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.
A Vet Abroad!
On the 2nd October this year Mayhew vet, Abdul Jalil Mohammad Zai, set off from Luton airport to Budapest in order to take part in a neutering initiative assisting some of the clinics set up to deal with stray animal management in Romania. The Mayhew Animal Home as Mayhew International has had a strong relationship with Romania for several years, particularly with the organisation The Foundation for the Protection of Community Dogs, FPCC, started by British businessman, Robert Smith, who was moved by the plight of street dogs in Romania where he worked. In 2003 FPCC began working in the city of Oradea with the SOS Oradea project , northwest Romania. However, although the sterilisation project has been a success there, dog lovers from nearby towns began dumping their street dogs in Oradea because they knew the dogs would be cared for. As a result, in 2007 FPCC decided to expand its sterilisation project to all of Bihor county. Last year Mayhew International 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.
This year we sent our animal ambulance out to the clinic teams in Bihor at the end of May and Mohammad and NVQ student, Aneil, went to retrieve the ambulance as part of their neutering trip, bringing back two street dogs with them who had been rescued by the teams in Marghita. Micro -chipped, neutered, wormed, flea-ed and wagging their tails, they settled in to Mayhew life quickly and at time of writing this newsletter one of the dogs has already settled in with her new adoptive family. Here are a few of Mohammad’s diary extracts which explains how staff on the ground are doing everything they can, but are in desperate need of better equipment.
4th October 2008
As part of our daily
routine we headed
back to the Margitha
centre around 9.00am
and on my third day in,
I found 10 more dogs
had been brought in, ready for neutering. The
veterinary and animal staff are 100% committed
to improving the conditions for the animals in
Romania and last year neutered over 2,000
dogs. This number could increase dramatically,
however, with the right kind of support and
building relationships with the local government.
Although 2,000 may sound like a lot, it is a very
small number in comparison to the amount of
animals living as strays all over the country.
At the end of our trip we will be returning with
two dogs to be re-homed in the UK, but this isn’t
a lasting solution. More needs to be done inside
the Romania. Training programmes and further
visits from Mayhew vets would be of great benefit.
6th October 2008
On the fifth day the team brought in 14 dogs
and 2 female cats for neutering. They had
caught these animals as strays the day before
and they would now need basic health-checks
and preparation for neutering. There are hardly
any facilities to house dogs for re-homing, so it
is essential any animals that may be released
back to their original habitat are not able to produce
any more litters. There is enough of a stray
problem in Romania as it is and un-neutered
animals just exacerbate the issue.
I am keen to return to the UK in a couple of
days to discuss what I have seen with the
Mayhew Team and present ideas for how progress
can be made with the help of Mayhew International.