Once again, thank you. Thank you for all your help and support for the work that RAR does in Romania for the animals! Thanks to your generous donations, we are able to help dogs such as Ambi, Bitza, and the four puppies to get treated and adopted into forever loving homes! Thanks to you we are able to once again spay/neuter hundreds of dogs in Moreni, Braila, Tecuci, Iasi, and now Nicoresti Romania, and soon in Reghin for Fiducia shelter in two weeks time! The story of the rescue of the now eight dogs from the USA military base in Romania was shared by Best Friends International Network, and is on the new FAFAN website. Thanks to great work by great people, all the dogs were saved and flown to the USA for adoption!

Now - back to Neuter or Spay!! No More Strays! This is the most important work of RAR, and the most requested of us. I receive requests weekly from different towns, communities and individuals for the great RAR vets to come to provide the free spay/neuter that we do so well! I try to never say, "no". There is so much sadness in Romania already. And with your help and support for our ongoing spay/neuter programs, we can do much more than even the now 12,400+ free spay/neuters! No more unwanted dogs, puppies, cats or kittens should face a life anywhere. Please help us to help them.

And finally, thank you Dr. Aurelian Stefan and Ruth Osborne for starting the Veterinary Training Camp in Romania next month so that more Romanian vets will learn how to do spay/neuter surgeries. One of our first vets to attend is Dr. Lidia from Botosani, who will be sponsored by Romania Animal Rescue for her training!

Thank you to the great teams in Bucharest, Iasi and Tecuci for all your hard work.

Thank you all for giving the animals a chance.

Dear Friends,

We have just returned from Tecuci and Nicoresti where 125 animals were spayed and neutered. Because of this, thousands of souls will not be born on the streets to suffer from thirst and hunger and without knowing what love and warmth is. We visited the Tanner House in Nicoresti where we spayed animals belonging to them and their neighbors. We have never visited a house for disabled children and we saw the smile on their faces and their understanding for our work with animals. It was a heartbreaking farewell from the kids and we hope we will come back for more spay and neuter in Nicoresti.

In September we are starting The Veterinary Training Camp where for five days long we will train among others Dr. Lidia from Botosani. We will train her to be proficient with spay/neuter and make a difference for her local area. The Veterinary Training Camp is the only project of this kind in Romania and we hope this project will grow of course with your help our friends and supporters.

Our next spay/neuter project will be at Fiducia's shelter in Reghin where we hope to spay and neuter as many dogs possible. All these projects would not be possible without your help and we count on you to help us help as many animals as possible.

Dear Nancy,
Without sterilization, tens of hundreds of puppies are brought to the shelter door, without regard. They are sent to a shelter that is dirty, with no special food for puppies, where they die of hunger and thirst because they are too small to handle themselves alone. They die covered by the worms from larvae deposited by flies. There are terrible scenes during the warm season. In winter they die by freezing. This has continued for years. We cannot save all puppies. We have not enough vaccines. They contract parvovirus and distemper and they are not dewormed. It is an ocean of viruses, bacteria and dirt. It is not enough to write it. It is necessary to see the situation.

In a Bucov shelter there are about 600 dogs, 400 unsterilized. The shelter veterinarian refuses to make such operations. He tells us that for a small salary he doesn't want to get tired. He has made errors in surgical operations and the dogs died. He wants only to kill dogs.

In town, the costs of a sterilization is more than I can pay for many dogs. I have more than 100 dogs prepared to be adopted, but they are unsterilized.

Thank you for understand me,
Mihaela

Dear Nancy and RAR,
My men and I first came across several of these dogs just outside our base at a local restaurant we frequent. They came to our attention one night when we were eating. One of the dogs was walking across the street and a car hit him. It didn't even slow down. It was a terrible thing for all of us to see. At least the dog died quickly but the sad scene continued the rest of the night. The killed dog's friends wouldn't leave the body for two days. We gave the dogs some food and went back to base.

Within a few days they had wandered onto the base and became our unit's little group of mascots. Night after night they hung around outside of our barracks, always waiting for us to come out and play with them, feed them, give them some kind human contact. We became attached to these dogs as we realized how well behaved and loyal they were to us. Me and two of my men became accustomed to seeing Mama and her little ones waiting for us when we left the gym. They would follow us when walked back to our barracks. They followed us everywhere. We knew we couldn't just leave them in Romania when we leave so my men, my wife, and I began looking into how to send them back to the US.

The process was suddenly put into high gear when we found out by happenstance that the dog catchers were coming within the week, but what day we did not know. My wife put us in contact with Nancy and the Romania Animal Rescue. With her help and that of Save the Dogs and Dr. Aurelian, both in Romania, we were able to set up a day to get the dogs out. We were warned by a guard we befriended that the dog catchers would come the next morning. The next day was a race of time that unfortunately we lost. The catchers showed up early and began rounding up all the dogs on the base. The dogs are gentle and affectionate and these "people" were grabbing them with nets and dragging them to the van. They had metal clamps, the same kind used to pick up blocks of ice, but we warned them if they used them on the dogs we would show them how it felt. We got into a minor altercation with them and I spoke with supervisor after supervisor. The Romanian supervisors were understanding and instructed the catchers to leave cages for us so we could put our dogs in them and wait for Save the Dogs to arrive. As I spoke with them I saw Mama standing up against the cage of the van; the back doors were open at the time. She was shaking and looking at me with terrified eyes. I put my hand through the cage and pet her to try and calm her but she and our puppies were scared and confused. Little Red was huddled with her brother and sister. She could have run but came back and barked at the catchers as they took her friends. One of my men tried to scoop her up and another altercation ensued. After the situation calmed a bit all was well until the head of the American civilian contractor running the base's services got involved and told them to stop helping. We had a "discussion" with him but he had not a compassionate bone in his body.

Long story short the dogs were taken and it took us four hours to find the facility. We still arrived there before the catchers who stopped for lunch, leaving the 15 or so dogs in the van. We watched their every move as they unloaded the dogs and the cowards were too scared to come out of the back area to where we were. They had agreed to meet us at a point we knew before reaching the facility and give us our dogs. We stood in the parking lots and waved as they looked at us and drove by. Needless to say we were furious once we finally found the facility. If we didn't have a Romanian interpreter, whom one of my men had befriended, we never would have found the place. The best part is the head of the contractor said we wouldn't find it when we were still at the base, and knowing that he still made the catchers take our dogs. For the sake of keeping this clean I have no words to say about him. We let him know it was a bad idea to cross us every time we see him. His time here since then has been a bit uncomfortable in the chow hall. My men had stuck by me and done whatever it took to get these dogs safely to the States. They showed me true character and I'm honored to have them under me. They came with me on the final 3 1/2 hour drive to get the dogs to Bucharest, where Dr. Aurelian and Anelise are located. Without their help and yours we never could have done this. My men and I are grateful beyond words for the help you all have given us.

Thank you again,
Greg

We sent an emergency plea earlier this month for Bitza, the dog that was allowed respite at a restaurant until he was hit by a car. Here is an update on his story:

Until recently Bitza was the dog of a restaurant, but now nobody wants him back there, just because he was hit by a car. The accident caused him a pelvic fracture and also a broken foot. A waitress paid for the taxi to transport Bitza to the vet clinic, and she almost got fired because of this. The owner of the restaurant was very proud of this dog when her husband was alive. But after her spouse died she changed and fired everybody who had saved food for strays.

After the accident Bitza was not allowed to enter the yard of the restaurant, where he was able to drink water at least. The owner is afraid that Bitza will be a crippled dog and will scare the customers. Bitza was left on the streets with no water and no protection, where he could be hit by a car again anytime. We tried to find a few fosters or yards where he can stay in order to have the surgeries and recover after, but he was kicked out from every place the very next day.

That is why we now know Bitza as the unwanted dog: Not wanted by his former owners, not wanted by anybody in foster.

RAR decided to move Bitza from Braila to Bucharest so he could have the best care possible, the bone surgeries that he needed, and afterwards, find a good home for him. In a couple of days after a complete checkup we had found out that he had a severe heartworm infestation. This is a disease with a very tough treatment. Many dogs do not survive the treatment. It is very long and expensive, and dogs need good care to be able to make it. They need a home during the treatment; it helps them a lot.

We had no home at that point for Bitza, but still decided against all odds to fight for life, to try to start the heartworm treatment while Bitza is in the clinic. Only to keep him there it is $20/day and the treatment at that point already reached $600 with no surgery done yet.

The next problem appeared immediately after this decision: There is a shortage of the main medication throughout the world, and we were not able to find the medicine for Bitza. In the same time somebody from Denmark offered to adopt Bitza and give him a permanent home. We decided to start an alternative treatment that has been proven to work on heartworm infestations.

Patricia, one of our friends in Romania who told us about Bitza, has posted a video of Bitza on Youtube. Dr. Aurelian has posted another video of Bitza on Youtube.

Please help Bitza get the care he needs.