I just started a fundraising campaign to rescue stray animals in Romania .
The current estimate of stray dogs in Romania is over two million.
Approximately 300,000 stray dogs roam the streets of the capital city, Bucharest.
They became homeless when former Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu tore down the equivalent of three Parisian districts in Bucharest to erect his homage to himself, The People’s Palace, the second largest building in the world.
The displaced Romanians were not able to bring their pets with them and had no choice but to abandon them on the streets.
The animals proliferated and gradually swamped the capital city.
After Romania's oppressive Communist regime was overthrown in late 1989, the country experienced a decade of economic instability and decline, led in part by anobsolete industrial base as well as a lack of structural reform.
For example, the average monthly salary in 1996 was only $110 USD.
Shelters and animal carein general do not register as a priority, and this attitude persists to this day.
City shelters are poorly run, under funded and neglected in a society that deals with greater concerns such as inflation, unemployment and rampant corruption.
Traian Basescu, Mayor of Bucharest at the time, initiated a large scale euthanasia program to reduce the population of stray dogs.
According to his Administrationfor Animal Control (ASA) he reduced the population from approximately 250,000 in 2000 to 25,000 in 2004.
The workers responsible for collecting the animals had a financial incentive to kill the dogs inhumanely.
Reports of dogs being strangled, beaten to death, or poisoned with strychnine were common place.
But the killings never succeeded in stopping the swelling dog population or any of the related issues associated with this impasse.
“I am elected by the people of Bucharest, not the dogs," Basescu said, scornfully dismissing the complaints of Western animal rights activists who were appalled by the mass killings.
Mr. Basescu is now the President of Romania.
Approximately 300,000 stray dogs roam the streets of the capital city, Bucharest.
They became homeless when former Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu tore down the equivalent of three Parisian districts in Bucharest to erect his homage to himself, The People’s Palace, the second largest building in the world.
The displaced Romanians were not able to bring their pets with them and had no choice but to abandon them on the streets.
The animals proliferated and gradually swamped the capital city.
After Romania's oppressive Communist regime was overthrown in late 1989, the country experienced a decade of economic instability and decline, led in part by anobsolete industrial base as well as a lack of structural reform.
For example, the average monthly salary in 1996 was only $110 USD.
Shelters and animal carein general do not register as a priority, and this attitude persists to this day.
City shelters are poorly run, under funded and neglected in a society that deals with greater concerns such as inflation, unemployment and rampant corruption.
Traian Basescu, Mayor of Bucharest at the time, initiated a large scale euthanasia program to reduce the population of stray dogs.
According to his Administrationfor Animal Control (ASA) he reduced the population from approximately 250,000 in 2000 to 25,000 in 2004.
The workers responsible for collecting the animals had a financial incentive to kill the dogs inhumanely.
Reports of dogs being strangled, beaten to death, or poisoned with strychnine were common place.
But the killings never succeeded in stopping the swelling dog population or any of the related issues associated with this impasse.
“I am elected by the people of Bucharest, not the dogs," Basescu said, scornfully dismissing the complaints of Western animal rights activists who were appalled by the mass killings.
Mr. Basescu is now the President of Romania.
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