Bihor County
The Foundation for the Protection of Community Dogs, FPCC, was started by British businessman, Robert Smith, who was moved by the plight of street dogs in Romania where he worked. FPCC today runs a number of small shelters throughout Romania; in addition to being animal sanctuaries, the shelters have education programmes for schools and sterilisation programme for the community.
In 2003 FPCC began working in the city of Oradea in Bihor county, northwest Romania. By the end of 2006 FPCC had sterilised over 4000 dogs. However, although the sterilisation project was a success in Oradea, dog lovers from nearby towns began dumping their street dogs in Oradea because they knew the dogs would be cared for there. (Traditionally in Romania, the municipality controls the stray dog population by poisoning or with a catch-and-kill scheme.) As a result, in 2007 FPCC decided to expand its sterilisation project to all of Bihor county.
Mayhew International supports FPCC’s Bihor county sterilisation project. Last year we donated dog catching poles, recovery cages and suture materials to the project. We also offered them the use of our large Mayhew animal ambulance as a post-operative recovery unit from April to August. Through our training programmes, we have trained three vets in sterilisation techniques and a project manager for their education and campaign programme. Click here to read more about our Training Programmes.
This summer Mayhew International is again looking to loan out the use of our Mayhew animal ambulance and also to send a veterinary team to Bihor in August to further train their vets and help with the spay & neuter project.
Galati
Dr Ileana Gheorghita was the first participant of The Mayhew International Veterinary Training Programme in 2006. In 2007 Dr Gheorghita began offering free spay & neuter and veterinary care for stray dogs and cats in and around her hometown Galati in eastern Romania. She works with a US-based charity, Romania Animal Rescue, that fundraises to pay for the cost of the operations. Dr Gheorghita also offers internships for veterinary students at her clinic and additional veterinary training whenever possible for vets working with other animal welfare charities in Romania.
In 2007 the free spay & neuter programme was featured on Galati television and in local newspapers, resulting in thousands of animals being brought to Dr Gheorghita for sterilisation. Dr Gheorghita sterilised 1334 dogs and cats last year and another 134 animals in January 2008.