August 2018
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Early August 2018 – The height of summer in Botosani. Not seldom temperatures rise above the 40°C mark during the day. It hasn't been raining for days but it is still the air is humid and oppressive. The sun is burning down from the early morning to the late evening and even the nights barely cool down. Water evaporates quickly, making it increasingly hard for wild animals and strays to find enough to drink.
In Romania too are the summer holidays. But that doesn't mean Anca is able to catch a break to renew her own energies. It's actually the opposite. “Her” stray dogs and cats need her even more during this time. Not only is food scarce, but also the life giving water. Wounds are quickly infested with insects and other pests and misused as breeding grounds.
Like every morning Anca loads her car with food, treats , water and cleaning supplies, and of course with transport carriers, and starts her journey to Trusesti to check up on and refill her feeding spots.
The first stop is a small parking lot a small distance from Trusesti's city limits. This is where, again and again, cats and dogs are being abandoned. Left to fend for themselves, without food or water.
This time Anca comes across two young kittens.
Both still too young to take life on by themselves.
Both too skinny and dehydrated to survive in this place.
After their first hunger was quenched, Anca decided to take the around three months old kittens with her.
Skully and Sia now stay at the shelter of Ador where they are being nursed back to health. As soon as these two are strong enough, they'll be vaccinated and ready to look for their own two-legged can openers.
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But not only “freshly abandoned” animals are trying to survive of this premise, but also dogs like Gica. Gica is a around one and a half yeah old male Mioritic-Mix, that's super cuddly towards people and also accepts other animals on “his” parking lot. (Gica was already introduced in the March 2018)
As soon as Anca calls out for him, he'll come running from the bushes. His whole body is trembling with happiness and there'll be a thorough cuddle-session. Anca checks his body, including his ears and eyes. When she reaches his backside she notices an open wound. The injures are inflamed and insects have started to infest it.
Anca is unable to take Gica with her into the shelter. It's already over capacity, with no space left for him. Her own apartment is too small to take Gica in. The only thing she can do for him at this point is to schedule a veterinary appointment.
On the same day Anca brought Gica to a vet, where his injuries where cleaned and treated. The vet gave him some medications and handed Anca a spray for his aftercare. But sadly Anca had to take him back to the parking lot.
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On to the next stop, a gas station at the village entry to Trusesti.
Next to the gas station is a ruin, where a female dog gave birth to her five young around four months ago. Anca cared for the small family, provided the shy mother with nutritious food and had her young vaccinated as soon as they were old enough. Now that they reached an age where they are no longer solely reliant on her, Anca managed to catch the shy female dog and had her castrated.
In the meantime four of the puppies were adopted by students. Only Stela remains and is now looking for her own family.
Stela, the small puppy girl, is currently around four months old (April/May 2018). She's completely vaccinated and able to trade her ruin for a nice garden, a loving family included, at the earliest opportunity.
Stela is a very sweet and approachable puppy girl. She loves cuddling and gets along well with other dogs.
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Shortly after the gas station Anca notices a almost naked, small and very thin dog walking along the right hand side of the road. The little man walked into a side road, so that Anca was able to stop and look after him. When she got closer she immediately noticed his head injury and barely had any fur left.
But first he was provided with some food, which he shyly accepted and wolfed down. His trust in Anca grew and he inched closer to her, to get more food. Just in the right moment Anca reached out and pulled the small boy into her arms. She brought him to the vet. His head injury is being treated, he is receiving medication for his mange and once he has recovered, he'll be castrated.
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On we go.
Her journey leads Anca through Trusesti, to a waste disposal site behind the houses.
This is the next feeding spot.
Some stray dogs are waiting for Anca day after day. For their share of food, and sometimes treats, as well as for Anca's attention. The animals practically inhale Anca's sweet words and affections. For many of these dogs, Anca's attention and warmth is the only happy part of their lives. For this very short moment, these animals feel loved and wanted.
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The Project Trusesti stands for castrations.
Only with the help of castrations we're able to reduce animal suffering
and unwanted offsprings in the long run.
Animal welfare organisations and single patrons are supporting Anca's project and paid the cost of castrations. This way almost 60 cats and dogs could be castrated this year alone.
But Anca needs more support, so more animals can be castrated.
Behind the waste disposal site is a free premise. A pregnant dog had build a burrow under a wall to give birth to her nine young. Anca regularly provided the small family with wet and dry food, trying to gain the mother dog's trust so she could touch and inspect her litter.
With such a high number of siblings, things are especially hard for the little ones. This day Anca noticed that the smallest one was too weak to eat. The small puppy was dying and all she could to was to bring him to a vet, where he was freed from his suffering.
The remaining eight are doing well and growing rapidly. Soon they'll be old enough to no longer need their mother and Anca will try to catch her to have her castrated. It's impossible to say what will happen to her young. If they end up becoming strays, they'll have to be castrated at the right moment . We're still looking for castration-patrons. (One castration costs around 30 Euro)
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Next stop is Ion, an older gentleman that cares for stray dogs and is offering them shelter, food and water.( We already introduced Ion in our last report.) Since Ion only has limited financial funds, Anca regularly supports him with two to three bags of food.
After this visit, we continue towards Anca's workplace, Trusesti's school On the way there is another feeding spot where hungry strays are waiting for Anca's return.
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Next stop: Trusesti's school.
During school holidays the premise is only open until midday. If strays are still on the premises when the gates are locked, they'll be locked in and unable to leave until the next morning.
Just like on this day.
Gipsy and her canine friend, a big and very friendly male dog, are already waiting for Anca behind the school's gate. Gipsy is beside her self from happiness when she spots Anca (as you can easily tell from the video). Both are very hungry and can't wait for their meal. But for Gispy her joy over seeing Anca and being cuddled is much bigger than her hunger.
Gipsy is a very friendly and people-oriented female dog. She loves to cuddle and enjoys being close to “her” human. It's painful to watch and hear how much she wants these things.
Click on this link to get to Gipsy's information page.
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Anca heard about a animal friendly lady named Jana. Only recently she had moved to Trusesti with her mother and is currently housing around 14 grown stray dogs on her property,
With her limited financial funds Jana is trying to provided for the stray cats and dogs as best as she can. But her money is just not enough to have them castrated or pay for medical costs. This is why Anca decided to pay her a visit and offer her help.
What she would find was not exactly as she had been told.
There were 14 grown stray dogs, but also several young dogs and puppies. Three mother dogs already had given birth to their in total 17 young. Jana told Anca that neighbours would, again and again, throw puppies or young dogs over her fence and that she has no idea how to feed all of them.
Anca promised Jana her help. First all grown up dogs were castrated. The three mother dogs are going to be castrated as soon as their litters are old enough, On top of that Anca supports Jana regularly with additional food.
But this isn't all.
Puppies have to be vaccinated and de-wormed, so they have a chance to survive.
Anca is also still trying to find new homes for the very people-oriented grown dogs and puppies.
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August 4th 2018
On this Saturday Anca was accompanied on her rounds through Trusesti by Regina Frie, Andrea Brückner-Schoeler und Anni Neuberger of the animal protection organisation “Pfotenhilfe ohne Grenzen e.V” ( in the course of their yearly visit at Ador).
Not only did they meet Gica and Gipsy and saw the hardships of Trusesti's stray dogs with their own eyes, they also witnessed just how hard the fight for survival is for puppies, that some are unable to win. One particular puppy could only be helped by easing his journey over the rainbow bridge with euthanasia.
Just like last year, Pfotenhilfe is helping with de-worming tablets and other medication against parasites. And there's more: Spontaneously the board members decided to cover the cost of ten additional castrations.
Together with Anca they also visited Jana and her stray dogs. Regina, Andrea and Anni, overwhelmed by the misery and promised their help in form covering the costs of de-worming medications for puppies, as well the vaccination of two litters (11 puppies in total).
Many warm thanks to Pfotenhilfe ohne Grenzen e.V. for
their generous support of Trusesti's stray dogs.
* You can enlarge many photos with one click
