Save Our Streetdogs Oradea - International rescue
I have to admit that while I know a fair bit about dogs, I know very little about Romania. Now that might seem like a total non sequitur, but please bear with me and things will hopefully start to make sense. It all started with a conversation I had some time ago with Duncan Green from Battersea Dogs and Cat Home, where he hinted rather mysteriously at plans for a new project that would benefit the dogs of Romania. While I was intrigued, I thought little more about it, until suddenly I was issued an invitation to go to Oradeo, a city in north west Romania, with a party of people from Battersea Dogs Home, Dogs Trust, and North Shore Animal League International. While not being entirely sure why I was going, it did certainly seem like the planned project was going ahead, with some welcome inter-charity co-operation - and I was to visit.
Time to do some quick research on Romania and its dogs. Up until now, the only images I had in my mind of this Eastern European country were long teenage nights spend watching Dracula films, and then, when slightly older, watching the far greater horrors on the news regarding the plight of the thousands of children abandoned to suffer and die in the country's orphanages as a result of the policies of the ruthless dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu.
What I found out was fascinating and, to someone whose grasp of world history is not great, seemed inconceivable in such recent times
The Romania we know today has a population of around 22,364,000 and is very similar in size to the United Kingdom. After World War II and Soviet occupation, Romania became the Socialist Peoples Republic of Romania on Nov 1st 1947 and the country became subject to communist rule. Nicolae Ceausescu was the last communist leader, ruling the country from 1965 until 1989 when he and his wife were publicly executed on Christmas Day by a people's court.
Ceausescu was one of the most ruthless dictators the world has ever seen. Among other things, he believed that the key to industrial growth lay in building a larger workforce. He banned contraception and abortion for any woman under 45 with less than five children, and in the 80's introduced the 'Baby Police'. Compulsory monthly gynaecological examinations were carried out on childless women and those who had not produced their quota of five children, to ensure that they were not trying to avoid their 'patriotic duty'. Unmarried people and childless couples were penalised by paying much higher taxes while 'Heroine Mothers' those who produced many children, were rewarded.
Ceausescu also imposed heavy rationing. Many foodstuffs were rationed including meat, bread, sugar, and vegetable oil - despite this, shortages created by the exporting anything of value or quality, ensured empty shelves in shops. Queues would immediately form whenever there was a food delivery, however poor the quality. Petrol was rationed and electricity consumption severely limited - you could only use one 40 watt bulb in a room. Only one in every three street lamps was switched on - often less. In addition power cuts played havoc, even disrupting industry and hospitals - operating theatres would be plunged into darkness and life support machines would fail. Fuel shortages lead to ambulances not attending emergencies if the patient was over 70. Heating was minimal and gas pressure was often so low that cooking was impossible.
The results of too many children and such rationing led to many women having no choice but to give up children they loved, but could not afford, and placing them in the many state run orphanages. In under staffed and under funded orphanages, children were left to themselves and reared without mental or physical stimulation. The result was children who would normally have grown to be perfectly normal human beings being left, sometimes three in a single bed, to vegetate. Their bodies become severely deformed because they lay in bed all day every day. The orphanages were an unwanted side to Ceausescu's regime, and therefore operated with very little funding, the principal being, 'out of sight out of mind'.
It was only the death of Ceausescu in 1989 that brought some hope back to the country and its children.
However it was not only the children who suffered. Another of Ceausescu's plans was Systematisation'. This was his plan to flatten half of Romania's villages and rehouse the inhabitants in new Agro-industrial' centres where they could be better controlled and where valuable land could be freed up. There was much international objection to this policy and it became less successful than Ceausescu hoped but still many people were moved in this way. Also in small town and cities, one family homes were demolished in favour of similar large soviet style apartment blocks which, perhaps not surprisingly, did not allow dogs. The Romanian dog owners were faced with two choices either their dog must be shot, or else put out on to the streets where at least its original owner could still feed it. Most people chose the latter. This of course led to a huge street dog problem and one which still exists today another legacy of Nicolae Ceausescu.
This was the problem Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Dogs Trust and North Shore Animal League International had come to tackle and now I had a basic understanding of what I was going for, I began to become very excited about the trip.
Oradeo isn't the easiest place to get to. We flew from Heathrow to Budapest and then at the airport hired a couple of mini-buses to drive across the border into Romania and on to Oradeo about a four hour drive. The drive in itself was an experience it was interesting to see the landscape and the buildings change as Hungary became Romania and it was also a bit of a culture shock to realise that the stunning looking women standing around in lay-bys on the side of the main road were prostitutes. I tried to imagine what sort of business they would do on the M25, but thankfully was distracted by talk of the project which was called SOS Oradeo (Save Our Street Dogs).
The project started when Robert Smith (a businessman whose work with the street dogs of Istanbul is very well known) approached the three charities concerning the stray dog situation in Oradeo. As in all of Romania there is a huge street dog problem which up until now has been dealt with by regular poisoning or shooting campaigns. In all areas with a stray dog problem, it has been established that this method doesn't work - it creates a vacuum in an area that is quickly filled and doubled by dogs from elsewhere or else the remaining dogs breeding freely. Thankfully in Romania there is a general public tolerance to the dogs, with many people feeding 3 or 4 of them a hangover from the days when people were forced to turn their own dogs out on to the streets. As such, the area was perfect for a catch, neuter and release programme and this was the aim of the three charities.
Catch, neuter and release is a more effective, let alone humane, and gentle method of population control, in a society where stray dogs are part of the landscape and the community. The charities want to establish a 'template' in a Romanian city that could be exported to other parts of Romania, Eastern Europe or anywhere in the world where a stray dog problem exists. The idea is to get the project going by joint funding, but the charities were specifically there to help set up the catch, neuter and release project, using local people and local means. The aim is to teach the people of Oradeo how to do it for themselves, so that the charities can then move onto to another project.
After all that travelling I was ready for a shower, but no, we were straight to work driving not to the hotel, but to the proposed new site being build on land generously donated to the project by the Mayor. If I was expecting something like Battersea Dogs Home, I was in for a shock. Instead what we saw were three portacabins in the middle of a large field surrounded by dogs. While this may look like a rather modest start, within a few short months, these portacabins would form the nucleus of the programme. They are rapidly being transformed into a fully equipped veterinary hospital where all the neutering will be done by a Romanian vet who has been employed for the project. The portacabins will be covered with a barn-type roof to protect the site from the heat of the summer sun and also from the heavy snows of the bitterly cold winters. Here the dogs who will be systematically caught from the city will be brought, treated for any diseases, neutered and then returned to the neighbourhood where they were taken from. Within a few years, this project will dramatically reduce the numbers of dogs on the streets and improve the health of those that are left.
After being inspired by what is being planned out of virtually nothing and somewhat stunned by what was still to do, we headed for the hotel for dinner - and finally a shower and bed.
One of main criteria for this project working however, is local education. And so, the next morning I found myself wandering the streets of Oradeo with David Newall and Caroline Green from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, and Hollie Sevenoakes from Dogs Trust the SOS Oradeo's education team. They have put together a wonderful package which will be offered to schools in the area to be used as part of their English lessons. The education materials will give the children (and through them, the parents) information on how to look after dogs, and also what this project is about. The morning was spent visiting as many schools as possible to introduce the education programme to teachers. Despite the language barrier, the teachers were all very positive especially one who accompanied us (with her Pit Bull) to the next school. The enthusiasm from the teachers was deeply encouraging and I began to see that this project could really work with the full support of the locals. It was also fascinating to see the old town or Oradeo with it's beautiful but neglected architecture bearing testament to the poverty inflicted on this once wealthy country.
The final visit of the trip was to the existing dogs' home in Oradeo. Noah's Ark had been set up by animal lovers to take in the city's injured, sick and stray dogs. However with no financial help, a policy never to turn away a dog, and far too many dogs needing their services, the home had turned into probably one of the worst sights I have ever seen on my travels and from looking round at the reactions of the other people on the trip who are used to the comparative luxury of Battersea and Dogs Trust kennels they shared my horror. The home is over crowded in fact, packed to bursting with dogs in various states from the relatively healthy, to what we would consider as serious welfare cases. Skin problems, eye problems and ear infections were rife, and the parasites were the only ones who seemed to be living well (we were advised to check for ticks etc when we left). While having been set up for all the right reasons, this home served to show just how great the need is in Oradeo for the work that the three charities are working together to do. The thought that something was finally being done for these dogs was the only way to cope with the visit, and I was very glad to leave.
The day ended with a reception in the hotel, where all the local dignitaries, teachers and supporters of the project were invited to find out more, to celebrate the launch, and drink lots of Romanian wine (largely not recommended!) to a bright future of the dogs of Oradeo. After the reception, and despite the exhaustion brought on by two unbelievably hard working days, the charities continued to celebrate long into the night. And then there was the cabaret but that is another story altogether.
The next day, tired but fuelled with excitement for the project, we set off back to the UK.
This is a truly amazing project. It not only features three charities working together on one project, but it recognises the desperate need of dogs in a country that could never afford to set up such a project on its own. This is really going to change the future of Eastern European dogs as Oradeo is just the first of many such projects. We must remember that a dog in need is a dog in need whether at home or abroad. More to the point, there is suffering in other countries that we can no longer imagine.
I can't wait for a return visit later in the year, when the clinic will be up and running, and the future will look much brighter for the dogs of Oradeo. I look forward to telling you all about it.