BUCHAREST ANIMAL SHELTERS FLOODED

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2005:

BUCHAREST–Four times the average rainfall for the entire
month of September hit Bucharest, Romania, in only 72 hours on
September 20-22, flooding animal shelters including the Asociatia
Natura and Fundatia Daisy Hope, featured in the June 2004 edition of
ANIMAL PEOPLE.
Also flooded was the Fundatia Speranta, one of only four
shelters, three of them in Romania, that ever received a zero on
the 100-point ANIMAL PEOPLE scoring scale [“How ANIMAL PEOPLE
evaluates shelters,” June 2004.] “I have four areas under a half meter of water,” Daisy Hope founder
Aura Maratas e-mailed on September 20. “I lifted the cages up on
pallets. I have no place to move them, and have nowhere to drain
the water. We could not find a pump. They are all gone from the
shops, and everyone needs a pump.”
Daisy Hope did not lose any dogs to high water during the
three-day ordeal, but a worker quit after suffering a severe bite
from a frightened dog.

“We have problems with our generator,” Asociatia Natura
founder Carmen Milobendzchi e-mailed. “Our drainage system is
flooded. Our cattery walls absorbed water from the saturated soil,
and water is in the basement. The animals are well, but not happy
because the nights are too cold.
“Because we are not complaining and begging,” she added,
“many people think that we don’t need help, but it is difficult for
us to handle everything.”
Reportedly under an eviction order since May 2005, the
Fundatia Speranta “finally received permission from the mayor on
September 21 to move the 1,200 resident dogs to their new home,”
Vier Pfoten Romania reported on October 7. However, heavy rain
delayed the relocation into October.
“Our medical team is trying to vaccinate and neuter, if
necessary, all the dogs as soon as possible,” Vier Pfoten reported.
About 275 dogs were moved by October 4, but “From
mid-October onwards, the area will be evacuated by force and the
dogs will be killed,” Vier Pfoten said.
The National Committee for the Protection of Animals, with
200 dogs, was also at imminent risk of flooding, but through
September 27 remained safe, said Maratas.
The NCPA had a bad weekend anyway, after trying to promote
adoptions with posters showing Adolph Hitler, former Romanian
dictator Nicolae Ceau-sescu, and U.S. President George Bush holding
their dogs, above the slogan, “A dog loves you just the way you
are.” The ad agency that distributed the posters removed them,
wrote London Telegraph correspondent Michael Leidig, after the U.S.
embassy objected.

Contact info:

Fundatia Daisy Hope, 12 Visarion Str., sector 1, Bucharest, Romania;
phone 40-21-3127723; email <aura.maratas@ doghope.ro>.

Asociatia Natura, 9 Imparatul Traian Str., bldg.B9/1, ap.19, sector
4, Bucharest, Romania; phone 40-744673379; email <milo@b.astral.ro>.