Letter to the Mayor of Tecuci Mr Daniel Tuchel. November 2013 Concerns about the Tecuci Public Do"s.

. helter !or

I begin this letter by expressing my gratitude regarding your decision to not perform euthanasia on the stray dogs from our city. Both I and other animal lovers appreciate the responsible and humane way in which you chose to manage this problem, which, in other cities is solved and held under control successfully through intense neutering and castration campaigns and not euthanasia. I know you have many responsibilities, but I ask you to have the patience to read everything I wrote in this e-mail. Lately I didnt have the opportunity to discuss the situation of the shelter, which is why I chose to write you an e-mail. I hope you dont consider this letter an abuse on my side, on the contrary,my intention is to communicate with you and the institution you run in order to solve one of the main problems we all face, namely the management of stray dogs. o, as you know, the !nimal "rotection !ssociation #omita sought help from $omania !nimal $escue %oundation in the &. . and due to the involvement of these wonderful people, at #ecuci from 'ay ()*) until now, there have been over (+)) neutered dogs and cats, mostly privately owned, which, if not spayed, would have contributed significantly ,multiplying the number of stray dogs and cats on the streets. 'rs. ,ancy -anes, president of the foundation, still wants to support us every month with *)) free castrations. .ur goal is to castrate as /uickly and as many dogs with owners as possible, because the source of stray dogs is privately owned ones. Ideally, we would like to castrate in parallel with the shelters doctor. 0e finished school last year and has no experience, so I asked 'rs. -anes for help, to castrate the dogs from the public shelter too, because, until the doctor will be able to castrate1neuter himself, we are at risk of multiplying the number of puppies that are born in the shelter 2on one hand there are pregnant dogs brought in the shelters, and on the other hand in some cages there are unsterili3ed dogs living together, which is why we dont understand why the doctor has not the slightest intention to separate and castrate them4. In regard to the re/uest made to 's. ,ancy, the answer was 56 . 'oreover, 's. -anes said that she will donate a set 2or two, depending on donations4, surgical instruments, but only after he will make at least a week of intensive training to master the techni/ue and not to endanger the animals. 0onestly, I expected 7r. Leca to be more interested in doing this training especially as it does not cost anything, and the need to castrate at #ecuci is urgent. !lthough I asked him many times

when will he go to do the training, he never gave me a concrete answer, arguing that he had nowhere to stay8 $egarding the adoptions, starting with the following spring we want to work with you 2the local authority4 and in this sense to organi3e adoption fairs for the dogs in the shelters. #his way we will populari3e more intensely the adoption program and we hope to raise awareness and encourage people to get involved, to donate, and of course to adopt as many dogs as possible. 0owever, for this to happen, it is necessary to improve the welfare of animals to be adopted. ,obody will adopt a weak or sick dog. Both I and other volunteers, brought a few bags of food, some blankets,straws, and some cages for the dogs that have puppies but also the puppies that are currently in /uarantine. !ll of these are financially supported by donations coming from the volunteers or from other donations from abroad. I mentioned this to emphasi3e the desire of people to get involved and help these animals. .f course, this is less than needed, but I am convinced that having a good communication with the citi3ens, we will be able to help even more. I already see that peoples reaction is positive. But, for the time being, our resources are modest 2we operate only from donations4, we asked for help to another ,9. from wit3erland : tiftung fur #ierschut3 2%oundation for animal welfare4 whose president is 'rs. usy &t3inger, which also promised to help. oon she will send a truck with food and other things for the dogs in the public shelter. 'rs. &t3inger like all those involved : donors and supporters of the free castration program in #ecuci, are interested to know about the stray dogs situation 2the numbers of dogs that the authorities think are still left on the streets, shelter capacity, general living conditions in the shelters, your future plans regarding this issue4. !s a first response, at the time : immediately after the law which legali3ed euthanasia was passed, I informed them regarding your decision of not euthani3ing the stray dogs. #o be more precise, I translated and posted the article from #ecuceanul newspaper. #his post was seen by ;<(+ people until now. I can tell you, 'r. 'ayor, that many people from $omania but also from abroad, at least those on the social networks that have seen our posts, appreciate you and you are known as one of the first mayors in $omania who said ,. to euthanasia. #here are people from all over the world who know that the #ecuci 'ayor does not kill stray dogs, they want to help us and follow our efforts to manage this problem. !ll we have to do is to continue having this good collaboration that we had until now and to resolve this situation as /uickly as possible. !s the 6nglish say : time is money. I think you agree that its more efficient to castrate as /uickly and as many dogs as possible, than to let them multiply in peoples courtyards and ending up on the streets again, then having to spend extra money on them . I want to emphasi3e the importance of caring for these animals, to be able to give them more easily for adoption, and also the importance of a good communication between the local authorities who manage the problem, the community and, where available, the ,9.s.

&nfortunately, lately there have been several problems at the shelter, which, with a little goodwill from those responsible for ensuring decent living conditions for the animals, can be overcome and resolved. #his is why I say that there were problems. !fter two months of living in the shelter, most dogs are very weak, you can count their ribs. !dults and pups which were in good physical condition, some of the were even fat 2well fed but also because of castration4,when they were brought from the street, markets,etc, now look ama3ingly weak. ome of them show obvious clinical signs of illness, and yet they werent separated from the apparently healthy ones. =hen I asked the doctor why he isnt keeping them separated and why he isnt treating them, he told me that he has nowhere to keep them separated and doesnt have time for this. Is it possible that during the > hours he is there, doing veterinary work, to not have time to provide care for the shelter animals as otherwise re/uired by law? I will briefly tell you what I saw when I was there after the castration campaign from .ctober *st. I arrived at the shelter with @)k of food, *) kg for the puppies and +) kg for the adults. &nfortunately this is all I could manage to bring. =e arrived a little after ** !'. %irst, we fed all the puppies in /uarantine. #he vet. doctor who helped me share the food, told me that all the dogs ate at *) !'. #he moment I started giving them food, the puppies started to fight over it. #he strongest, even small as they are, only stopped biting the weaker ones after we entered the kennels and broke them up. -udging by how hungry they were, it was clear that they had not eaten enough 2this is if its true that they got something to eat at *) !'4, and hunger, as we all know causes nervousness or amplifies it. I gave the puppies the *) kg of food, with the highest protein percentage. #hat morning at least, they have eaten until they were full. I say this because the doctor himself told me he couldnt give them enough food, but didnt tell me why. "robably because he did not have too much food. !fter I fed the puppies I went to the adults. !t the first kennels there were acceptable conditions. #here the dogs with puppies were being kept. .f course, they were as hungry as the puppies in /uarantine, but tolerant with their offspring. I was shocked by their hunger and greed with which they swallowed the food, without chewing it. I asked myself but also the doctor how is it possible that after only an hour and a half after eating, those animals would eat so desperately. =e continued to divide the remaining food. Immediately I received confirmation of what I suspected it would happen : beatings in almost all the kennels, but I never thought I would see them fighting until they are full of blood or kill each other. In one of the kennels I found a dead dog. In the same kennel, the remaining dogs were biting each other for the food that they had not yet received. !t that time, 'r. 'ayor I wished you could have been there to see how hunger and fear lead to aggression and cause victims. In fact, I believe that people like you, and all those who dont know or refuse to acknowledge what is going on in the shelters, must see such views. I am sure that what you are reading now doesnt have the same impact, but I am sure that, with a little imagination you can get a pretty good idea of what the living conditions are there. 'ost of the dogs that were placed together with dominant dogs did not even dare to make a move. #hey Aust stood huddled in a corner, paraly3ed with fear.

6ating for them was out of the /uestion. #hose who had the courage to fight for a few grams of food, literally swallowed as fast as they could, before receiving the proper BcorrectionC : bites from the other D, + or even @ dogs. I dont know how long such beatings last. #he fact is that no one Aumped in to help the dog that was killed by the other dogs. 0is fur was full of blood in many places, proof of the multiple bites he had received. 0e was also very weak8 I wonder how many fight amongst each other and how many dead dogs the employees find when they come to clean the kennels. !fter seeing all of this, one thing is certain : these animals dont get enough food. #he clearest evidence is their appearance - you can clearly see how weak they are. #his is happening only after they are brought from the streets 2where they are better fed by humans4, and most are in a good physical condition. I dont know if at the time I am writing this the situation is the same or it has improved, remains to be seen, but certainly the food has been less than the minimum re/uired until last week when I told this to the doctor and deputy director. 0ere are two tables so you can get an idea of how much food a dog needs.

Both tables can be taken as a guide for properly feeding an adult dog, depending on its si3e. "uppies, depending on their age and weight, need a different daily ration adapted to the percentage of protein contained in its food. 0ere is a table with approximate ratios, which, of course, are divided per day, depending on the age of the puppy. %or example, a puppy aged between ( and @ months old should receive D-+ meals a day, between five months and one year D meals a day, and after *( months ( meals per day is recommended. .f course, the physical condition of the puppy needs to be taken into account. If malnourished, a greater care needs to be given both in terms of food /uality and /uantity.

I dont want to bore you with too much information of this kind, I Aust wanted to give you an idea, so you can reali3e what it means managing a dog shelter. ,obody was born knowing everything, but once we take the responsibility of working in a field, whatever it may be, we must inform ourselves regarding that activity and ensure optimal conditions for that activity. 'r. 'ayor, I know that the shelter has been open for about two months and that the employees dont have experience in this field. It is understandable. But what I do not understand are some issues I would like to talk to you about, along with the leadership and the doctor at the shelter and see what we can change at the shelter for the welfare of all the animals there. %irst, I and others have noticed that the employees dont clean the kennels every day, or at least not as it should be done and not everywhere, not for the adult dogs nor for the /uarantined puppies. econdly, the food is not sufficient. Like I said, everyone is fighting for food, and those who do not have the courage to fight, dont get to eat at all, they are greatly weakened and end up starving. !part from the stress caused by the fact that there are a lot of them in each kennel and in the shelter, they dont know each other so they fight for territory and females and eventually die. #his situation is abnormal and measures need to be taken in this regard. =e wanted to supplement the minimum of D@) g of food per day necessary for an average si3ed dog, but it seems that the animals dont even get those D@) grams per day, established by veterinarians and which is written on the bags of food and can be seen and consulted anytime. o I started to bring the supplements. !t first, I felt the staffs reluctance to accept this supplement for the weak dogs. I insisted and I explained that what they get is not enough, and that we can all see that most have lost weight since they were brought to the shelter, also many puppies died , but also adults. =e appreciate that lately the employees there are allowing us to bring additional food for the weak. !s you can see we appreciate any good change and openness to dialogue. !nother problem is disease control : diseases that animals are brought with in the shelter but also diseases that they get there..ne of the roles of the veterinarian is to separate the sick from

the healthy animals and treat them, and if the disease is incurable, the doctor must end their suffering euthani3ing the animal, euthanasia being a medical procedure through which the animal is killed without feeling pain, as re/uired by law. I thought that he doesnt have any medicine. =e offered to donate medicines. 0e said he has everything he needs, but that he doesnt have the time. I do not know what to think about this doctors motivation8. !nother issue needs to be mentioned again : I saw females in the same kennels with males that are not neutered1spayed, they are mating and they will give birth in a few months. !rent there enough dogs in this shelter that suffer? =hy allow these dogs to give birth in a shelter that has a veterinarian that is paid to sterili3e by law. =e all know why, but then why isnt the doctor not interested in doing the training, which he absolutely needs, that will allow him to castrate? Instead, he puts ear tags on all the dogs, although they are not neutered. I do not understand this. !nother problem is that when people adopt dogs that are not neutered, their puppies have a big chance of ending up on the streets. 0ow can we reduce the number of stray dogs if we dont castrate them? =hat reason could he have for putting that ear tag on the dogs if they are not neutered? #he ear tags must be put only on neutered dogs, to differentiate them from those that arent neutered yet. !lso, as a method for identifying the animal given for adoption, to control, prevent, and sanction abandonment the microchip is used. #he ear tags are used only for seeing the stray dogs that are neutered from a distance, on the street, to not be caught again. 'r. 'ayor, all these things are done with a purpose, not anyhow and I think here you can intervene to stop this discordance between what happens in the shelter and what needs to be done if we are people of good faith, and if you respect the law. 5ou can and please intervene in terms of providing care for the shelters dogs that need it. It is necessary, as a member of the 6&, to align ourselves, not Aust theoretical to the 6uropean laws that support life, animal welfare and a decent death for animals, but also to apply these rules and norms that otherwise the $omanian "arliament has already adopted. I am referring to the law E) of (+ th of march ())+ on the ratification of the 6uropean Fonvention for the protection of pet animals, signed in trasbourg on (Drd -une ())D. I dont think that at the level $omania is now, we can ignore these kind of issues related not only to responsibility and decency, but also humanity and morality. =e know your position on the problem of stray dogs from #ecuci and we appreciate it, but what worries us is the way in which it is managed by the other authorities that you manage, that are your subordinates. I dont want to include all those involved in this issue as responsible for the problems of the shelter, because I found understanding at the general manager of Gooland company, 'r. Iulian 'ocanu, with which we have a good collaboration and also with deputy director, 'r. #raian Furteanu, although he decided to restrict public access to the shelter from five days a week, 'onday to %riday between *) !' : *> "', as re/uired by law, to Aust ( days, =ednesday and %riday from *) !' to ( "'. I think it makes sense to facilitate as much access to citi3ens as possible to the shelter to be able to adopt. 'any get off from their Aobs after D : + "' and only then they can come, but they are not allowed because its passed ( "'. !s with 'r. #raian

Furteanu, at first I had a good collaboration with 7r. Fosmin Leca, but after I pointed out that he doesnt separate the sick dogs from the healthy ones, that he doesnt treat them, that the dead animals are left in the same kennels with the living ones, after I saw unsterili3ed dogs mating with each other, or dogs that gave birth in the shelter because he is not neutering them, and after I asked a few /uestions that obviously bother him and the staff at the shelter, he has changed his attitude, he is not opened anymore, doesnt accept our suggestions that are in accordance with the law. 'r. 'ayor, I am in my Drd year as a student at the veterinary medical school, and I am studying what every other veterinarian learnt, including 7r. Leca. !t the stage I am now, I do not understand how a veterinarian cant see what to do in a shelter 2sick animals that need caring, neutering,etc4 or maybe he cant organi3e his > hour program, depending on the priorities of that day. =e believe that the maAor problem is that both the deputy director and the veterinarian have problems coming from those who must clean and feed the animals. I think this is probably the main reason why the doctor does not have time to do his Aob. Its not normal that the doctor must clean the kennels and feed the animals, while there are animals that dont get medical care, because the doctor must do the caregivers Aob or because they do not want to work or they are slow. 6/ually unusual is the refusal of a caretaker or veterinary technician to remove a bleeding dog from the kennel to receive medical care by a medic specially brought there by a volunteer to euthani3e the dog. #he dog was bitten through the fence by another dog. 5ou know what was the reason for the refusal of the caretakers and the veterinary technician to remove the dog? .ne of them said the he fears being bitten, and the technician and others said that they are on lunch break and need to eat. Imagine such a scene, with blood gushing from that animal, the volunteer and the doctor asking the employees to take out the dog and their refusal because they are on lunch break. #his is incredibleH 6ventually 7r. Leca removed the dog. #he doctor has his own Aob to do, like all the employees, according to the Aob description. But perhaps when he sees that people dont clean, that the animals are not fed, that people barely even know what to do, he starts doing their Aob to help them. =hich is why this man has no time to do what he is supposed to do. ituations like this leaves me with a bitter taste and can not agree and accept that these people are being payed from our money, the taxpayers money, that they take their salary at the end of the month without being efficient and to defy common sense. 0ere I refer only to those who have to clean up and feed the animals. I dont have the slightest intention to give orders as others said. =e concluded that there isnt a manager : subordinate relationship, but sort of a friendship. =ell, no one says that you need to be stiff and very formal, but when the boss tell you to do this and you, as a subordinate say you dont feel like it8. Is this thing normal? =here is the common sense? #hese people are paid from our money, and we are assured that everything is ok there. =ell, all is not ok thereH o what do we do next? !gain, this was the case up until last week. I do not know if they changed something. I hope everything I brought to your attention now is a thing of the past and everything is normal now. I

honestly tell you that I would not want to be put into these kind of situations, to draw attention to the issues mentioned above, but when the situation demands it, especially as we are an animal welfare organi3ation, we take this ungrateful role to intervene. I think that the only thing needed is some willingness from both sides, to communicate and to find better solutions. I remember the discussion I had with you, 'r. 'ayor, before the local elections when you asked me how can this problem be resolved. I mentioned what the solution that gave the best results is, both on the short and long term, specifically that these animals must not be left unattended on public streets 2can be a danger for the citi3ens4, they must be kept in shelters, they must be cared for 2enough water, food, and medical care, surveillance4, they must be spayed1neutered and offered for adoption 2with a visiting program to allow as many people as possible to come visit the shelter after they finish work4. I was so happy that you gave us hope, that when you will be elected mayor, you will implement the measures we talked about together, agreeing that these are pertinent, legal and humane measures. o now we need to not only gather all the stray dogs, but also provide the necessary care and make sure they live a decent life in the shelter. I will repeat and I will insist on this issue until everything will be right. If local funds wont be sufficient, although you have ensured us that you will provide all the necessary things for everything to work as intended for this public service activity, then I think any outside help, either from citi3ens or from ,9.s, must be received and used whenever it exists. #he community in #ecuci wants to be involved in helping the local authority, for example #omita !nimal "rotection !ssociation with ,9.s abroad 2$!$ and tiftung fur #ierschut34, but also with citi3ens involved in free neutering, who support educational programs in schools, teaching the new generations about the responsibility they have towards cats or dogs, who donate food, medicine, blankets, cages, all of this to ensure a decent life for the animals in the shelter. !t the same time we reali3e that there arent infinite resources to support such a shelter or at least such a great number of dogs.! practical and effective way of reducing local expenditures for this problem and a humane alternative to euthanasia could be a local council decision to allow citi3ens to adopt a dog for each block of flats, the dog to stay locked in a pen, without being able to escape, neutered, to be fed and taken to the doctor whenever he needs to and one of the landlords to assume responsibility for him. #hus, every landlord association 2@)I J* vote4 can decide if it wants to adopt a dog from the public shelter and keep him locked up next to the building. !lso, if you allow state1private companies to adopt one or more dogs on their properties, assuming the same responsibilities, I think the danger that these animals would get out and bite people would be non existent. #here are plenty of solutions for this problem, we Aust have to choose the best one. In closing, 'r. 'ayor, we kindly ask you to help us with something8it seems citi3ens are not interested in castrating their dogs even if its for free. I think if we could populari3e some adds

with free neutering campaigns in local newspapers and on the radio, we could inform citi3ens easier and hopefully increase their interest to Aoin the castration campaigns. .ne last thing I want to ask you is that at the end of .ctober or early ,ovember when we will come to castrate again, to stay and talk to us for a few minutes, maybe along with other directors and the veterinarian. #hank you for your attention. 'ihaela $aducanu, "resident !sociatia pentru "rotectia !nimalelor #omita