Harsh living conditions and kill shelters The suffering of ownerless dogs in Romania
Hundreds of thousands1 of free-roaming dogs live on the streets of Romania. The animals reproduce uncontrollably. Countless private individuals also play their part by letting their unneutered dogs roam freely. Together with the Tierhilfe Hoffnung, we have established a groundbreaking/pioneering pilot project in 2024 to break the cycle of uncontrolled reproduction.
The suffering of ownerless dogs in Romania is immeasurable: they are defencelessly exposed to life on the streets and urgently need help. Many of them are injured, sick and malnourished. This situation is also a bitter reality in other southern and eastern European countries.Instead of neutering and caring for the animals, they are frequently killed. So the animal suffering never ends.
Why are there so many stray dogs in Romania?
In Romania, dog owners are required to have their animals neutered, microchipped, registered and vaccinated against rabies. However, the reality is quite different: despite this obligation, most dogs are still not neutered by their owners and can therefore continue to reproduce. Nobody wants the puppies. They are abandoned or left behind.
Tragically, in 2013, the Romanian government introduced a law allowing stray dogs to be caught and killed after a two-week period. The captured dogs suffer a cruel and ultimately pointless ordeal until their death. This is because Romania's goal of reducing the number of stray dogs cannot be achieved nationwide in this way. When the places and food supplies that were previously occupied become vacant, they are taken over by other dogs – either by the remaining dogs or pets, or by dogs that migrate from the surrounding area.
A groundbreaking pilot project: Neuter and Educate
Countless ownerless dogs live in Romania - 185,000 in Argeș County alone. Many of them are injured, sick and malnourished.
We network with politicians and local veterinarians to improve the treatment of stray animals, such as here at a conference in Pitești.
The neutering and registration center is the first center of its kind in Romania that works according to an overall concept for stray dogs developed for the country by the German Animal Welfare Federation and Tierhilfe Hoffnung.
Matthias Schmidt (Chairman of Tierhilfe Hoffnung), Ana-Maria Voicu (Smeura shelter manager), Dr. Sorin Sorescu (D.S.V.S.A. Argeș), Anette Kramme (Parliamentary State Secretary & Member of the Bundestag) and Thomas Schröder (President of the German Animal Welfare Federation) attended the opening ceremony of the spay/neuter and registration center.
In order to reach as many people as possible, even in smaller towns, and to raise awareness of the importance of neutering, mobile vet clinic are also on the road.
In a programme on Romanian television, our colleagues Luca Secker and Henriette Mackensen report on our model project and explain why castrations are so important.
Although dog owners are threatened with heavy fines if they do not have their animals neutered, many do not comply - for example because they cannot afford the treatment. In fact, many animals have been abandoned since then.
This is precisely the problem we are tackling with the pilot project that we launched in 2024 together with our member association Tierhilfe Hoffnung: In cooperation with the national and regional veterinary authorities, we want to ensure that dog owners in the district of Argeș comply with their legal ownership obligations over the next five years. Authorised vets will monitor and ensure that dogs are identified, registered and vaccinated against rabies. Neutering, which is also mandatory, will be covered by Tierhilfe Hoffnung for dogs that have not yet been neutered. In order to be able to neuter up to 40,000 animals annually, Tierhilfe Hoffnung is relying on a new neutering and registration center built for the project in addition to its mobile vet clinic. It is the first center of its kind in Romania and an important step towards the implementation of our overall concept: kill shelters are to be converted into neutering centers and stray dogs and cats are to be neutered, vaccinated and then released back into their area of origin.2 This is the only way to solve the stray animal problem in a long-term, sustainable and animal welfare-friendly manner.
185000
Dogs live in the district of Argeș
85000
of which are ownerless dogs
34650
Animal welfare organisation Hoffnung has already neutered dogs in 2024.
Neutering is the key in the fight against the suffering and death of stray dogs. The aim must be to convert the more than 140 kill shelters in Romania into neutering and registration centers. This is the only way to get the dog population under control in a sustainable and animal-friendly manner.
Thomas Schröder
President of the German Animal Welfare Federation
We also talk to local officials and animal welfare organisations to improve the lives of street dogs in Romania. We regularly network with politicians, local veterinarians who, among other things, monitor compliance with mandatory neutering, and the mayors of the Argeș district to promote animal welfare-friendly dog population management. Another component of the project is animal welfare education, in which primary school pupils learn why neutering is so important, how to handle dogs properly and safely, and how to care for their own pets. We will evaluate the model project scientifically so that the national veterinary authorities can expand it nationwide as far as possible. To this end, we are training Smeura employees, among others, to document the number of stray dogs in the Argeș district and their state of health. We are also investigating the extent to which the population's attitude towards stray animals is changing.
Read the latest article from our magazine DU UND DAS TIER (YOU AND THE ANIMAL) for more information:
Our local partner Smeura animal shelter takes in stray animals
Our member organization Tierhilfe Hoffnung takes in stray dogs and cats in the Argeș region at the Smeura animal shelter. With around 6,000 dogs and up to 450 cats, the shelter is the largest in the world. The team provides the animals with medical care, it neuters and microchips them. As long as it is forbidden in Romania to release the animals after neutering and they are killed instead, Tierhilfe Hoffnung regularly transports dogs from the Smeura to German animal shelters in order to place them with families here. The association and the German Animal Welfare Federation have created an open shelter for ownerless dogs that cannot be rehomed for various reasons. Right next to the Smeura, it offers these animals a spacious home in a group with other dogs.
The German Animal Welfare Federation and Tierhilfe Hoffnung have been working together for years to help ownerless animals in Romania.
Together with Tierhilfe Hoffnung, we have set up an open shelter for stray dogs that can no longer be rehomed.
Together with Tierhilfe Hoffnung, we support neutering campaigns for stray animals.
The Smeura animal shelter run by Tierhilfe Hoffnung takes in numerous stray animals and is the largest animal shelter in the world.
Sick or injured animals are also cared for at Smeura. This puppy was found extremely weak and was given an infusion.
For example, Mary the dog was found near Brasov and spayed at Smeura.
How you can help
The German Animal Welfare Federation is committed to helping stray animals in need throughout Europe. We need your support so that we can help animals abroad in the long term.
Supporting animal welfare abroad
We are also committed to helping neglected and suffering animals in distant parts of Europe. Among other things, we help with neutering campaigns and the care of stray animals. Please support our fight against the suffering of stray animals with a donation.
Focus on animal protection on site instead of adoptions
The German Animal Welfare Federation considers the focus of animal welfare work abroad to be help on site. Dogs should only be imported to Germany in individual cases and only from countries where the “catch, neuter, release” principle cannot be legally implemented in order to ease the situation there, at least temporarily. In addition to Romania, this also applies to Hungary and Slovakia, for example.
However, if you are considering giving an animal from another country a home, it is important to look for a reputable animal welfare organization that focuses on providing local help.3 Animals may not enter the country via flight sponsorship and should not be handed over in parking lots. In the best case scenario, the animals are tested for so-called for vector-borne diseases before and after import and only placed via German animal shelters after quarantine and consultation.
Luca Secker is a scientist for human-animal interactions (M.Sc.) and a specialist for pets at the German Animal Welfare Federation. She is the project coordinator for our work in Ukraine and deals with the population management of stray dogs and cats.
Sandy Syperek is an editor at the German Animal Welfare Federation. She studied German and sociology. Her writing raises awareness of the needs and suffering of animals and gives them a voice. She wants to raise people's awareness of the fact that all animals long for a peaceful life.
