The stock room!

The Stock room is full of food,medicines recent supplements due to recent donations!

The wonderful Mr.John volunteers his time everyday!

The dogs have heat now in the freezing temperatures

Food preparation

Medicines and supplements

Speranta, adopted doggie

Speranta, adopted doggie from Radauti shelter, kept in foster until skin recovers before transportation to Germany 

 Speranta, the only survivor from her pound.

Her skin lesions recovered , she gained weight and hair started to grow.

 Speranta's first day in foster home and her first walk

Recent donations to Radauti

 Medicines, toys, leads and collars

 A very kindly lady created dog coats for the dogs!

Essential medical supplies including: bandages,syringes, sterile dressings, gloves surgical tape and hand wash, donated from the UK

The first Adoption!

 The first adoption from Radauti carried out by a Romanian  couple!

Essential medicines given.....

Several dogs presented with skin and flea conditions including demodex so essential antibiotics, treatment for the mites and fleas have been administered to those in need.

 Dr Alexandra administering anti-biotics

 Alina giving donated frontline for fleas

Ongoing meetings with the Mayor and Councillors of Radauti for the rights of animals in Radauti

Our group with assistance from Romania Animal Aid have been in regular talks with Radauti City Hall. It has been proposed that RGAW take over the management of the shelter under the supervision of Romania Animal Aid.

The meetings so far have been very productive, allowing for us to have full access to the shelter from 8am-12 noon 7 days a week. What has been achieved is unpresidented in Romania, and because of this the death/dissapearance ratio in the last 2 months since having such access has decreased by 90%.Both sides are working on a draft agreement that is hoped will be mutually agreeable and then signed and RGAW will take over the management.


So far this is what has been agreed: Below is taken directly from correspondence from the last meeting. We also included the arguments for catch,neuter and release in opposition to the current catch and kill regime Radauti has in affect.

 ....................................................................................................

Dear Sir

Reference: Proposed agreements to be included in the contract for the management of the public dog shelter.

Please see below our proposals to be agreed and included within the transference of the management of the public shelter. It has to be said that many international charities and governments have become interested in the outcome of our meetings, and it is hoped by all that it is the case of sooner than later a contract drafted, date for transference of the shelter to take place and for our charities supervision for management of the shelter to begin.

Section 1- Maintenance and general upkeep of Radauti Public Shelter and its inhabitants

(I) It is agreed by all parties that the Mayor of Radauti and the city council will continue its financial responsibilities for all payments in regards to the basic annual upkeep, and running costs of the Radauti public shelter including that of its staff members required and canine inhabitants. A list of such commitments will be provided to the UK Registered Charity Romania Animal Aid and its assignee group Radauti Group for Animal Welfare as well as stating such individual commitments in the draft and final contract prior to all parties agreeing upon and signing aforementioned contract.

(ii) Payment of such monies will be done by way of an annual budget being allocated specifically for the shelter and paid into a separate account on a monthly basis for use of, and accessed only by public shelter management but with full accountability to a nominated city hall accountant. All payments will be made by the last day of each month they become due.

(iii) It is also agreed by the Mayor of Radauti and the City hall in regards to staffing of the shelter that Romania Animal Aid and its assignees RGAW will be responsible for the employing and dismissal of staff members of the public shelter.

(iv) It is also agreed by the Mayor of Radauti and the City hall in regards to payment and monitoring of Radauti public shelter utilities including water and electricity , that the aforementioned Mayor and City hall will provide pay for and provide for separate meters to be installed to allow the public shelter and the zoo to be independent of each other. Allowing for better budgeting of public funds and accountability.

(v) The Mayor of Radauti and its city hall will provide for and allow the use of one vehicle suitable for retaining/transporting dogs and general use of shelter need, specifically for the sole use of the public shelter. As said vehicle will remain an asset of the City the general maintenance, insurance and road tax will also be maintained by the city including fuel costs needed for catching and transporting dogs also for the basic transportation needs of the public shelter.

(vi) That dog catchers employed to undergo such duties will be managed by the shelter management but wages paid by the Mayor of Radauti and city hall.

(vii) It is also agreed that if all monthly payments have not been paid by the last day of each month for all of the above mentioned in Section 1, that the Mayor of Radauti as does city Hall do agree that the entire annual budget that remains for the forthcoming months until the next annual review date will be paid in there entirety into the aforementioned separate account of the shelter management within 28 days of missed payment/s becoming due.

RGAW with support of Romania Animal Aid agree to provide the following for the duration of its management of the public shelter;

• To provide in addition to the decided annual budget a further 25% in the form of extra veterinary treatments, monthly spay and neuter clinics (30 dogs per month) as well as within that 25% providing for the shelter extra items that will be needed to ensure the dogs are cared for to EU standards
• Provide interior medical items and furnishings for medical/operation room and renovate to EU expected standards.
• Will provide materials for/to renovate a Quarantine room
• To provide for all dogs in the shelter to be tagged/tattooed and daily logs of each animal to be maintained
• In reference to regular neuter clinic, professional services of a veterinarian, a technician and 1 personnel will be provided for.
• Every 3 months, a spayathon to be organised that will allow FREE neutering of dogs and cats from within the community
• Regular community events to be organised by the shelter management and staff such as fun dog shows and family days to encourage community solidity and also promote local businesses
• The organising and implementation of educational programmes for good pet ownership within the community including informational leaflets, Free samples of pet food, money off vouchers for veterinarian services and so on
• To organise and promote fund-raising activities that will encourage and pay for community projects as well as professional training and job experience for those interested in entering animal care, such as veterinary technicians, animal behaviourists and top up training of the most advanced European spay and neuter techniques for qualified veterinarians . All taught by fully qualified and experienced persons.

Matters of concern that still need to be discussed:

• The annual shelter budget. As this was amalgamated with the zoos spending this is currently being decided upon. There is an absolute need for the shelter and the zoo's income and outgoings to be kept separate from each other, as this has caused ineffective and mismanagement of public funds in previous years.
• Catch, neuter and release programmes rather than the current catch and keep method, RGAW and our charity propose CNR as this method has been proven to be more effective at controlling strays and in the long run will be more cost effective to the tax payer. Please see below our arguments for catch,neuter and release as opposed to the ineffective method of catch and keep.

We look forward to reaching an agreement with yourselves and for management of the public shelter to be transferred.

..................................................................................................................................................

Why Catch, Neuter and Release works

It is noteworthy that the Mayor of Iasi as does the Mayor of Succeva agree to continue the current catch, neuter and release programmes in their regions. Also that recently the Mayor of Iasi where Romania Animal Aid organises in collaboration with the city council has publicly acknowledged the decrease of thousands of strays to just hundreds since the collaboration, and is very much on course for its goal to decrease the strays by 90% in Iasi over a 5 year period.

The mayor of Radauti fully understands and has been witness to ,that in the past by catching and killing the strays in his region only increased the population by allowing breeding migrating dogs into the area. By catching,neutering and releasing the strays back into their caught area, migrating dogs are then fought off by the regular strays but no unwanted births are then possible, in turn a decrease in unwanted births has been achieved. This also saves the Mayor of Radauti and his citizens vast amounts of money per year as the expensive cycle of catching, keeping,killing and corpse disposal is cut dramatically.

The Facts - We are all aware of the stray dogs numbers escalating out of control in Romania, we also know that the root cause of this is because of lack of effective dog management and education on this subject. Yourselves just like many other European countries have in the past, have chosen the catch and keep method, and as we found ourselves in our own history this is ineffective, costly and actually promotes the strays left on the street to breed far more.

Like other parts of Europe realised many years ago, it is beginning to be understood by some civilised and knowledgeable city halls in Romania the positive impact that CNR has on there regions in regards to decreasing the large amount of strays in the area.

As previously mentioned, CNR programmes have been proven to be the only effective way to decrease the stray issue. Under the shelter management the strays of Radauti would be caught, neutered, tattooed or tagged and then released back into the area in which they were caught. The shelter would retain only the vulnerable and problematic dogs who will be cared for properly to EU standards, and once they are again healthy or rehabilitated will be promoted for adoption outside of Romania.

It is extremely important that the dogs are tagged before being released back into the area they were caught is to allow careful monitoring of the dog population, as well as easy identification to the dog catchers to know which ones not to recapture. This will allow the public to see by the monitoring records where your money is being spent, and how effective the CNR programme is working.

Not only is the CNR more effective than the current catch and keep procedure, but is is more humane and year on year will save the public money. This is because currently for every dog caught the town hall is billed, then for its care, its euthanasia and subsequently its cremation. This on average costs the tax payer approx 100 Euros per dog.

With the proposed CNR programme, the only cost to the public would be for the capture, the neutering and then the release and care and treatment of dogs who are unable to be released because of ill health or behavioural issues. This on average would cost the public purse approx 40 Euros per dog that is neutered and released and the cost for the dogs needing to remain or be treated at the shelter will be less as under the new strict management of RGAW public money will be spent wisely but effectively, we expect to be held accountable to yourselves and will ensure we are able to provide full accounts, reports and monitoring information upon request from the public.

Why CNR is an effective form of stray management:

It has been scientifically proven by experts that a region that uses this method to manage strays sees a decrease after 5-7 years by 90% as opposed to the catch and kill methods that only increases more unwanted births and subsequently causing more of a problem for the public and community than helping the situation, creating even more pressure on shelter funds and abilities.

The reason the catch and kill method encourages more strays is very simple. In every area there will be a certain number of humans, these humans with their food waste etc are seen as a food source for the strays. Nature and instinct will dictate how many strays an area can provide for. This means that for example if in one area there are 10,000 people, there waste etc is enough to provide for 2,000 dogs. It is within an animals behaviour to defend its territory, its food source from outside dogs. When you catch and kill an adult dog from an area, you have then created an unnatural space in that territory for an outside dog (normally un-neuterd). This dog will mate with other un-neuterd dogs within that area and the stray population increases.

It is a known fact that a single pair of breeding dogs can within their lifetime and that of there children, can produce on average 67,000 pups. The catch neuter and release programme works with nature rather than against it. By catching, neutering and releasing an adult dog back into the care it was caught, no space has been created for an outside breeding dog to enter. That adult dog will still be there to defend its territory but unlike before, it will not be able to reproduce.

So for a period of 5-7 years the pack size decreases as there are no unwanted births and nature subsequently takes it course and the pack size decreases naturally. Without causing unnatural spaces within the pack to be filled, naturally declining the need to breed also. Because there will be more dogs neutered than un-neuterd, this will biologically affect each stray, there will be less aggressive behaviour and less territorial disputes within the pack and so on.

We hope that the citizens of Radauti, as does your mayor and councillors see how the collaboration between your town hall, RGAW and our charity will benefit not only the animals but also your community. We also hope that you are now able to see the benefits of Catch Neuter and Release as opposed to catch and keep and in doing so will support our proposal to be implemented in your region as well as effective future management of your public dog shelter.