SOS - Save our Strays is a resource site about the stray dogs in Romania. All evidence material that we find will be stored here, forever.

Updates:

2011-08-31 Gheorgheni - Pictures: Dog catchers 2009
2011-08-30 Drobeta Turnu Severin - Video and picture: Dog eating dogs in public dogpound 2008
2011-08-29 Gherla - Video: Cainii mor de foame la adapostul de la Gherla 2008
2011-08-06 Brezoi - 4 Videos: romania anului 2008 (13 07 08, rm. valcea, brezoi) 2008
2011-08-06 Ramnicu Valcea - Video: Legea animalelor nu sperie Zeci de animale au murit otravite, în Râmnicu Vâlcea 2008
2011-08-05 Targu Jiu - Video: STIRILE GORJTV MACEL IN HAITA 2011
2011-08-05 Targu Neamt - Pictures: Poisoned dog 2010
2011-08-05 Iasi - Pictures: Dead dogs in a shelter 2008
2011-08-05 Targu Carbunesti - Pictures: Dead dogs thrown in a well 2008
2011-08-04 Buzau - Video: Imagini infioratoare! Caini otraviti la marginea Buzaului 2008
2011-08-04 Craiova - Video: Peisaj sinistru la Craiova si Motru. Zeci de caini gasiti morti pe strazi 2008
2011-08-04 Bucharest - Pictures: Dogs shot in Glina 2008
2011-08-04 Targoviste - Pictures: Dog catchers 2008
2011-08-04 Targoviste - Pictures: City shelter, dead dog thrown in garbage container and dog catchers 2007
2011-08-04 Suceava - Pictures: Poisoned dogs 2010
2011-07-18 Onesti - Video: Onesti , adapost caini , camera foto 2009
2011-07-17 Focsani - Video: Câinii din adăpostul din Focşani gem de dureri şi mor de foame din cauza crizei economice 2009
2011-07-17 Falticeni - Pictures: Dogs poisoned october 2009

A. Many Romanians which among politicians have interest in the continuing of the stray dog problem, because it’s a money making business. Companies can subscribe on orders for the stray dog management. For each dog they catch they’ll receive an amount of money. Their income will vanish once the street dog problem is solved. Likewise for the big waste disposal companies which incinerate dead dog bodies. None of these companies have any interest in solving the stray dog problem.

B. Commercial companies dealing with the stray dog problem are fraudulent. Dogs are being released with an ear tag without actually being spayed or neutered. Numbers are being falsified to gain more money.

C. The definition of euthanasia: dying without pain. However it is well known that within Romanian municipal dog shelters dogs are not being euthanatized in a humane way. Cruelty against stray dogs will increase.

D. The killing of free roaming dogs doesn’t solve the problem. The W.H.O. scientifically proofed, that spay/neuter is the only solution. Spay/neuter is one of the components. The other ones are: public information, education in schools, a public/private partnership, including commercial vets and so one. If one component is missing, the problem will not be solved.

E. The current amendment by PDL (Democratic Liberal Party) collecting stray dogs in shelters, spay/neuter them and euthanize them after 30 days if they’re not adopted, is expensive and useless. Most municipal shelters are only open two hours in the middle of the day and (by amendments are 8 hours) not in weekends. To be able to adopt a dog from a municipal shelter you must pay a tax your salary is asked and also the approval of the neighbourns and of the administration of the block It will become much easier and cheaper to buy a (pedigree) dog than to adopt one from a shelter. Due to the irresponsible behavior of Romanian dog owners more dogs will be abandoned.

F. The Romanian politicians have manipulated the media to create some sort of a mass hysteria among Romanian citizens. In the last few weeks many false articles and television footages of bite incidents with stray dogs were printed and broadcasted. In all cases stray dogs weren’t involved but dogs with owners. The fear of losing jobs and income creates more corruption.

G. Romanian public institutes publish false statistics of bite incidents by stray dogs. The Romanian human health care system is very poor. But if a citizen is bitten by a stray dog (and not owned one) he can claim the medical treatment at the authorities. So each injury that might look like a dog bite will be assumed as one. Statistics became useless.

H. Stray dogs can be categorized. The real stray dogs (feral dogs) are the least fertile ones, but are always the target of authorities. But the target should be dogs with irresponsible owners; their dogs are the most fertile ones and produce offspring. The target will not change with the PDL amendment.

I. It is proven authorities only catch the "easy" dogs. Friendly dogs and puppies and even dogs with owners. Some dogs which might be made aggressive by men are never caught.

J. The amendment describes each municipality is allowed to decide if stray dogs can be euthanized or kept in the shelter (see extermination camps) or returned to the streets after sterilization or a combination of all these. It’s not implicating a national policy. If one city decides not to euthanize it will be overloaded with dogs from other cities which do so. Animal lovers will take the dogs to those cities and other municipalities will dump their fertile dogs in those cities to get rid of their stray dogs. Increased migration of dogs will cause nuisance, waste of petrol and more pollution caused by vehicle movements. - the presence of the representatives of NGOs at the activity (catching, sheltering, euthanasy etc.) of managing services is allowed only by the aproval of the local council or cityhall (not clear who must give the approval).

K. Since 2008 the Romanian animal protection law only allows euthanasia in case of incurable diseases. However municipalities kept on going killing hundreds tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands since 2001, but we can not admit, fortunatelly, more than 20000 dogs were killed after 2008; we don't have to exagerate on the dates which are far of the reality because otherwise we become very uncredible) of dogs with cruel methods which were actually felonies, but so far no penalties were given. The amendment has no value for animal protection.

L. The amendment proposed by PDL is unimaginably expensive. Warehousing dogs is expensive, killing of dogs is expensive, because it is endless. As long as nothing is being done on the root cause of the problem, dogs will keep on producing offspring.