how Tanja would get the puppies to Finland until they had had all the necessary vaccinations and medications. On that night we couldn’t find any agreement on what would be the best way. The next day would be our last day at the shelter and we would have to find a solution to our problem.

On Tuesday morning Heli and Tanja were completely exhausted after spending a night awake because of the puppies. These “surrogate mothers” were very happy despite the tiredness and ensured that seeing the puppies joyful in warmth and safe had compensated the strains of the sleepless night.

Patricia had met us at the hotel and we were back on track. We had decided to buy one more fan heater since they had appeared to be very efficient and working. We had to buy more extension cables too. We split up so Tanja and I left with Patricia and the others went shopping. At the office we checked up on the sick dog and after that Patricia showed us the little heating center downstairs that could be one option for accommodating the puppies we found the previous day to the day they would travel to Finland.

The vet was going to give back Ceasar and Tasha’s passport that had been approved by the health officers. However, the vet was nowhere to be seen and we had to wait for him a while. There were already several patients getting replacement fluids and treatments. The vet assistant was helping all of them nicely and smoothly. Finally we got our passports and managed to leave back to the shelter.

The others had already gotten to the shelter before us, Anu and Heli were already working hard. My job was to install one more fan heater. As I completed my task I noticed that the power of the warehouse building was overloading so much because of the heaters that it couldn’t take much more. At daytime you always need some lighting in the warehouse and the huge pot used on making the puppies and sick dogs meaty soup is always bubbling.

As the air cools down the regular radiators has to be used at least at nights in addition to the fans. So, we figured that if we set up the video camera surveillance system for the winter it would probably need so much power that it would all end up in a short circuit. As you may recall, we didn’t bring the security system with us, we were meaning to send it by mail afterwards. Now we have to rethink and try to consult the Finnish electrician who fixed up the electricity system in August 2006 what to do with the dangerous electric wirings.

Our last day at the shelter had progressed to an afternoon and each of us spent most of the time in our own thoughts. The sadness of leaving catches each of us long before we actually leave. At some point in the afternoon Heli, Tanja and Jukka went back to the hotel since Patricia would soon pick up the puppies to their temporary accommodation. They would take the puppies to the heat centre of the office. Tanja had approved this option earlier the day.

Me and Anu stayed at the shelter and at some point I realized I was scooping some mud poop mess with my bare hands behind the shelter. The water wasn’t running properly and the last cage of the first part of the shelter was already almost entirely flooding because of the blockage. I decided that on our next trip we would invest on a couple of good shovels. When I had removed the worst blockages I thought of checking out the room below the warehouse building. According to Patricia it would be a good place to storage all kinds of useful things but unfortunately the floor was completely flooded with water. As I opened the door I noticed right away that Patricia had been right and the floor was indeed filled with water up to my knees.

Heli, Tanja and Jukka returned to the shelter and it was Carmena’s turn to leave since she went to feed the dogs in her home and across her yard. We promised to wait for her return. While we wandered around we noticed three puppies outside the shelter. Their mother was there, too, taking care of her family. Earlier Anu had found one of the puppies straying inside the shelter all alone and we had racked our brains how on Earth had the puppy ended up there. We built the dog family a home of a construction platform, tin plate, garbage bags and straws. While we were building the home the caring mother dog went to the warehouse building, grabbed a big meat chunk and brought it as a dinner for her children.

At some point Adi and Vasile began to feed the shelter dogs and during that some of the dogs began to fight for food. The quarrel ended with one of the fighters being carried to the warehouse building to be patched up. In a pack of hundreds of dogs the fights are inevitable, especially when Carmena is not around to feed them. Sure the dogs picked a fight without any particular reason once in a while, once even I had to stop the arguement by grabbing the worst fighters by the neck. People laughed at me not wondering how I discipline Jukka at home.

Once again it was time to say goodbye to the Tg-Jiu shelter. I tried hard to swallow the tears, it was so heart-wrenching to think of the merciless winter and how the dogs would survive. There are several short-haired dogs in the shelter that will suffer the cold weather and frost for sure. On Tuesday I had noticed that the water in water cups had already frozen.

The day had already turned into a night and the dogs were in their own cages as we got the opportunity for the first time to pick up the little Tasha outside the shelter. We were meaning to take Tasha to the hotel too since we had planned to drive towards Bucharest very early in the morning to get to an early flight to Finland. Luckily Tasha was a sweet little girl and we had been friends for two years so there was a bond and trust between us already. That’s why she didn’t hesitate one moment when I called her name, grabbed her in my arms and began our new life together.

Before leaving we said goodbye to Adi who is a very fine young man. In addition to working hard at the shelter he also studies a master’s degree five evenings a week. Adi’s going to be a teacher but he dreams of a career of a specialized police.

On Tuesday night we were so tired that Heli and Tanja went to bed already before 9 pm. When Carmena and Patricia came to say goodbye to us, the rest of us managed to stay awake just barely. Anu soon sneaked into her room with Ceasar to sleep. Me, Jukka and Tasha stayed for a little while with Carmena and Patricia.

Carmena told about an animal cruelty case that had happened that afternoon in Tg-Jiu. It had been about a horse. There had been some documenting of the case in the local TV-channel, too. Carmena told that she had been interviewed and she was sad that people don’t quite understand all the things that Pro Animals Romania has to deal with. Pro Animals Romania doesn’t have the authority to for example euthanize an animal that suffers. Let’s hope that the cooperation agreement signed by Pro Animals Romania and the police last Friday would help the victims of animal cruelty for example in cases when it’s necessary and urgent to put an animal to sleep. And particularly when the people being cruel to animals must take responsibility for their actions.

For a little while we talked about the new shelter project. Carmena and Patricia told that they would definitely need some local person with enough knowledge and will to help lead the building process. Carmena and Patricia are so busy on a daily basis that focusing 100 per cent on the new shelter hasn’t been possible. We understand it perfectly since we have seen on our trips already several times that every day is full of work and surprising events that demand immediate response. To implement the project you need financial support and also a guarantee that the support will keep on coming steadily as soon as the shelter is ready. PAFi tries to do its best in every possible way for the new shelter. Every now and then it just feels like a drop in the sea.

The return from Tg-Jiu to Bucharest went well and we were at the airport right on time. We went for a walk with Ceasar and Tasha and moved towards the airport hall. We realized right away that our flight was over an hour late and there was going to be some extra waiting to be done at the airport.

We sat down on the benches for a moment with Ceasar and Tasha on our laps and it didn’t take long for an airport vet to come before us and wave at Heli to come with her. I believe the vet remembered Heli from our previous trip on September when Heli had brought Gria and Klenka from the shelter to home with her. I left with Heli and in guidance of the vet we went to a small room. The vet gave one more official stamp on Ceasar and Tasha’s passports. The dogs’ leaving from Romania was also written down on a big thick book. This time we didn’t have to fight with the vet over formalities and getting the stamps didn’t cost us anything.

Then we had one more exciting moment ahead of us. In September we were unaware till the last minute of what would it cost to transport a dog from Bucharest to Finland on a Finnair’s direct flight. We were prepared to pay 18,5 euros per kilo but we ended up paying 5 euros per kilo. Now when I marched with Jukka to the counter of Finnair’s agent we were told immediately that transporting the dogs would cost 18,5 per kilo. Luckily I had a receipt with me of our previous transportation. That caused quite a nice arguement between us and the clerk of what would be the right cost of transportation. Eventually the clerk ended up charging us 5 euros per kilo but said that they had made a mistake in September. In case we would transport dogs to Finland next time on our visit the charge of transportation would definitely be 18,5 euros per kilo.

Every once in a while people contact PAFi asking if they could bring a dog privately from the Tg-Jiu shelter to Finland. It is still possible but in practice it’s very laborious and the costs are multiple in comparison when adopting a homeless dog via Finnish associations working as an intermediary.

Now we are waiting anxiously for Patricia and Mihai to arrive in the beginning of next year to a visit in Finland. We are also already beginning to think of our next shelter visit to Tg-Jiu next spring. I’m also dreaming of getting a truck full of useful things to be taken to the Tg-Jiu shelter. The local timber is expensive and for example the people to build dog houses are very hard to find. We could really use durable dog houses as well as many other things.

We took photos on our trip but time after time I feel that we should have a professional photographer with us. For every photo taken we should take at least one extra photo so the per cent of succeeding would be greater. Taking pictures of four hundred dogs and different situations is really challenging. I’ll go through the photos little by little and send pictures of god dogs (sponsored dogs) when I have enough time. I can’t promise that all the 250 god dogs have been photographed recognizably. I sure have enough pictures of tails and noses, if you want J

With travel regards,

"Once again we have visited Tg-Jiu. Anu who was with us asked on our way home if the trip felt any different compared to the previous ones. It was hard to answer since every trip has been filled with emotions and events and you are so in touch with them the whole trip. Every trip has been and will always be unique. In my opinion the most important thing in these trips is that you get to see your dear friends.

Sure this visit was somehow different compared to the previous visits. This time we brought as private individuals a new family member, a deaf little Surda, to our home. There had been a little shortage of family members for some time and after pondering carefully many different options Jukka and I decided that the next member would come from Tg-Jiu shelter. This is because we knew exactly the circumstances in the shelter and how the dogs are treated there. And more importantly, we had already gotten to know to the newcomer during the past two years and were sure that she would fit in to our pack. The first few days here with Surda have indicated that our decision and choice were perfectly right.

Now I feel it’s time to emphasize that as an association Pro Animals Finland still isn’t acting as an intermediary or bringing any dogs from the shelter to Finland. However, as a private person anyone can apply for a dog. This person must be ready for a process that will take a long time and demands resources. This means that first you’ll have to travel to the shelter to get to know to the dogs. If you find a suitable member for your own pack you’ll have to take another trip to the shelter to bring the dog home if you receive an approval from Carmena and Patricia since Pro Animals Romania owns the dogs.

PAFi has nothing to do with this process except that everyone can always participate when PAFi goes for a visit to the shelter. PAFi is still using all its resources on helping locally. The most important tasks are to help the dogs by sponsor dog activity and to educate which aims at getting people to adopt dogs and to change their attitudes. It’s also essential to help build a new safe shelter to where the dogs from the current shelter can be moved. Pro Animals Romania’s new shelter would also have a proper veterinary clinic with competent staff.

Anu, Heli, Jukka and I met early on Saturday morning at Helsinki-Vantaa airport. We had worming and flea and tick treatments, anti-inflammatory pain medications and different kinds of vitamins that we shared to be packed into suitcases.

Heli had been with us on our trip in June and this time she was going to bring home two new family members. On our trip in June she had chosen the dogs and gotten approvals from Carmena and Patricia. Anu was with us for the first time but she is very familiar with PAFis activities from the beginning. She knows every step of the way when it comes to the shelter and most importantly, she knows the circumstances so she had prepared herself mentally as well as possible to see what’s ahead.

The flight to Bucharest was very easy this time since we flew there straight via Finnair. The flight took 2,5 hours. We were happy that Finnair had started the flights straight from Helsinki to Bucharest since we know very well how straining and difficult the flights that stop by at other airports or where you have to change planes can be. Let’s not forget that after the flight there’s a long and rough drive ahead of you, it takes at least 5,5 hours from Bucharest to Tg-Jiu.

We arrived in Bucharest early in the afternoon and as soon as we found our rental car, we headed towards Tg-Jiu. The weather was half-cloudy – just right for the road trip. This time the route was so familiar for Jukka, our driver, that we didn’t need any maps or guidance. We found the right route from the beginning.

During the drive the scenery changes from plains to mountains, you can see quite many things. You could get interesting photos already during the drive but we are always in such a hurry we don’t have patience to stop to take pictures. The photos taken through the car windows aren’t very good.

We drove a couple of hours until we decided to make a quick stop at the gas station. We visited “the toilet section”, bought something to eat and refilled our drink supplies. As we moved back to the car, we saw a lonely little dog. Of course we couldn’t just leave so we said hello to the little thing. There’s more about Ceasar and how the story continues in Anu’s report…

We arrived in Tg-Jiu at about 7 pm. Of course we decided to stop by at the shelter to greet Carmena and Patricia before heading to the hotel. Even though we tried to convince ourselves that this was just a quick stop – especially when we had our travelling clothes on and shelter gear in our luggage – that quick visit was still an hour long.

When we arrived in the shelter, the first things we saw were the loyal guardian dogs Gogu and Kiti. Gogu was lying in front of the warehouse building, looking tired, and for a moment we were afraid our old friend was sick. Luckily Gogu was healthy and only exhausted of the day’s work. After all, Gogu’s not so very young anymore.

Unlike Gogu, Kiti sure did have energy! Kiti was thrilled to see us, the dog was pure joy from head to toe. Carmena and Patricia greeted us as warmly as always. Though they had had a rough week because of the five poisoned shelter dogs, they still were lively and friendly.

We got to meet the dogs living in the warehouse building. Most of them are motherless puppies of many different ages. In the warehouse was also a dog Carmena and Patricia had picked up nearby some garbage area a couple of weeks ago. The dog had been in a coma and full of worms. God knows how many people had taken the garbage and seen this sick dog and still nobody bothered to help. The dog had been in a really poor condition. Carmena showed us this big can that contained worms she picked off the dog, there had been worms in the dog’s eyes too. We hope from the bottoms of our hearts that the little poor thing gets better in the loving care of Carmena.

When we had heard the stories of the warehouse puppies and agreed to meet Carmena and Patricia the next morning at the shelter, we headed to a supermarket and then checked in to a hotel. The hotel we were used to accommodate ourselves on our trips had built an extension this year. This new part of the hotel is very popular place for weddings and there, desperately trying to find a parking spot, we realized there was probably one if not many wedding receptions going on.

When we finally got to our hotel rooms we realized that it was likely that the wedding guests had taken the biggest rooms. We called Patricia and she informed immediately that she’d come and take us to another hotel. When Patricia arrived, we decided that we’d move to the other hotel in the morning since we were awfully tired and just wanted to sleep. I have to admit that after a night of listening to the party people and music, we probably would’ve been perkier in the morning if we had changed the hotel already the previous evening.

On Sunday morning Patricia guided us to another hotel which seemed more peaceful place than the previous one. We unpacked our luggage, gathered up the things we were gonna take to the shelter and decided to take a quick spin at the supermarket before heading to the shelter. We bought a shopping cart full of useful cleaning equipment for the warehouse building and some puppy food to start with. Serban, the vet, would bring a larger amount of puppy food when he’d arrive.

When we got to the shelter we went to the warehouse and unpacked our shoppings and some of the things we had brought from Finland. After that we began to get to know to the little creatures living in the warehouse.

We also fed Nutriplus gel to the puppies and sick dogs. We had also brought worming treatments for puppies so we treated all the puppies there.

From the warehouse we moved to the shelter in a company of the guardian dogs to greet hundreds of our friends. This time there were already half a dozen guardian dogs. It’s very hard to describe the feeling and atmosphere when you step inside the shelter gates. I’ve probably told you before but it’s like taking a step inside to a magic world, everything else just disappears. Once again we were surrounded by hundreds of friends and the joy of reunion was tactile.

On Sunday afternoon we witnessed a happy event when two of the shelter dogs got adopted. Carmena had told me that the dogs will be picked up at 2 pm. A friendly, talkative man arrived before 2 o’clock and sat down on the grass outside the shelter next to Jukka talking with great enthusiasm. First Jukka thought that the man had talked about women and would have been eager to marry some of us. Later Jukka had found out that the man had actually talked about dogs he had come to pick up!

Adi carried Negrutzu and Sini to their new owner and after the proper pictures had been taken, the dogs as well as the man pinched themselves into the back of a van. I got to join Patricia on her way to check out what kind of a home would Negrutza and Sini be living in. When we arrived, we found a home of a father and son with quite a large garden. Negrutzu and Sini immediately began to snoop around eagerly when they got to the garden grass. The new owner seemed very friendly and gently petted Negrutzu and Sini’s heads while talking to them constantly. I believe the dogs will enjoy themselves in their new home.

At the shelter the time goes by without even noticing. You get so tightly involved in being present and you’d hope it all would last longer. At some point we had to leave the shelter and get back to the warehouse building. Heli and I helped to feed the puppies and sick dogs and cleaned up the floors while Carmena and Patricia were running errands. Outside the warehouse Anu picked up a big bag full of broken glass.

When Carmena got back to the shelter she had a skinny puppy with her. She found the puppy from a sack nearby the road. Carmena told that Maxy who had been a victim of poisoning had once looked exactly the same so the puppy inherited the name “Maxy”.

Then it was time to feed the shelter dogs. The dogs have a regular feeding time and every day they know when they will get their stomachs full. Adi, the only worker of the shelter, helps in feeding and other chores and from a Finnish point of view does a long day without any particular breaks. Adi is like a heaven sent for the shelter and Carmena said she and Patricia appreciate Adi very much. On Sunday Patricia’s father was also helping at the shelter first time for a long time.

Our first shelter day had come to an evening and we headed to hotel to tidy up ourselves. We were planning to go to Carmena and Patricia’s home for a little visit later that evening.

Patricia came to pick us up at 9:30 pm and as we arrived, we were greeted by a happy dog choir. First we sneaked in the living room and only a few of the women’s pets kept us company during our dinner so we’d get to eat in peace. Patricia’s aunt had made an assortment of vegetarian food that tasted like heaven! We devoured them as if we had never seen food. Sure we were hungry since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

After the dinner we unpacked our gift bags that consisted of (among other things) worming and tick and flea treatments, fever and anti-inflammatory pain medications, antibiotics and other conditioners. I had already written down how every single medicine is to be used and dosed, but we still went through the directions carefully with Carmena and Patricia.

Then it was time to let the many pets of the women to the living room. There was a lovely funny chaos after that! It’s so wonderful to see what adorable and sociable individuals these pets are. Of course it was impossible to get every dog fit in to the living room so we moved outside to greet the bigger dogs. When we finally managed to leave back to the hotel, it was almost 1 am and we were all exhausted after a long day’s work.

On Monday morning the first thing we did was to head towards the bank to transfer the donations and sponsorship fees (3000 euros) to Pro Animals Romania’s account. Once again we bumped into some problems but after some clarification we managed to transfer the money. After the bank episode Patricia took us to the only pet store of Tg-Jiu. For the shelter we bought nail scissors’ and balls to play with for the warehouse puppies.

When we arrived in the shelter, of course we greeted Gogu and Kiti first. They always demand their share of affection. Other guardian dogs stayed close too and took the treats we gave but they weren’t so eager to come into our laps like Gogu and Kiti.

After we had said hello to the guardian dogs we began our usual chores in the warehouse building. Of course during our chores we spent some time with the warehouse puppies and the shelter dogs as much as we possibly could.

This time we decided not to photograph so much and focus more on helping. It takes enormously lot time to take pictures and it’s very hard to get a picture of every god dog since the dogs aren’t exactly statues that stay put. Taking pictures inside the shelter isn’t easy either because the dogs are constantly surrounding you and jumping against you begging for hugs and attention. We felt it was more important to keep our hands off the camera and use them to rubs and work.

On Monday we did some chores that had gotten familiar to us. We helped in every way we could. At some point Carmena asked me to witness how a little dog was abandoned to the shelter. A man in a horse carriage parked himself in front of the shelter. The man had a little dog that had a tight rope around its neck and a long hempen rope attached to it. The man told that he had too many dogs. Apparently this little dog surely would’ve eaten so much the owner couldn’t possibly afford keeping it…

In the afternoon Carmena and Adi buried one of the five poisoned shelter dogs behind the warehouse building. They had already buried the other ones. It was very touching to witness this.

We discussed with Carmena and Patricia how easy it is to throw poisoned treats inside the shelter for example from a horse carriage. We tried to think of ways to protect the dogs better. After the poisonings a guard was hired to the business area across the shelter. The guard however works only in daytime. When I asked Patricia why there are no night guards she told that if there were gipsies in the area, one or two guards wouldn’t dare to act even in a case of emergency. The gipsies have a scary reputation and I can understand why since even on our trip Carmena got death threats from them.

It’s hard to build a roof on top of the shelter but some kind of a sheltering net could be possible. Naturally we are trying to find a cooperation partner from a company providing security services. No option probably is free but it’s horrible to think if poisonings become a constant joy for some sick people.

Later in the afternoon Anu disappeared into the warehouse building to feed the puppies and sick dogs and to clean up. On Heli’s and mine schedule was to pick up our new family members from the shelter to get used to the transportation boxes and life outside the shelter in general. Luckily everything went smoothly – the dogs recognized us and trusted on us from the beginning. Even deaf little Surda who had lived in the shelter 6 years walked briskly on a leash wagging her tail as if she had done it all her life.

Once again without even realizing the darkness had fallen and it was time to head back to the hotel. We agreed to meet with Carmena and Patricia later at the hotel to go on a dinner. We took Surda in her big transportation box with us to the hotel. She caught some well-earned attention from the staff and hotel guests.

Carmena’s evening at the shelter prolonged to near 10 pm and when we met her at the hotel she looked really tired. Despite the exhaustion she’s always friendly and happy, for her it’s also completely out of the question to cancel our meetings and stay home and rest. When we came back to our hotel room after midnight our little Surda was cosily sleeping in her box in the verge of her new life.

On Tuesday it was time for Anu, Jukka, me and Surda to travel home. Heli would return with her new family members on Wednesday since there were not enough room for all of the dogs on the same flight.

Early in the morning we gave Surda a shower, she seemed to enjoy the treatment so much she almost fell asleep. When we had washed and dried Surda, Jukka took Anu and Heli to the supermarket to buy more things to the shelter. I stayed in the hotel with Surda and packed our luggage.

At 11 am it was time to go and say goodbye to Carmena and Patricia and also Adi and the shelter dogs before heading home. At the shelter we took Surda out of the car to stretch her legs and to say goodbye to Carmena who was kissing Surda all over. I believe both of them have good memories of the time spent together and of course we hope Carmena would be able to come and greet Surda in Finland someday. After we had hugged the women we promised to come back soon. Heli, though, had still a full day of work at the shelter ahead of her.

The drive from Tg-Jiu to Bucharest took 6 hours and went great. For Surda the drive seemed much more like a fun ride, it was wonderful to see how she was running around happy on our stops. When we reached the airport we took a little walk in a local park with Surda and I felt my heart was bursting with affection.

At check-in I got into a heated dispute with a vet who wasn’t up to date of Finnish regulations on animal import. The vet almost refused to let Surda travel. Fortunately the vet eventually understood he had met a tight opponent and gave up.

During the check-in I also recall hearing some older women deplore behind us on the line. They thought keeping a dog in a transportation box hot and thirsty was animal cruelty. Sure it was warm at the airport but Surda had been properly given water after every short period. Of course I could’ve told these critics Surda’s story and ask that if they felt this part of the story was animal cruelty then what did they think of Surda been beaten nearly to death. I also wanted to ask if they had paid any attention during their trip to all the crippled, famished and sick dogs wandering the streets and asked if they felt animal protection was extending to those poor things. But I let it go and kept my mouth shut.

At Helsinki-Vantaa airport we were excited to know how Surda had survived the flight. When we got her back to us, there was a brisk happy girl in the box. Surda’s passport was checked at airport customs and we were told the passport had been perfect and was well beyond the required regulations.

Now we are happily at home and Surda’s new life as our beloved pet has began better than we’d ever hoped! Heli is also at home safe and sound with Gria and Klenka. I’m sure we’ll hear how things are going there at some point.

Missing and wishing to be back in Tg-Jiu shelter,

Kiia "

Dear friends and supporters of Pro-Animals,

In August I had the pleasure of meeting Carmena and Patricia of Pro-Animals during my trip to Romania. My husband and I have been supporters of Carmenas for two years now since my husband met Carmena when he was in Romania on business.

He had asked local business people and our embassy staff who was the best person in Romania to help with the desperate dog situation there. Everyone recommended Carmena and since then we have tried to help what little we can.

What I saw this summer was that Carmena was working under impossible conditions. She and her daughter bear this crushing responsibility nearly alone, and in so doing are destroying their own health. Carmena is totally
dedicated and selfless in her care of and defense of the animlas. She gets no local support.

CARMENA NEEDS HELP!

The shelter is open and there is no heat. Carmena and Patricia take care of them without help. Pro-Animals also needs donations of money.
Sheila Wentzel
48 Greenwood Shoals
Grasonville, Md. 21638
USA
phone:410-8273148

email: piggiemail@friend.ly.net

"I thought, the more I visit Tg-Jiu the more I’d get used to facing all the things the trip will bring forth and to process the trip afterwards less emotionally than after our first trip. Apparently this is going to go totally other way around. The more I visit Tg-Jiu, the harder it is to leave the place and try to get a hold of “the normal life” here in Finland. I probably couldn’t live in Tg-Jiu but something in there has gotten hold of my heart real tight.

Our third and long awaited trip to Tg-Jiu began on Sunday the 10 th. Me and Jukka had been in Prague in business matters the couple of days before the trip and headed for Bucharest. There we met our fellow travellers Heli and Niina. The weather was really hot and sweat was dripping down our faces as soon as we stepped out of the airport building.

Our rental car waited for us already at the airport and we filled the trunk with luggage. The luggage actually almost broke down with gifts! The car rental employees drove in front of us, helpfully guiding us to the beginning of the motorway. I very well recall how last year on our trip we took a little tour by the cabbage plantations.

The drive from Bucharest to Tg-Jiu took about 4,5 hours. The whole time we talked, I don’t think there were any quiet moments. The scenery was pretty familiar to me and Jukka but completely new to Heli and Niina. And like on our previous trips, on our way to Tg-Jiu we saw dozens of stray dogs and unfortunately also dead bodies of dogs that were hit by a car. It takes some nerves to drive forward without stopping. You always want to bury the bodies by the roads and pick up those dogs that are still running on the side of the road.

We arrived in Tg-Jiu about 8.30 pm and stopped by the shelter on our way to the hotel. The shelter dogs were about to go to sleep and the guardian dogs were lying peacefully in front of the shelter. We didn’t get out of the car although we knew Carmena was still awake feeding and nursing sick dogs and puppies in the warehouse building and we would’ve been more than happy to go and say hello to her.

We went to the hotel that had become very familiar to us. We called Patricia and arranged to meet at 7.30 am the next morning in front of the hotel. We were going to go to the school to give out diplomas and prizes to six classes for their participation in the education programme. After eating a light supper, we went to bed with many kinds of thoughts on our minds about the upcoming days. Before going to sleep we told Heli and Niina that the rooster next door will start its concert at 2 am and continues it all the way to the morning. Hopefully the concert wouldn’t cause any sleep deprivation.

The wake up call on Monday morning was early so we could eat some breakfast before going to perform our important task. Soon we met Patricia and the reunion was once again very sentimental. Patricia brought Diana with her who participates in the education programme in schools and the therapy dog programme in retirement homes. A charming dog, Dolly, came along with us to give out diplomas. Dolly is one of the many pets of Carmena and Patricia.

We arrived in the school in good time and at 8 am sharp we began to give out diplomas and prizes. The diplomas given to the pupils had been marked with paw signs of how well they had passed the course. Every pupil had filled a three-page form of questionnaires and tasks. The course was evaluated based on these results. As we were giving out the diplomas, we went through some important things involving taking care of pets and protecting animals. Patricia has an excellent style of communicating with the children. It’s very important to keep the children active and able to follow the things they are told and keep them meeting the expectations. Patricia has succeeded in this perfectly. Even though Patricia told she never believed she could cope with dozens of children, she was satisfied with how well the education programme with the children had gone.

We visited six classes in total and it was wonderful to be a part of it. Pupils of some classes were very composed and stayed kindly at their desks whereas some classes were full of wild children that didn’t stay on their seats one moment. The pupils talked on and on all kinds of important things and in one class we watched photos of a school field trip in last spring and guessed who was who. Of course Dolly was the center in every class, almost everyone wanted to pet her.

While Patricia had educated, she had asked the pupils how many had a pet at home. The result had been shocking: only about 5 per cent had a dog. Usually the children were eager to take a dog but according to their parents, dogs only cause a mess and bring all kinds of diseases. Many families sure could take care of at least one pet but the attitudes are still very adverse.

When we had gone through all the six classes, we headed for the retirement home.

Before that we took Dolly home and grabbed Kiki and Mica with us. They had visited the elderly people on a regular basis since last fall. On Carmena and Patricia’s home yard we got a glimpse of some of their own pets and greeted the group of ten dogs living on the other side of the road. These dogs included (among others) the god dogs Grya, Coditza, Latila and Maman. These dogs live in a fenced area across Carmena and Patricia’s home, on a land owned by them. These dogs, too, are taken care of by Carmena and Patricia.

We drove towards Susen’s retirement home. As we arrived, we greeted quickly the manager of the building and began our tour with the elderly. Usually Patricia and Diana along with Kiki and Mica spend three hours on Sundays visiting the elderly.

However, this time we cut back the visiting time a little since the elderly weren’t used to strange people and perhaps were a bit shy of us. When visiting, we became convinced that it’s very important for the elderly to get in touch with Patricia and Diana and the lovely therapy dogs. Even if one visit gets postponed, the elderly start asking about it, which is exactly what happened now too. The retirement home has outdoor dogs of its own which have been very important to those patients who can spend time outside. Of course the retirement home doesn’t want uncontrollable number of dogs there. Unfortunately people from the village nearby abandon dogs to retirement home hoping the dogs are taken care of or at least fed in there.

Then it was time for us to drive back to the hotel, change into our shelter gear, load the gifts to our car and drive quickly towards the shelter to meet our furry friends. Patricia called at some point that Carmena had gotten acute stomach ache and was forced to go home from the shelter. Patricia tried to medicate her mother before coming to the shelter. We headed to the shelter anyway, since we knew that there were two employees and we’d get the chance to meet our friends.

We parked in front of the shelter and rushed out of the car. We tried to explain the shelter employees that we were friends of Carmena and Patricia and went to look for our dear friend, the guardian dog of the shelter, Gogu. Soon we found it and the joy of reunion was enormous! Gogu had gotten pleasant girl company of Kiti who had been brought to the shelter half a year ago and decided to stay and entertain Gogu. The other guardian dog of the shelter, Kitza, was also there but it discreetly stayed further from us, following our every move to see what we were there for.

When we had hugged Gogu and Kiti enough, it was time to hurry inside the shelter. We didn’t hesitate one moment to step through the familiar door to our own magical world to our beloved friends. We immediately saw a lot of familiar faces and the joy of seeing each other again came from the bottom of my heart. I hoped so much that my arms could be so wide that I could hug all the dogs at once and tell my friends how much I had missed them. I was very happy to know that this time I could focus a lot more on the shelter dogs. On our previous visit we had done our best to help with the neutering programme and we had had to share our time to as many things as possible.

Heli, Niina and Jukka followed me briskly inside the shelter and soon Heli and Niina had many new friends around them. I think they felt themselves being like Alice in Wonderland. I was so happy that Heli and Niina felt the same as I and rather than being afraid of the dogs, they took the dogs immediately as their friends.

At some point in the afternoon Carmena came and I ran to hug her at the gates of the shelter. Carmena was feeling very ill but bravely she had decided to come and meet us and finish the daily chores of the shelter. The shelter has certain routines every day and Carmena carries a big role in doing them. Every day she treats the dogs that need medication. Dogs with skin problems in particular are often abandoned to the shelter and also found on the streets. Getting these dogs to health is a long process. The shelter also needs to be washed clean several times a day and it’s done with running water from a hose. If there are employees, they will do the cleaning but if there aren’t any, Carmena and Patricia are forced to do that too.

We moved from the shelter to the warehouse building that had a dozen puppies and several sick adult dogs. Nine puppies were orphans and three other little puppies had a very weak-looking mother. Patricia told that as the night falls, she’ll take the mother home and in the morning she’ll take the dog straight to the vet. We tried to coddle the puppies as long as possible until it was so late we had to head to the hotel to take a shower and eat some supper. We agreed with Carmena and Patricia to visit their house the next evening and to meet again at the shelter in the morning.

In the left picture Carmena is taking care of a puppy Patricia is holding. With them in the picture is also Vasile, one of the new employees of the shelter. On the right there are Niina, Arttu and some of the puppies living in the warehouse building. By the two walls of the warehouse are sacks of dry dog food, you can see them also in the right-hand picture.

After the supper we were more than ready to meet the Sandman! Heli and Niina hadn’t heard any rooster crowing or other noise the previous night so they’d probably sleep soundly the next night too. I also hoped to block all the dog barking that I had listened to the previous night until the rooster began to crow after midnight.

It was warm and sunny on Tuesday morning. I, however, felt nothing resembling to sunny and cheerful. I had rolled in my bed in agony all night and run over to bathroom every once in a while. In the morning I felt really awful and tired and decided to rest at the hotel for a couple of hours. Heli, Niina and Jukka went to buy things for the puppies and then hurried to the shelter. At noon I decided that I must get there too even though I still felt really weak. I couldn’t stay and rest since I knew that every minute spent with the shelter dogs is as important to them as it is for me.

When Jukka came to pick me up at the hotel, he told that the mother of the three puppies had died the previous night and Patricia had gone to the vet to liquefy the puppies. Carmena was still at home since she wasn’t feeling well but she’d come to the shelter sometime in the afternoon. As I arrived in the shelter, I ran to change clothes in the warehouse. Of course there were a half a dozen eager puppies coming to greet me. It took some time to get out of the warehouse building because honestly, who could resist those innocent little children who wish to play with you and coddle in your arms to receive affection and love they had missed as they had lost their mothers for some reason way too young?

After some time I had to move on since I wanted to say hello to other shelter dogs and I still had a ton of pictures to be taken. Getting decent pictures is an accomplishment since there is a pack of dogs, everyone wanting to be hugged, kissed and petted. The camera is also covered in drool and mud all the time – it’s always very hard to see through the lens! To my great delight I noticed that Usko (Faith) and Toivo (Hope) were doing extremely well! Usko’s wound has healed completely and Toivo’s coat has grown a lot. Carmena told that skin-problematic dogs’ skin heals and the coat grows back completely but after that every now and then the problems come back in a smaller scale. Toivo was very sociable and playful, Usko a little more careful.

Also Minni, Ninni and Penni are looking completely different compared to what they looked like when they arrived in the shelter in a poor condition. The girls were very energetic and were running around in the shelter all day long as the young ones do!

Later in the afternoon we left with Patricia to get leftover food from a school. As we arrived, we dragged heavy barrels full of soup across the canteen halls and outside we moved the soup from the canteen barrels to the barrels of the shelters. Patricia told that the canteen staff never helps with moving the barrels, sometimes you just have handle it by yourself. I couldn’t help amazing how the slender Patricia could do it! On the other hand, after seeing Patricia carrying dogs that weigh 30 kilos, I could believe that she really can handle many things people her size could never ever handle.

Before we could take the food barrels to the shelter we had to take two dogs we had with us to the vet. The other one of the dogs was Carmena and Patricia’s own pet and the other was a half-blind puppy living in the warehouse building of the shelter. The vet was the same who had participated in the neutering programme last summer and who visited also in Finland in last fall to get some extra training.

Patricia told that after the visit to Finland, the vet had raised his prices heavily and always remembers to mention to his customers: ”if only you knew how much this all costs in Finland!”. The vet obviously hadn’t understood that the purpose of his visit to Finland wasn’t that he’d raise the prices over the top and get himself customers by advertising that he had been in Finland to “specialize”. Sure the price and wage level had risen in Romania in general after joining the EU but to demonstrate: a year ago the vet took 15 euros for a neutering (bitch), now he charges 50 euros!

Anyway, this vet happens to be the better one of the two vets in town and he sure is busy. And when there is a line of customers waiting, he doesn’t care for coming to the shelter to treat dogs. Sometimes it would really be necessary as it was for example during our visit when an old dog, Broma, was so in pain he couldn’t be moved and taken by car to the vet to be put out of his misery and sent to the Rainbow Bridge.

After the vet we drove back to the shelter and carried the food barrels inside to be given to the dogs. The puppies inside the warehouse building were already yelling for some human company. Among the smallest litter, there was a tiny but persistent puppy that was already climbing up the cage – of course it had to be picked up to be petted. We gave the puppies some meaty soup that also the smallest ones ate. Only the three puppies that had lost their mother slept after the liquefaction that morning.

To my surprise, I suddenly noticed a rat drinking peacefully from the dogs’ drinking bowl. I’m not exactly a fan of rats, so I asked very calmly from Patricia if the rat was also a resident of the shelter. Patricia told that the rat had appeared a few weeks ago and is living very cosily with the dogs. The rats certainly aren’t members of the dog pack but they seem to run around outside every now and then so it’s no use trying to kill them with poison or traps.

After the dogs had eaten enough and wanted to lay down for a little after-dinner nap, I found myself inside the shelter with the dogs living in there. Every time you go inside to either one of the parts of the shelter, there are always certain dogs welcoming you and following you everywhere you go. Most of these lovely creatures want to be petted and kissed all the time and they certainly don’t mind getting into your lap! Some of these dogs are quite big so hugging them isn’t exactly easy if you don’t sit down. Numerous male dogs showed their warmest signs of friendship by peeing either on your ankles, calves, thighs or even back if you happen to squat!

The only cat of the shelter, Suzy, was wandering around the shelter area very cosily. Sometimes she was seen climbing on the edge of the shelter fence or lying on top of the galvanized iron roofs of the dog houses. Every now and then Suzy came to check that everything was ok in the warehouse building. Suzy was a very little kitten in August 2006 when we were carrying out the neutering campaign. Even though a year ago Suzy was so very tiny, she was very efficient assistant and took care of (among others) a poisoned dog. Now Suzy has grown into a real beauty!

Heli, Niina and Jukka soon came from the city where they had gone to grab a bite of a hamburger. So I too got some snack in a form of a veggie burger. After the tiring previous night I didn’t dare to eat but only a few bites of the burger. Luckily our friend Kiti finished the rest of the hamburger.

After the lunch break Heli and I took out the puppies that had lost their mother. They were already awake and crying very unhappily inside. Even though we couldn’t replace the mother dog, we tried our best to comfort the puppies and luckily they did calm down a little in our arms. Patricia had gone to take care of some business and when she came back, we agreed to take out some dogs for a walk. Patricia chose Bobby, Igor, Maxy and Tasha from the shelter to be taken out. We weren’t able to get very far with the dogs since there were a lot of factory-like companies with guardian dogs to be watched out. It was touching to notice that there were also two of the shelter’s guardian dogs watching over the dogs that were taken for a walk and of course us, dog walkers, too.

Then it was feeding time and Carmena had arrived too. Every day Carmena gives food to the dogs with the shelter employees if there are any. The current employees have been in the shelter for a short time and Carmena and Patricia had coped on their own for a long time in spring. We watched from a further spot when the food was given, we didn’t want to cause any stir. However it seemed like the dogs knew they were getting food on a regular basis and didn’t start to fight over food.

At some point in the late afternoon we found ourselves being inside the warehouse building petting the puppies and following how the daily chores were done there. Since we were soon heading for a visit to Carmena and Patricia’s home, we drove back to hotel to freshen up. Me and Heli in particular we covered in dirt and dog pee!

We arrived in Carmena and Patricia’s home at 9.30 pm and as we stepped inside the gate, we saw yet another pack of friends greeting us. The women’s pets are absolutely charming creatures and we are always welcome as guests. We had a bag of goodies with us that we tried to share equally to everyone. The darkness had already fallen but in spite of that we tried very hard to take pictures also outside where most of the dogs were running around eagerly.

When we had given out our goodies we moved to the living room. Some of the pets got to follow us and just imagine the joy they felt when every one of them wanted to introduce themselves and wanted to be hugged! In addition to the old friends, Carmena and Patricia had a little and absolutely adorable Chica whose eye had been severely severed by children and whose going to need the help of an eye specialist. Two puppies that had been abandoned at the home gate of the women and a puppy found from a ditch with a broken leg were also newcomers. I hadn’t previously met also Carmel and Wilma who were absolutely delightful creatures. Out of the five cats the women have, three of them were at home and they all happened to be sponsored cats so we got good photos of them too.

Patricia ordered us a pizza that everyone ate with a good appetite! Some of the women’s dogs were so helpful little creatures that there were not one crumble to be found. Having such a good time with Carmena and Patricia and Alma, Bubu, Bursu, Cara, Dolly, Kiki, Marc, Mica, Mickey, Patric and numerous puppies around us, the evening hours went by fast. Even though we were all tired we didn’t want to leave our friends. Eventually we had to agree that we all needed some sleep and so we headed back to our hotel. Even I slept like a baby all night without hearing any crowing.

Then it was the last day at the shelter. We had agreed to go to the shelter at 9.30 am since we were going to the bank after Patricia had unlocked the shelter gates and doors for the workers and done necessary morning chores. We had 3 000 euros of donations – from sponsors and others – that had to be put to Pro Animals Romania account. Our previous visits to bank had been very interesting and it has always been difficult to put the money to the account. And there we were, waiting anxiously whether Romania joining the EU had made the procedure a little easier. Patricia and I marched into the bank while Jukka took Heli and Niina shopping. Heli and Niina wanted to by supplies and more puppy food for the shelter.

When Patricia and I went to the bank, Patricia walked straight to the familiar counter to tell how we would like to put money on Pro Animals Romania’s account. This time we were advised to change the money first in another counter and then I would simply deposit the money for Pro Animals Romania. Patricia and I looked at each other eyes wide open and thought if this was really that easy! On our previous times we had spent hours in the bank with clerks jerking us around and pondering if the deposit was even possible. Last summer we had to go to bank twice before we could transfer the money.

So we changed the euros into local currency and after that I had to fill out a form that inquired my personal data very carefully. Then we headed with great anticipation to make a deposit. Everything went fine until they wanted my ID. That couldn’t be found on my passport or driver’s licence. Patricia showed her own ID-card with this certain code in it and I couldn’t do anything but claim that I had never needed such code and don’t know how to find it. After all, there happened to be two lines of different kinds of codes and numbers on the underside of my passport and so was my ID found. We compared the numbers to Patricia’s ID-card with similar kinds of lines forming her ID. Eventually the bank’s system recognized the fed letters and numbers and we got the money to Pro Animal Romania’s account! It had taken about half an hour and was nothing compared to the previous visits!

After the bank we headed towards Patricia’s work place. Patricia showed me some of the videos filmed at the retirement home and burned them on a CD so I could take them with me. We admired the animal-related posters the children had made during the education programme. I have to admit that I was in awe. The children had really made an effort collecting material from newspapers, magazines and Internet. When I saw a poster with a picture of my late old Ferdi happily cooling down in his swimming pool, tears were streaming down my face. That picture had been printed out with colours from our homepage. There was a caption telling “a dog with a happy life and a loving family”.

When Patricia and I went back to the shelter, Heli, Niina and Jukka had arrived with their purchases and taken them already out of the car. They had bought quite a bit: two big food sacks, half a dozen large food cans, zinc buckets, cleaning agents and supplies, scissors’ and other useful things. All of this had cost about 100 euros. In comparison, in Finland this would have cost at least twice as much.

Carmena had picked up from a supermarket ten sacks of bones which date had already been expired. There were also a couple of boxes full of meat and sausages that couldn’t be sold anymore. The dogs were about to have a real feast that day! The floor of the warehouse building was soon filling up with food sacks and boxes. After that we began to share bones and meat to the dogs in the warehouse building – they were already waiting anxiously with tongues grazing the floor!

One of the shelter employees began to chop the bones smaller so that every dog in the shelter would get their share. Patricia and I went through all the donations brought from Finland and I explained what everything consisted of and how to dose eg. worming treatments. Sure I had written directions in English already in Finland but Patricia translated them into Romanian for Carmena.

In the afternoon everyone had something to do and of course, every once in a while we went to say hello to the shelter dogs. We also had to take pictures since the days were hot and some of the dogs were cooling off in their shadowy dog houses. I couldn’t be sure if I had already photographed a dog or not. So it was better to take as much as pictures as our cameras could so we’d get photos especially of every god dog. Jukka had already bought a new memory card for our camera the previous day. At some point Patricia left with Jukka to get food from the school.

Once in a while I went to secure the situation in the warehouse building and as I stayed there for a while, I noticed that the rat had come out of his hideaway and ate some soup from a cup very happily. Some of the dogs had smelled the rat who hadn’t done a single move to escape or defend itself. So the dogs didn’t pay much more attention to it anymore. The rat had wounds in its lower back. Probably it was some kind of an outcast who had been attacked by other rats. Maybe the rat had escaped to the warehouse building to stay alive.

I called others too watch how the rat ate lard from the soup with its hands. There we were standing and wondering this weird phenomenon. When the rat had eaten enough, it moved to drink by the edge of the sewer of the water tank. Patricia told that she’s going to try to catch the rat into a cage. She’s going to take the rat as a pet since no one of us even thought of catching and killing it.

At some point in the afternoon the dogs became very restless – a sign of a nearing thunder. Most of the shelter dogs were afraid of thunderstorms and it usually means that you have to stay and calm them down even through the whole night. Heli, Niina and I happened to be cleaning up the warehouse building when Carmena rushed inside and told that one of the dogs had his wrist open and it was cascading with blood. Naturally Carmena has first aid supplies and medicine in the warehouse building so with the help of them we tried to prevent the wound from bleeding. The injured dog, Floricel, was, of course, in panic and didn’t allow anyone to bandage his wrist. That meant that the blood was flowing all the more heavily. The cage Floricel lived in was red with blood and we feared that soon the dog would have lost too much blood to survive.

One other dog, Jimbata, had been frightened of the thunder so much, I saw him take a big leap over the two meter high fence and disappear behind the shelter. I yelled the others that Jimbata had ran away and ran after it. Soon one of the workers was behind me and I tried to explain to what direction the dog had ran. Fortunately we saw the runaway in front of us and ran towards it. Soon Jimbata surrendered and we took it to the warehouse building.

After given Floricel first aid, Patricia and Jukka rushed to the vet where they had assisted while the vet had sown the open cuts on the dog’s wrist. The wounds were most likely caused by a taiskid nail that had somehow got stuck in the fence and tore the wrist open. It was possible since the fence of the cage the dog lived in was down on the other side and it probably had happened when Floricel had tugged it because of the thunder.

It was already feeding time for the dogs and though it was still thundering, luckily it didn’t rain. With the workers Carmena gave the dogs food. Heli, Niina and I tried to calm down the dogs on the other side of the shelter. After some time I wanted to make sure everything was alright in the warehouse building so I went there. Fortunately it was peaceful in there and the dogs very happy. Some of the puppies wanted some company and the puppy cage needed to be cleaned up so it was time to get busy.

Patricia and Jukka returned to the shelter with Floricel at about 7 pm. Jukka carried the sleeping Floricel to the warehouse building where we had laid a recovery bed for him. Carmena and the workers had fed the shelter dogs and it was time for the evening chores in the warehouse building. It had been a long day, a lot had happened, and though we knew that soon we had to get back to the hotel to clean up ourselves, we didn’t want to leave the shelter.

The departure is always hard, you want to come back over and over again to say goodbye to your dear friends. I’m sure that every god dog contacted us in some way during our visit. Even those who were shy the first day were brave enough the last day. They sniffed a little, even carefully touched legs or neck if you happened to squat. Even though some of the dogs were very afraid of strange people, they want to be friends. When they notice that we’re not going to hurt them, the shyest ones get more and more courageous day by day. I could imagine that if we spent, say, a week in the shelter, these dogs would’ve been brave enough to be petted.

Surely we wanted to say goodbye to the guardian dogs of the shelter, especially Gogu and Kiti who had kept us company the whole time we had spent there. However, we couldn’t find Kiti anywhere. When we asked Patricia where Kiti could be, she said, Kiti was probably hiding the thunder since the dog was afraid of it. It was already past 8 pm when we left the shelter. We decided that after Patricia and Carmena had finished their job at the shelter and fed their dogs at home and after we had cleaned up ourselves, we’d meet at 10.30 pm at the hotel and eat together. When we left the shelter, it was raining heavily and there were big pools of water all over the streets.

We got back to the hotel, tidied up and rested for a little while until we moved downstairs to the restaurant to wait for Carmena and Patricia. They arrived at 10.30 sharp and then it was time for the last hours of the trip. As always, I couldn’t help but wonder how after all the work load and burden, Carmena and Patricia can stay so positive and be in such good terms with each other. They are such delightful companions and a sense of humour is a big part of everything when spending time with them. Without getting along well and having a good sense of humour nothing in the past 8 years we’ve done and experienced, hadn’t been possible. Patricia told me that from time to time she’s very concerned of her mother’s health and said Carmena is way too stubborn and doesn’t go see the doctor as often as she should.

It was already past 1 am when we said goodbye to Carmena and Patricia. We hugged each other and promised we’d meet again this fall. As I hugged Carmena once more, she automatically said “we’ll see again at the shelter in the morning”.

Before I finish I want to tell something about the situation of the shelter. During the year the land near the shelter had been utilized and many kinds of factories and warehouses had taken over the area. The city is probably waiting eagerly how to turn the shelter are useful, the shelter starts to be in real danger. There is business interaction across the shelter and there had already been people asking when the shelter is moving since the city had promised to sell the shelter area as soon as Carmena and Patricia have to leave. Carmena and Patricia as well as the dogs live constantly under the threat of eviction. That’s why I hope that all our friends feel with their hearts and help Carmena and Patricia to build a new shelter for the dogs.

I also want to thank Heli and Niina for being with us at the shelter. I believe that the trip was enlightening and helped them to understand how much there is to do in Romania when it comes to animal protection. These two friends of ours are already ready to go to another trip to Tg-Jiu again in fall. I was very moved by a text message sent by Heli. She told that this trip had really confirmed the fact that she’s going to dedicate her life to help these poor homeless. Heli and Niina are definitely welcome to join us on our next trip – as well as everyone else!

- Kiia-

Greetings from Heli

When Kiia told that they were going to travel to Romania and you could join them, I thought a couple of times if I was strong enough to face everything that you could expect to see in there. I decided I would go. Now thinking afterwards, I would’ve regretted for the rest of my life if I hadn’t gone.

Patricia and Carmena were wonderful people. Even though they were terribly busy, they always answered our questions. It’s still difficult to understand how many different tasks they have to take care of every single day and to what you simply have to have time for. When seeing the life in the shelter, I was happy to notice that the dogs weren’t living in hunger or in dirt. Sure it was heartbreaking to see several dogs with different kinds of leg injuries and skin problems.

The surrounding nature was blooming and the weather was great. Probably we saw the shelter at its best. I expected to see much worse. I can only imagine the living conditions when it’s winter and freezing.

The first time we went to the shelter I thought of how the dogs would react to us. I took a deep breath, opened the gate and calmly took a step inside the shelter section of two hundred dogs. I thought “so what if they bite”. After a moment of wondering, I had 200 new friends.

I understand now how badly they need our help in Tg-Jiu. It’s sad but true that with money you could do so much. Building the new shelter is absolutely necessary.

I find descriptive of the trip a phrase “sad but nice”. Now when I’m sitting on my own yard and watching my own dogs, I wish that our pack soon gets “a Romanian reinforcement”. I think I left a piece of my heart in Tg-Jiu.

Heli

Visit to Tg-Jiu in August 2006 during the neutering campaign

We were planning this second visit in Tg-Jiu soon after we visited there first time in last November. Mentally we were quite well repaired and without that the visit with various and sometimes with very difficult and delicate occurrences could not have been succeed as it did now. This report is based on my, Kiia’s, observations and experiences but I am sure that everyone of us who was involved to this campaign has his/her own opinions and experiences which stick in a minds. Even me can’t put every minute and mode to this report but I would like to make it so that everyone can get a very illustrated idea of our trip to Tg-Jiu during the neutering campaign.

On Thursday 3rd of August Jukka & Jukka and me flew via Vienna to Bucharest and arrived to the airport in the afternoon 13.30 pm. Sini was already waiting for us at the airport and after renting a car we started our journey to Tg-Jiu. Landscape was this time very different than last time when everything was so grey and gloomy. Now sun was shining and outlook was even beautiful time to time. We could not avoid seeing plenty of corpses of dead dogs on the road but we were prepared for that somehow. We arrived to Tg-Jiu in the evening about 8 pm and arranged with Patricia that we will meet her after checked in to the hotel.

We met soon also the Finnish vet Serban and his wife Päivi. They had worked already two days in the shelter neutering dogs and cats. The atmosphere was little bit confusing when Serban told that the local vet Popescu was equipped very poorly and was using the medicines which Serban and Päivi were brought to the campaign. Serban was very worried that especially the anaesthetic substance was going to run out if Popescu will continue using Serban’s medicines. In Romania vets use usually different kind of substances for anaesthesia than in Finland. It is not so effective and sometimes animals can wake up in the middle of the operation and of course they feel pain then. We decided that we ask the local vet to order more the proper anaesthetic substance next morning. We also heard that the light in the store room is very poor and it is difficult to work there. The store room was the operation centre and luckily we had an electrician with us who could improve the light in the very next morning.

And then came Patricia to the hotel and after very warm hugs Sini and me decided that we go with Patricia to the shelter where two workers were waiting for the evening meal. Those two workers were staying at the tent over nights and watching the dogs whom were recovering after neutering. The evening was already dark and when we arrived to the shelter we could only see the light on the window of the store room. We went after Patricia to the tent but could not see much, just dim figures and assumed that they were those two workers. We also heard the sound of several recovering dogs in the tent. We left the boys enjoying their meal and went to the store room where was also about ten female dog recovering from neutering. In the room was also three little puppies and one of them seemed to be very weak and I was sure that he does not live until the next morning and I was right.

I do not know about else but I did not sleep very much the next night because I was so exited what the next day will bring.

First thing on Friday morning was that we went to buy several meters of electric cable for improving the light in the store room. We arrived to the shelter about nine o’clock. Every morning start very early in the shelter and now – during the neutering campaign – there was so much more cleaning to be done with the cages of recovering dogs. It took hours to clean the store room and the cages and you can imagine how difficult it was when you had to take dogs out from cages while cleaning. And it was preferable that the cleaning was done before the vets started their work between half past nine and ten o’clock. And there was only Carmena, Patricia, Mircea and two workers doing this all. On the first morning we could not help much, we only were watching very closely how things has to be done that we would be able to help the next day also with cleaning.

There was scheduled some meetings for Friday, e.g. visiting the vice mayor of Tg-Jiu. I went there with Carmena and Patricia and discussed also about the stray dog problem and how important it is to start the Neuter & Release program. The vice mayor promised to co-operate closely with Carmena and Patricia with this project. The current shelter needs plenty of improvements before it can be used as operating centre and hopefully city hall will make those improvements needed. When neutering females we have to bare in our minds that they need at least five days for recovering and that kind of facilities are not available at this moment at the current shelter.

After meeting the vice mayor we drove Carmena back to the shelter and soon after that Carmena was already interviewed by the local newspaper. We returned with Patricia to the city and wanted to go to bank for saving the donations of 3.500 euros we had with us. As assumed, it was not so easy and after a half an hour discussions and waiting the officer told us that they have to prepare so many papers for this kind of transaction and we have to come back the next day.

Then we went to visit handicap children’s home in Tg-Jiu. There were 58 children with different kind of handicap and behaviour disorders. We had also a little puppy Scoopy with us and he got the attention deserved during our visit. We were surprised how well organized the home was and how many nurses, doctors, teachers, physical therapists and other staff there were taking care of the children. The place was clean and light and very colourful and even inspiring. The children were going to take a afternoon naps and we could go to their rooms and say quick hello to all of them. We were not allowed to take photos of the children. We had plenty of gifts with us and left them there hoping that they will give some extra joy to the children also. This visit was organized because we are planning to start the therapy dog program in Tg-Jiu and wanted to talk about if there is any possibility to start it also with handicap children. This is not the easiest target group and we will go forward very carefully with them.

Soon after we left the children and went to eat snacks a heavy rain overtook us and we had to escape to the hotel. Soon there was water everywhere on the streets and also on the parking place of the hotel. After the rain we headed again to the shelter and met in front of the hotel Serban and Päivi. They had done the work of that day and we talked a little bit about how things have gone that day in shelter. That day had been quite busy and stressed for all of us. We could not have time to help enough vets in the shelter and they were not so pleased about that. We asked them to understand the situation and promised to help them the best we can during next days.

So we returned to the shelter and tried to figure out what we can do next. Soon we realized that there is just not enough recovering cages for dogs. And soon we were again driving back to the city with Patricia and bought some board. The sellers did maybe their best deal for ever selling as board which was much expensive than in Finland. But we did not have time to argue because we were so busy and headed to the next stop which was trying to find the place where we can buy strong net but those places were already closed for the day. After that we tried to find cartoons because they are very handy in the basements of the cages. But you can’t imagine how difficult it can be to get cartoon in Tg-Jiu. Shops and markets collect cartoons in the evenings and sell them for people who sell them forward to other people. After a long discussion in the back yard of one market we could get some.

We brought board to the shelter and went to say hello to recovering dogs and there were already plenty of them everywhere, about 30. Also the store room was full of neutered dogs and it was difficult to sort out where to put them during night. There were also vets’ medical instruments and substances at the long tables and it was very important to place dogs so that they can’t jump to tables and destroy everything. After a hard work every dog found their places and you can imagine how exhausted Carmena and Patricia and we others also were after that. But the work of the day did not end for Carmena and Patricia yet. We had to give up and return to the hotel for rest. But first we arranged with Patricia that on the next morning we go to buy net and other things needed for building extra recovering cages.

Saturday morning broke and was quite grey. It was promising rain again. Patricia came to the hotel to pick us before nine and we rushed to buy net and saw that Jukka & Jukka could start to build extra cages. Luckily we found quick right place and were soon driving to the shelter for cleaning. Gogu, one of the guardian dogs of shelter came to us for greetings. We all were so fond of Gogu, who has so great personality. Jukka & Jukka disappeared right away with building material and Sini and I went to store room and tried to help with cleaning the cages. Sini and I were so pleased when we noticed that the two little puppies in the store room were better now and had energy for playing and waving their tails. When we took females out of recovering cages and checked their cuts it was noticed that some stitches were opened. Those dogs were brought back to the vets for repairing operations.

Romanians had Lenten days and it was holy weekend. We thought that there is not going to be so many owners with their pets coming for shelter and Serban started to spay male dogs of the shelter. The local vet was not so familiar with spaying males and he tried to follow how Serban operated. One owner brought his cat and told that cat has some urinary problems and the local vet Popescu tried to figure out what was wrong. Soon he asked an assistant from Serban and they found out that the cat have uroliths and they have to be taken out. That was not so easy for Popescu and finally Serban took the cat for operation and could give him the treatment.

Jukka & Jukka were busy all day long with building new recovering cages. Sini and I commuted from store room to tent and back helping the best we could. There were a huge amount of neutered females and some of them were quite anxious after operation. We tried to nurse them and keep them away from the operating area of vets. Suddenly Patricia came to the store room with a poisoned female. She was thoroughly wet and foam came out of her mouth. She was also trembling and we were quite sure that she does not survive. But Serban and Päivi did know exactly what to do and they started to revive the female. It took quite long but little by little the poor female became to look better and better and the worse was behind. Everyone wanted to nurse this poor female who had been a target for human cruelty. Even the little cat in the store room, named Suzi, wanted to nurse the female and laid down to her neck.

Sometimes we had to calm down some dogs who were waking up from anaesthesia after operation. One female was in panic so much that we had to take her to our arms and hushed like a baby. After a while Päivi gave her more calming substance and soon the female was sleeping again and we hoped that when she will woke up again she feels better. We had also make sure that there is all the time new dogs coming in for operations when operated dogs where ready to be taken for recovering. It took a lot of resources to organize this and you can believe that those resources were not so much available there at that moment. Later on in the afternoon when vets were already leaving the shelter one owner came with his paralysed cat. The cat was already operated once after he had jumped from window and fallen down. And now he had done it again. There was not much choices left. We stroked the cat one after one and said goodbye to him when Serban let him go to rainbow bridge. If I had been worried about that I miss all the time my own dogs in Finland there was not time for that. It was only a good thing because the dogs in the shelter deserved all our attention.

After vets had gone on Saturday I suddenly realized that I have had no time at all to visit the dogs inside the shelter. Now I was in hurry. Sun was shining again and was very warm. Dogs preferred to laid on shadow in or near their cages but some of them did come to greet me when I stepped in. I could walk in peace inside and go to cage by cage to say hello my old and some new friends. Of course I took plenty of photos at the same time and hoped that I could get a photo of every dog. The shelter’s dogs have about 100 Finnish sponsors and they were eagerly waiting for photos of their godchildren. You can just imagine that I had a little bit pressure.

Later on that day we were invited to have a supper at Carmena’s and Patricia’s home and before that we had to went to the hotel to take a shower and change clothes. Patricia and Carmena stayed to the shelter and continued working, as usual. But before 10 pm Patricia came to collect us from the hotel and we drove to their home. Already after parking we heard an extremely strong welcome barking from the yard of the house. I wanted so much to see again my old friends, the dogs Marc, Bursu, Betty, Kiki, Bubu, Patric, Mickey, Cara, Ghita, Marin, Pitty, Picy, Mica, Fulca, Capri, Urata, Alma, Dolly, Max, Bella, Lassie and the cats Julie, Pisa, Mitza, Dixie and Patty andalso the new arrivals Otty, Ana, Gibonica, Vevita, Sonya, Nasuc, Fiorel, Sandel and Vicu. Only our dear friend “grand lady” Tuta was not there anymore.

Carmena’s days in the shelter are always too long and Patricia has to do also so much work inside and outside the shelter that sometimes the evening supper of the pets of home is a little bit late. And now they were eagerly waiting for food. First we went with Patricia across the street where is a little plant where Patricia and Carmena are taking care of over 10 dogs, adults and puppies. It was very dark already and I could not see much but I found soon something soft in my fingers. There was Latila asking me to scratch her head. After giving food to those dogs we returned to the house and followed how Patricia feed tents of dogs of their own outside on the yard.. We tried to take photos but I think that only thing what is seen on them is several furry tails and wet noses all in one heap.

When dogs had got food we were invited inside to the living room and got there also with us Marc, Bursu, Kiki and Bubu. Many of you might remember Bursu who was partly paralysed during our last visit in November and could not move. Now he was running with others without any problems and seem to be so happy and healthy. Many vets had given a statement about Bursu’s condition and did say the he will never walk again. Sometimes even them have to humble before miracles of nature. We met also lovely Nasuc who has no nose but did not even noticed that something is missing. Nasuc could eat and breath normally so we were sure that she can live as perfect life as the others. And charming Marc was again everywhere begging to be noticed. If you do not already know the story of Marc, please read it. All pets of Carmena and Patricia are big personalities.

Soon after supper we realized that it is over midnight and we all have to wake up very soon on the next morning. We rushed back to the hotel and went to beds. Saturday was a very good day and I had the feeling that the following days will be also. I fell a sleep immediately.

Early on Sunday morning again we were in the shelter cleaning cages and helping where we could. Obviously we got better in cleaning the cages from day to day. Popescu the vet had Sunday off, but Serban and Päivi spent the day castrating shelter’s male dogs. We took shelter’s bitches, which were neutered on Tuesday back to the shelter area, hoping they wouldn’t suffer from any complications.

After Serban and Päivi had finished they work on Sunday, Jukka the electrician started his work. The electrical installations of store room have been in a very poor and dangerous condition for a long time. Last winter the installations could hardly support one radiator. This was not enough to keep the puppies and sick dogs warm. Jukka was able to improve and secure the electrical installations remarkably. Now the system can hold much bigger load i.e. 3-4 radiators. Also the indoor and outdoor lightning was improved and extra wall sockets were installed.

Sini and I went to see the shelter’s dogs always we had a chance. Every time I step in from the shelter gate, I feel this warm feeling inside. It’s hard to explain – I guess everyone experiences this in they own way. In the shelter I always feel very much at home, being surrounded by friends. Easily I could have spent all day with the shelter’s dogs and remember nothing from the outside world. Unfortunately this was not possible, so I just tried to enjoy these brief moments with the dogs. As a lasting memory from my time with the dogs, I got marked on my trouser legs and t-shirt. Carmena found the whole scene hilarious and and she was laughing hysterically as she saw dogs doing their little number on my trousers as I was petting them.

Late in the evening we got back to the hotel. We had arranged with Serban and Päivi to have dinner at the hotel. Serban was most valuable help in translating the menu to Finnish. The dinner was very good and we had a chance to catch up with everything. During the dinner we discovered that the hotel owner had a farm. Serban and Päivi were even invited to visit the farm. Apparently the hotel owner has a pet lion in his farm and the animal has literally no living space at all. It was clear that we were dealing yet with another animal abuse case. In Romania it’s legal to have wild animals as pets, so we didn’t have that many options to help the lion. However we will contact Romanian Animal Welfare Organizations on this matter. After the dinner we retired to our rooms to get some rest.

On Monday morning we were back cleaning the cages. By the time Sini and I had gained so much experience in cleaning that we were solely responsible for the job. In the recovery tent were also little puppies. Needless to say I couldn’t keep myself away from these little darlings. These little puppies and old dogs are so vulnerable in this hostile environment. They always make me quite emotional. One of the hardest things in Romania is seeing everywhere so many abandoned little puppies and handicapped and old dogs.

All Monday was very busy as the owners were bringing their pets to be neutered. Sini was already semiprofessional and she was helping the doctors by shaving and washing the dogs. At some point I realized that I hadn’t had time to take any photos yet. In the afternoon we managed to go to bank and deposit Finnish donations. After that we visited an old-age home. The manager was very welcoming and he was keen on starting the therapy dog cooperation in the old-age home. We all enjoyed our visit. We brought some Finnish music as gift and as we left we could hear the famous Finnish tango singer Olavi Virta from the loudspeakers.

Back at the shelter I wanted to greet the dogs and hopefully take some photos. This was our last day at the shelter after all. I tried to stay as long as I could, but eventually I had to say goodbye to hundreds of my friends. All I could do was to promise to come back. Next I went to the warehouse and to the tent as I also wanted to say goodbye to everyone there. To my surprise I found in the tent 3 new puppies. Carmena explained that she had found the puppies in a sack next to the shelter. One of the puppies was very badly injured and he couldn’t support his head. The doctors had already left and all I could do was to take the crying little one on my arms and try to calm him down. Finally the little one fell a sleep on my arms and I carefully put him in a bed. I stayed next to the puppy, stroking him and prying his heart would stop beating in his sleep. If until that moment I had somehow managed to control my emotions, but not anymore – I was sobbing. I could hardly tear myself from the puppy, as we had to leave. We drove back to the hotel in extremely low spirits.

Serban and Päivi were leaving from hotel to have a supper with Popescu when we arrived to the hotel. We had a little bit time to talk about the current day news and because of we were leaving Tg-Jiu on next morning at 6 am. we had to also say good bye.

Later on Monday evening we had a change to meet Carmena and Patricia at the restaurant and have a wonderful supper together talking about almost everything between the earth and sky. We tried to be in a cheerful mood even we knew that soon we have to say good bye. I have felt deep friendship with Carmena and Patricia from the beginning and this visit made it again stronger.

Early on Tuesday morning we started our journey back to home. We drove first to Bucharest about midday and in the evening we were at home with our own dogs. Already I was missing back to the shelter.

Without this visit we could never have realized how much different kind of recourses are needed for the campaign like this. It was so much easier in our thoughts. Because of Carmena and Patricia had to make the hardest part, next time we will take care of that there is enough help for Carmena and Patricia and hope that also volunteers will join us.

We would like to thank all those persons who made this campaign to be true. Even the job was huge it was worth to.

In the future we continue to help Pro Animals Romania the best we can. The Neuter & Release programme is one very important project which we defenetly want to support as well the well-being of the dogs in the current shelter. Educational and therapy dog programme will be in our interest in future very closely. But we can’t also forget that the new shelter for dogs with proper facilities including veterinary clinic is very much needed and we have to do everything possible to get construction started as soon as possible. There are so many things worth to support in Pro Animals Romania’s activities and we hope that everyone who has red what we already have achieved would join us.

With best regards,

Kiia

We had waited this visit very eagerly and finally we arrived to airport of Bucharest in Romania on Thursday afternoon 24.11.05. Patricia was waiting for us and after hugs we loaded our luggage to the car and hoped that there would not be huge jam in Bucharest. But there were – it took almost two hours to get out of the Bucharest. Well, we spent the time talking about many important things and tried to see what kind of city is Bucharest. It was so dark that we only could see a lot of cars trying to crawl forth.
Finally we get rid of jam and the darkness was tightening. I think that the darkness was relief for me because I had been afraid what I am going to see on our way from Bucharest to Tg-Jiu. My companion Jukka was so tired that he fell asleep soon after we reached the motorway. I said to Patricia that you are an excellent driver because Jukka never sleeps if I am driving.

When we were driven half of our way to Tg-Jiu Patricia slew down the speed of the car and told that in the morning when she had driven to Bucharest she had seen little puppies just beside the car road and had stopped her car and moved puppies on the other side of the road to more far from road. Patricia thought that she had seen also the mother of those puppies around. It was so dark that first we could not see anything but suddenly we saw a small darkish heap on the grass and went to look closer.
And there they were – three little puppies nestled against each other. It has rained all day long and puppies were wet and felt cold. We did not see their mother anywhere and decided to take them with us. I had with me a bed for dogs and took it out of my luggage and in the bed those three little ones rested during the rest of our way to Tg-Jiu. I felt so touched when I caressed puppies and felt how they trusted on me and licked all the time my fingers.
I think that founding those puppies was so deep moment for me that I could not talk much during the rest of the journey to Tg-Jiu and I am sure that Patricia understood that.

We arrived in Tg-Jiu on Thursday evening Patricia and went directly to hotel in Tg-Jiu because it was too late to meet Carmena.

On Friday morning Patricia collected us from hotel and we went first to Carmena’s and Patricia’s little house to meet also Carmena and the pets of these two women. We were warmly welcomed by Carmena and 30 animals of the house ( 25 dogs, 3 cats and 2 rabbits). First to welcome us was Marc whose back legs are paralysed but it did not stop him to be everywhere. Marc had so much energy and joy and strength that it would be have been enough for a moving mountains.
Inside of the little house of Carmena and Patricia we found also a little Bursu who was attacked by other dog and he could not walk anymore. Two vets have made x-rays to Bursu and diagnosed that his spinal marrow has compression. Little Bursu would probably need neurologist and surgeon but for now he will have a total rest and if there is no improvement we hope that we can help somehow if there is even a tiny possibility for Bursu e.g. doing him a surgery.

It is very touching to realize how full of life and love Carmena’s and Patricia’s house is!

After a lunch made by Carmena and after feeding other 7 dogs in the courtyard of the house across we were ready to go to the shelter.
We would have liked to spent much more time with all those lovely pets of the house but there were hundreds of dogs waiting for us in the shelter. We took with us three puppies who we had collected on the way to Bucharest to Tg-Jiu on Thursday evening. We took also with us Bobi whose stitchings were opened and Carmena and Patricia tried to get the vet to sew the open cut again.

When we drove to the shelter through the city of Tg-Jiu we realized that people there live quite primitively and the standard of living is far behind to that we have used to e.g in Finland. It is very difficult to think that Romania would like to join European Union. We drove first to the hospital to collect some food left over and Carmena fed again puppies and adult dogs living in hospital area.

When we arrived to the shelter of Tg-Jiu we saw first plain white building and beside the building was the shelter. In the first sight the shelter seemed so small – regarding that inside would be almost 400 dogs. The shelter area is 1000 square metres – without the storeroom -so it is not so small than it seems in first sight. The fenced area of the shelter was divided in two different parts. Both parts have the courtyard in the middle where dogs can run free from the morning until the evening. In both sides of courtyards were roofing shelters where was pens for about four dogs in each. Gavin from Wetnose has described the broad overview and facilities of the shelter so they can be red in his report because they were very same than during his visit an year ago.

We stayed a while in the front yard of the shelter and met some guardian dogs. They were very friendly to us and I think that it was only because we came with Carmena and Patricia.
I saw that inside the shelter started to be very curious noses coming closer to the fence and soon I asked Patricia that can we go inside the shelter and in we went. We were immediately surrounded by numerous friendly furry tails and wet noses and enormous friendly barking. I did not feel fear at all – I was totally confided that I am surrounded only and just only with my friends. And that how it was, we spent hours in the shelter and I did not see any unfriendly face during our stay.

It was so great experience for me who has used to see also shelters where dogs are kept in chains all the time or in closed kennels without any exercise – only when volunteers will come and take dogs out for walking. Of course we were curious that isn’t it disaster if males and females are running free in the same courtyard but after Carmena and Patricia told that females are neutered very soon after they enter to the shelter we were confirmed that there is no need for doubts.

We did not see skinny or unhealthy dogs. Only those who had just arrived were in bad conditions. I have seen plenty of photos taken in shelter just after arriving in very poor condition and photos after Carmena has given them care and love. The recovering is so amazing that I do not have words for it. We saw e.g. female Mura in storehouse who was saved last summer with huge vaginal tumour. When we saw Mura during our visit she looks very well and there is no signs of any kind of tumours or illnesses in her body. Mura takes care of orphan puppies in storehouse and is very good and needed mother for them.

I think that we were like in wonderland. Even we had heard that dogs of the shelter are in good hands but we never would have been understood it if we haven’t visited there. It is not just that dogs get enough food and water – it is that they get also love and care. And it can be seen very well in the faces and behaving of the dogs in shelter.

In the storeroom beside the shelter are staying puppies and sick dogs. Even the building is very flimsy and facilities are basic there is an other amazing world. Plenty of puppies in different ages, old and sick dogs, some females taking care of puppies – and Carmena cleaning, caring, loving, feeding, nursing etc. etc. She seems to be everywhere working and working.
There were two men in the shelter helping Carmena but it seemed that they just did the tiny part of that work what Carmena did. It is very difficult to get good workers to the shelter because the salary is not so huge and the work is very hard.

This is very important matter and we – supporters – should be committed to help Carmena and Patricia financially so that they can pay proper salary to the workers if they find good ones to work in the shelter.

The shelter area as well as the storeroom are constantly cleaned. There is running water coming in shelter area and it is very important to keep ground as clean as possible. It is not easy and I just can imagine how difficult and hard it can be in wintertime. In the storeroom I saw a big heap of used clothes and blankets. They are meant to keep puppies and sick dogs warm and those clothes are changed every day to clean ones. Fortunately, this summer a French Foundation donated to the shelter a washing machine but before Carmena washed clothes and blankets by her hands.

In the storeroom, small puppies ,sick and old dogs have food all day long. In the real shelter, puppies and dogs for recovery have the food twice in day and the healthy dogs get food every afternoon. It is very important to have enough food for those dogs because I can imagine that if there would not be enough food for those dogs there would be constant fights among the dogs. Now they know that everyone will get enough to eat and they do not have to fight for it.

Some part of the dry food needed in shelter have been donated by Brigitte Bardot foundation, about 2 tones every two or three month. The shelter receives also about 2 tones every month from a Romanian-German association from Pitesti city. The need for every month is more than 5 tones of dry food ( the food is made in Romania and its quality is not very good). Brigitte Bardot foundation has not informed yet that do they continue the donation of food for the shelter during next year.
That is why, in order to be enough food, besides the dry food, the food from the hospital or from a highschool canteen sometimes, they buy bread, rice, milk powder, bones, rest of vegetables and cook in the storeroom.
To make sure that the dogs in the shelter will stay in very good condition and healthy we – supporters again – have to assure that there is enough food to feed all the dogs in shelter.

Some words about the medical facilities in the shelter and getting help from vets in the city of Tg-Jiu. As you might already know there is not proper facilities in the shelter for e.g. surgeons. Carmena is very qualified person to give treatments for dogs excluding surgeons. In the summer time there is tiny possibility to organize e.g. neuters in the storeroom but in very poor conditions.
In the city of Tg-Jiu there is only one vet who can do neuters and surgeons professionally. Neutering the dogs are one of the most important things in the shelter and it is annoying that Carmena and Patricia have to face difficulties in that part also.
There have to be effort again from supporters to help Carmena and Patricia to get some kind of proper solution also to this problem.

Usually Carmena works very late to the evening in shelter but during our visit she left the shelter about 8 p.m. We went together to have dinner to Patricia’s and Carmena’s house and were again very much welcomed by all the little dogs of the house. We had very warm and delicious moments with Carmena and Patricia and their numerous pets. It was so much to talk about.

On Saturday morning we went to the bank to deposit donations we brought with us to the account of Pro Animals Romania. It was a very confusing experience because the officer in the bank started to questioning Patricia from where the money has come and why etc… The bank was full of people and everyone could hear the loud discussion made about the donation. We had to justify that the money is really donated and targeted to the dogs of the shelter of Tg-Jiu. After Patricia explained that it is very difficult to Romanians to understand why somebody want to help stray dogs instead of people.

After visiting the bank we went to see the land Carmena and Patricia have managed to buy and to where they would like to build the new own shelter. The land situated near dump place and around there were numerous stray dogs wandering all around trying to find something to eat. We started to walk near to the peace of land which had already measured with sticks for the new shelter building by Patricia and her grand father and when we get to the land we experienced a huge surprise. The land was ploughed upside down and all those measures were disappeared. It was shocking how someone could have done that and then I was thinking that do anything can be done in this country easily without facing difficulties and fighting. I felt so sad and hoped that if I just could have the power to help more Carmena and Patricia.

Then was a time to go again to have a lunch made by Carmena and soon after we went back to the shelter, going first to the hospital as we did day before. First thing after coming to the shelter was to run to the store room to check how are those little puppies and other dogs staying there. Puppies were fine and I was so glad that Mosu could stand up and he had eaten much just before I arrived. Puppies had taken their places with other youngsters and I was so sure that lovely "mother Mura" was taking care of those new puppies as well as she had taken care of other orphans before.

Time we went inside the shelter went as same as day before. We were surrounded with friends and had very touching moments with them again. Carmena found a new dog inside the shelter and she thought that someone had thrown the dog over the fence during night. The dog was very skinny and had skin problems but fortunately was eating very well when Carmena offered food. That happens all the time – dogs are abandoned to the shelter too often. It was miraculous how well other dogs had taken the newcomer inside the shelter. In other circumstances they could have killed the new one.

After the darkness came and dogs were fed was time to us to say goodbye to the dogs of the shelter. I had to go to say goodbye also to my three puppies and Mosu and Igor and Mura and Marcela and all other friends in the store room.

In the evening we were again invited to have a dinner with Carmena and Patricia. The evening was full of unforgettable moments and we felt that it would be difficult to say good bye the very next day. All the little dogs of Carmena and Patricia were waiting for a chance to be near us and tell their story and gratitude to being saved from the streets to that little house of love and care.

On Sunday morning Patricia came to our hotel and we went to say good bye to Carmena and have a quick breakfast before it was time to leave Tg-Jiu and drive to Bucharest with Patricia. Weather was very beautiful and in daylight we could also admire views to the mountains and little villages beside the road. Unfortunately on the daylight we saw also things which made us sad. Numerous and numerous dead dogs on the road – probably hitten by cars. And every day there is coming more and more dead dogs. Patricia told us that in Romania there is much more stray dogs than dogs at homes. And most of those dogs who are at home are guardian dogs. We saw also men in the fields with guns and when I asked why are they there with guns Patricia told me that she thinks they are hunting dogs.
It took only 4 hours to drive Bucharest and there were no jams on the way. Patricia wanted to come with us to the airport and stay with us until we had to go to the checking. We hugged tight and promised that we will meet again very soon.

We spent a lot of time in the shelter in two days and would remember our staying there forever. We promised to Carmena and Patricia that we will return and will do all we can to help them to keep the dogs in the shelter and at their home alive and in good health. The work Carmena and Patricia are doing is so hard and there is no time for resting that we are very worried about how long will Carmena and Patricia hold on.
If they loose their hope or their health those dogs in the shelter and in the city of Tg-Jiu do not have anything. The dogs just can not survive without these two wonderful women. We hope from the bottom of our hearts that animal lovers and associations all over the world would wake up to help Carmena and Patricia. We promise that it is worth to do.

We want to thank Carmena and Patricia for the hospitality and emotional moments we spent with them as well at their home as in the shelter. We are constantly watching video clips and photos we took during our visit and feel very strongly that we have to get back very soon. We saw that Carmena and Patricia are real animal lovers and they put the well being of the dogs in the shelter, at their home and in the city ahead instead of their own well-being.

Carmena and Patricia both are very well educated women and if they just wanted they could take benefit to increase their own wealth status. But they have chosen to help stray dogs. Carmena and Patricia have earned every kind of support from us we ever can give them. We truly respect and admire them.

I and my companion Jukka have recently settled up an Finnish association Pro Animals Finland ry. Our association has been settled up to take an effort to help Pro Animals Romania to take care of the dogs in the shelter of Tg-Jiu and support Carmena and Patricia on their way to build own private shelter to the land they have managed to buy.

KIIA VASKO
Pro Animals Finland
www.panfiry.net