Without kibble, these 500 dogs might be put to sleep!

1. In Romania, Madalina will soon be out of kibble to feed the 500 dogs at the public shelter, they might starve!

"There are 500 dogs in total at the public shelter. This is our maximum capacity. The town hall doesn't contribute to the food at all, we financially take care of everything that means food and medicine for the animals. To explain it briefly, the public shelter is just the place where captured stray dogs are brought . From there we, Happy Tails Animal Rescue, take them, save them and take care of as many as we can. 

Because of the pandemic, I lost my job, which was my only financial stability. And we are faced with a drop in donations since last february, because of the pandemic of course, people do not have any more fund to donate to us. We’ve been using all our savings in order to provide everything needed for them, we’re currently managing thanks to our savings and our parents’ savings, which will be completly gone in a few weeks from now.

Today we have around 600-700 kgs left, this means we have food for six days. Financially and physically, we can’t cope with everything on our own. We have 500 dogs; I’m not sure people understand that this is really a huge number, and that the food problem is big, and real."

2. Madalina has been fighting for 5 years against euthanasia practised at the pound. Without kibbles to feed the dogs, euthanasia will resume on a massive scale!

"Happy Tails Animal Rescue was founded almost 5 years ago. We then found out on Facebook that the public animal shelter (owned by the town hall) would euthanize all the dogs that they had, so me and my partner Denis started volunteering there to prevent that. There is only the two of us here.

After 4, almost 5 years, our relationship with the town hall has become a good one, little by little, because they now understand what’s our real capacity of helping. However, this relies on our ability to feed and care for these dogs : the town hall won’t be able to keep them there as long as I don’t feed them and don’t take care of them. Without our help, the shelter will go back to its initial state: euthanasia for all dogs, 100%. If we’re not there, if we cannot provide food for these dogs, there won’t be any more dogs saved. 

I’m feeling quite affected at this point in general, I oftentimes have nightmares. It’s so hard to be here knowing that there are dogs euthanized at the public shelter near you because you’re not able to feed them anymore."

3. Carson was brought in seriously injured, he is still very weak and emaciated. Madalina needs kibble so that he can regain his strength and have a second chance.

"Carson is an older Golden Retriever, who arrived with a huge wound on his back, a very bad cut. He’s still recovering from the injury, I am not really sure what happened with him, but he most probably had an inappropriate owner.

For now, he’s still very skinny and doesn’t eat a lot, so he still has a long way to go. He is supposed to go to the UK to our wonderful partner and then be adopted, but he first needs to recover and get enough strentgh to be able to travel."

4. Because of the pandemic, Madalina lost her job, donations and adoptions are plummeting. Having reached the end of her savings, she will soon not be able to buy any more kibbles!

"I was working as a legal adviser, but because of this situation, courts and notaries have been closing, so I had no other choice. Denis is a forest engineer, and truth be told, his orders have been limited as well. 

Financially speaking, we need to stabilize our situation in order to make it in the future, which will take at least half a year. Plus, there aren’t as many adopters as before because of two reasons: they can’t afford it anymore and nobody is thinking of adopting a dog right now, with everything that’s going on. So, in the end, I’ll have more dogs left at the shelter, unadopted.

The only thing that kept us going in the same way as before was our savings, which will be soon gone. We already haven't been able to conduct our sterilization campaigns as before due to lack of resources, which is a real shame, as only this will allow us to see a real difference in the amount of dogs in need. Everyone around us is affected by this situation; as long as they’re affected, we will be affected as well."

5. Exhausted and overwhelmed with worry, Madalina needs all the support she can get to continue rescuing the dogs from the public shelter.

"There are ups and downs, mentally. No day is the same as the others. I had a mental breakdown a few days ago, I was thinking of giving up completely. Puppies left in front of my house, Momma with her pups left in front of the shelter, 15 dogs with parvovirus in only one week, plus some other complicated situations. You’re happy at some point – for example Thursdays, which is transport and adoption day. But right after that, maybe half an hour later, they bring new cases to the public shelter. So you can’t be happy for long because you have other complicated things to take care of, you just don’t have the time to be happy for one entire day.

Ever since we “bonded” with the public shelter, we’ve been working here, but also at home, with our animals. There are so many people that know where I live and they abandon their animals there, in front of my house or they even throw them over my fence. So I have no other choice than to take them, of course. They also leave the animals at the vet clinic that we collaborate with, 200 meters near my home. And they end up at my house as well. There are too many for our resources unfortunately."

6. Madalina is not asking for money, only kibbles to prevent dogs from starving or being euthanised.

"I’ve been saving animals ever since I was little; our apartment was always full of stray animals when I was a kid, mostly cats, but also 4-5 dogs per year. But after I moved into a house, I’ve even had 50 dogs at once, saved from the shelters around Christmas day. 

My main hope is that, one day, there won’t be any more stray dogs to bring in. Because the truth is that their place is not on the streets, naturally. But their place is not at the shelter either; I just cannot think that these dogs will live their entire lives in cages or fenced yards. That’s no life for a dog. Many people ask me why didn’t I created a private shelter where I can keep the dogs forever like this, until they die. I wouldn’t keep my dog like this forever, in a paddock, with only a few minutes of human interaction per day while I feed them or clean after them. So I don’t want it for any other dog either."

7. If this campaign succeeds, Madalina will not receive any money but 3000 kg of kibbles, delivered from Animal Webaction's logistic platform in Romania.

Animal Webaction has a logistics platform in Romania which enables us to intervene quickly and deliver kibbles.

8. Madalina's countless calls for help have brought little results; she will not be able to continue without more support.

"With emergencies daily more & more expenses and less support each month, it is simply impossible. Members of our group that have donated over and over again can’t sustain the entire activity of our rescue, and neither can't we with Denis.

Oh, of course we tried to reach out to other organizations! The answer was negative because of a simple reason: they’re in the same situation as we are. The financial resources have become very, very limited."

9. Campaigns launched on Animal Webaction often fail.

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

10. In Romania, it is difficult to find funds for kibbles, there are no aid, no grants, no foundation... Many abandoned dogs die alone in the streets, in complete indifference...​

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

If you represent a Foundation or an NGO for animal protection, please help the dogs rescued by Madalina, contact us and we will put you in touch!

If you wish to go to the pound and help Madalina, or if you want to send her directly some food or a cheque, please contact her via the association's Facebook page (note: direct help is under your own responsibility).

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