For years, Maria and her husband Adrian have taken care of dogs and cats that are unwanted and in need of help in Romania, a country where animals are not treated very well.
In their private shelter, which was completed in 2019 but continuously improved , there are currently nearly 400 dogs and about 50 cats looking for a home for life.
In 2021 Maria and Adrians shelter receives a private donation that makes it possible to build a roof over 3 of the kennels in the shelter.
The dogs come from, the public shelters Fetini and Barbeni, or have been left in the street and in the woods and who have been found injured.
The cats found have also been abandoned or injured. This is a common problem in Denmark, as we in Denmark treat cats in the same way as dogs in Romania.
When the dogs end up in the public shelter, the deadline often expires after 14 days and the dogs are brutally killed or starved to death.
In the public shelters, the dogs – caught by dogcatchers with a painful snare – are locked together with hundreds of other dogs, they never get out, are not adequately cared for, fed or cleaned. This causes bites, fear, aggression etc among the animals, which are often fatal.
Maria feeds countless of stray dogs, so they are at least occasionally less hungry. By participating in neutering programs, they try to get pet owners to neuter their dogs to reduce the population of new puppies and new animals that have to live in misery.
Maria Cristina and Adrian’s lives only for the animals. 24 hours a day – 365 days.
In August 2019, they had to complete their new, private shelter and move the dogs within just 30 days as they were no longer wanted at the previous location and the dogs were no longer safe.
The new shelter now offers a safe place for the animals, far away from the misery they came from.
But it also brings many challenges. There is no road to the shelter, Just a path made by the cars, where there are big gaps that had to be filled up with big rocks to be drive all the way up to the shelter.
There is no connection to the public electricity or water supply.
One can not imagine what work and challenges it gives them in their everyday lives. Imagine the darkness and cold of winter or just having to bring clean water to the dogs.
In this private shelter, the dogs live in open cages that act as protection against rain, cold and heat and always have the door open to the large play yard. Some cages are closed to protect certain dogs (small, old, weak), but the animals also live in herds there. Maria and Adrian do their utmost to make life as comfortable as possible for them through the donations sent to them in the form of soft beds and treats and toys. Nevertheless, the shelter is a shelter and can in no way be compared to a home.
To some dogs, the lucky ones, the shelter is just a stopover on the way to their own forever home. Unfortunately, for many, it is the only home they will ever know and have.
Especially old, sick or large dogs have a hard time.
Maria and Adrian want to take care of these dogs as well as possible, but they can not do it on their own. They need more help and more volunteers.
We hope to be able to help offering a better future for the animals. But we need your support and help to do so.