Stray dogs of Serbia will starve to death!

1. In Serbia, because of the pandemic, many dogs have been abandoned in the streets. Danijela and Jovica will soon run out of kibble to feed them: the poor things will starve!

"We feed between 25-35 stray dogs on a daily basis, most of them living in packs. We have definitely noticed their number increase since the beginning of containment. In fact, at one point, there were more pure-breeds on the street than mixed dogs, which definitely goes to show these dogs had homes before. And as most of them aren’t sterilized, if they are released on the streets, their numbers only continue to grow.

I try my best to provide food for all the strays I encounter on my daily commute, and all the ones I see on my way to the shelter. But if our own supplies run out, I won’t be able to afford to feed both our dogs and the strays. I’m afraid that they will go hungry, start getting into trouble in order to find food, have more injuries and more illnesses due to the lack of proper nutrition.

We are talking about the spread of viruses, diarrhea, vomiting from eating bad food, and overall decline of health. At this time we have around 6-7 sacks of food from the previous action, which is enough for another 2-3 days. We need help!"

2. Living outside Danijela's shelter ever since her siblings got run over by a truck, Tea entirely relies on her for food. Without kibble, she will starve!

"Tea is around one and a half years old, she's a stray living outside my shelter. She was found as a puppy with two of her sisters. The man that took them in took good care of them, but eventually had to surrender them to the city shelter as he couldn’t find them homes.

They were still small, and the shelter workers feared for their health if they mixed them in general population, so they let them outside the shelter gates. A driver who worked for the City Waste Disposal intentionally drove over two of Tea’s sisters with his truck. Tea barely survived, and she has been traumatized ever since. 

She's very fearful of strangers. She comes off as aggressive at first glance, but only because of her trauma. That makes her chances of adoption almost zero, as most people aren’t willing to put in the time to make her comfortable... She 100% relies on me for food, and is unlikely to seek help or manage on her own if I am no longer able to feed her."

3. Danijela and Jovica also have 93 dogs to feed in their shelters. Without a new stock of kibble arriving soon, they too will starve!

"My biggest fear is having no food to give the dogs. I've already had to cut down the amount of food they eat, they're being fed once a day. We are running out of food fast, so I try to stretch the amount of food as much as possible. 

Even if I find some other option, like old bread, that will be just one  bag of it. And that is not nearly enough for the number of dogs that we take care of... We have many mouths to feed and with the sanitary crisis, people are less and less willing to adopt with all the measures in place. And the dogs we've already found homes for cannot leave either. Some of them have been waiting since April...

On top of this, it's important to mention that lot of our dogs got serious illnesses: 13 are handicapped, 16 are injured and/or in treatment. They need good quality food in order to remain healthy. If we had no food or only feed them lower quality food, their health will rapidly decline and their recovery will be in danger. "

4. Pepo had two legs amputated and is completely reliant on Jovica for food. Without kibble, he won't be able to fend for himself!

"One day, I received a call from a young man living in a village near Kraljevo about a dog with serious injuries to his back legs. The vet determined that Pepo’s back legs were almost completely cut off, whether by train or on purpose, he wasn't sure. It looked like a bomb blasted them off.

Pepo went on without treatment for God knows how long. When we rescued him, sepsis had already set in, his back legs couldn’t be saved; the vet had to amputate. We tried to train him to use a wheelchair, but he doesn't like it, so he just walks on his stubs.

He lives at Jovica’s shelter now, where he is safe and taken care of. He is a sweet, playful dog, however, he has an extremely low chance of adoption and he 100% relies on Jovica for food. If we cannot find a solution to our financial problems and the shelter were to close down, Pepo wouldn't be able to fend for himself..."

5. Danijela and Jovica are drowning in debt, they can no longer buy kibble!

"During the pandemic, my job was safe as I work in the public sector, but my hours were still reduced, so I took in an extra job on the side, to try and pay some of our debts. Many other people weren't so lucky though and lost their jobs, so donations went down as a result. The current health crisis has impacted us all.

Unfortunately, the bills we have are too significant, especially vet bills. We owe around 1300 euros to the vet clinic. The dogs we find are often in need of complicated surgeries, and our current dogs need their vaccines and parasite treatments. We just don’t know where to find funds anymore. We take care of around 135 dogs each day between the shelter and the streets, and we simply don’t have the funds needed to buy kibble for all of them.

When I know that we have enough food, everything seems easier to me. Everything can be powered through; the medical treatments, the recovery – everything. I just can’t stand them being hungry. We worked so hard in order for them to get better, and if they start getting sick again because of the lack of food, all of our efforts will be in vain."

6. Danijela and Jovica aren't asking for money, just kibbles to keep their dogs from starving!

"In Serbia, there are no punishments for people who mistreat their pets or who are just irresponsible. Abandonments were already a widespread issue before the health crisis, but it has definitely been getting worse now. Another contributing factor to the issue is the fact that micro chipping of dogs is still not used a lot in Serbia, so dog owners who abandon their dogs cannot be prosecuted.

Many dogs are left on the streets and we often receive calls about mistreatment of animals, but we have no jurisdiction. We can give information about whom to call: the police, the veterinary inspection, the prosecutors. But more often than not, nothing comes out of it. 

I cannot watch dogs starve on the street and do nothing about it, I feel too sorry for them. It’s heart-breaking, and it’s not their fault...Each abandoned dog is another mouth to feed, and cannot leave them to starve!"

7. If this campaign is successful, Danijela and Jovica will not receive any money but 2400 kg of kibble will be delivered from the Animal Webaction logistic platform in Serbia

Animal Webaction has a logistics centre directly in Serbia, allowing us to intervene quickly and deliver kibbles.

8. Everyday, Danijela and Jovica keep finding more abandoned dogs in the streets. Despite the help of a few faithful supporters, they've reached a standstill and can no longer afford to buy kibble!

The main issue here is the constant abandonment of dogs, especially now during the pandemic of Covid-19. Many people believed that dogs transmit the virus to humans, so they started abandoning them in large numbers.

Every day, either through social media or in the street, we found new litters of puppies seeking homes. There is just no end to it. There needs to be a change in the behavior of people, and we must do our best as a society to fix the issue of stray dogs.

But unfortunately, right now, the locals and the foreigners who helped previously cannot donate as much as they could, or even at all. I really don’t know what my options are anymore. Even small amounts like 1 or 5 euros mean a lot to us. Please consider donating!"

9. Actions launched on Animal Webaction often fail

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When a campaign fails, Animal Webaction cannot deliver the products. The organizer doesn't receive anything and the buyers are refunded. 

10. In Serbia, street dogs are hunted by the State and ignored by the population, volunteers like Danijela and Jovica are their only hope

If you know of a foundation or NGO that could help Danijela and Jovica, please invite them to contact us so that we can put them in touch.

If you represent an animal welfare foundation or NGO, please help Danijela and Jovica's dogs, please contact us and we will put you in touch!

If you would like to come to Danijela and Jovica's shelters to help them, or if you would like to send them kibbles or a check directly, please contact Danijela via Facebook (note: direct help is your own responsibility).

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