Previous Campaigns and Projects: Brief Summary of our work in Romania

 

We found the Romanian people to be very friendly and keen to improve the welfare of their animals. We met with officials from the State Veterinary Service, final year veterinary students and a representative of German welfare group Animals' Angels who had researched conditions in livestock markets and border control posts. There are numerous individuals who look after strays, and a few foreign-run organisations that help out, but there is no national welfare organisation. This is where we see a need – an efficient group that can liaise with Government officials, farmers and ordinary members of the public alike.

 

Most Romanian farms are run in traditional fashion, with horses used for transport and ploughing.  Farm animals enjoy a free-range lifestyle and are happy and healthy, but livestock markets are primitive, often no more than a clearing in a forest, with no running water or feeding facilities. Staff are untrained in humane handling methods and slaughter is often done on the spot, with no pre-stunning. These traditional methods have been used for centuries and will take a long time to change – the challenge being, of course, to keep the free-range lifestyle.  Veterinary attention for working animals is also a major problem. In general, most working horses are in quite poor condition; we saw several suffering from malnutrition, while many had ill-fitting harnesses causing sores. At the end of their working lives, most horses are sold and transported hundreds of miles to Italy to be slaughtered for meat. Transport is poor, and falls far short of EU standards.

With Romania hoping to join the EU in 2007, the country is obliged to transpose all EU laws into its national law. However, the authorities acknowledge the enormous task of enforcing these laws in a country where over 30 per cent of the human population live below the poverty line. There is a genuine desire to reach EU standards, but Romania is not only one of the largest but also one of the poorest European countries; both animals and people are in need. The prospects and challenges are exciting; we believe the establishment of a national society that can work with both the SVS and the farming community will be very important for the practical improvement of animal welfare standards in Romania.

Their aims are to educate people about the proper treatment of animals, and to provide veterinary care for both domestic and wild animals, working closely with the authorities and national and international NGOs. Every town has a stray animal problem and dogs frequently become territorial and aggressive towards strangers. The problem is exacerbated by a cultural dislike of neutering animals, leading to unwanted litters of puppies and kittens. Although most farm animals live free-range, livestock markets (often no more than a clearing in a forest in rural areas), transport (sometimes just the boot of a car) and slaughterhouses have little, if any, hygiene or welfare provision. The animals (many of which are native animals captured in the wild) in zoos and circuses live miserable lives in cramped bare cages.

 

Much of the difficulty can be traced back to Romania’s complex political history. Monica explains the situation thus: ‘Mostly all their problems have their source in human minds. During the communist regime the Bolsheviks confiscated (nationalised) almost everything that people could get an income from (including animals). People started to hate the State that suppressed them and everything that belonged to it, including the animals. Their way of thinking towards the animals changed: from the animals they used to care for and who used to offer them milk, eggs, meat and working power to the animals that belonged to the suppressor. Now the animals live in heart-breaking conditions. The conditions of transportation are worse than you can imagine, and laws need to be enforced. The owners don’t know how to take proper care of their animals, basic education being absent.’  We set APAR up in an office in Bucharest, which was officially opened on World Animal Day,4 October 2005, when Government officials, academics from the Veterinary Faculty and journalists were invited to find out about the various projects being undertaken.

 

Inspired by the launch of APAR, a group of students from the Bucharest Veterinary Faculty undertook a project to give new life to the institute's three horses.  The project improved their quality of life dramatically while at the same time raised awareness of horse welfare issues.  The students were given permission to build two paddocks on the campus to give the horses fresh air, exercise and grazing.  They then broke them in with the intention of offering riding lessons for a small fee and then using the money to improve their welfare.