Almost daily we read about dogs rescued from the streets by animal friends and placed in an enclosure which is run by dedicated people. We all take breaths of relief. Now the dogs will get protection and food, they will not be abused, killed, injured in traffic and go hungry. The people working in the shelters are trying to solve a chaotic situation in the best way. But, most of the shelters are already overcrowded, and the need for help is enormous.
Stress behaviors
Most dogs, however, experience a great stress in the enclosure: the noise level is high, the dogs have no possibility to escape, they face constant new strange dogs and people, the lack of stimulation is considerable. The staff have no resources to give all dogs human contact or walking them on a daily basis – if the dogs even ever are taken out. Pretty soon the dogs can develop behavior disorders; constant barking, licking or biting themselves frantically, becoming aggressive or depressed, developing fear and so on.In most enclosures, even in the best, the problems with “difficult” dogs are solved by separating them, either by putting them in a cage, chaining them or otherwise separating them from the others to prevent dog fights. In the kennels, dominant dogs themselves can define other dogs area of movement; timid, fearful dogs spend all day behind a doghouse in fear of the dominant dog. Dogs can live in this way for years.
Smaller organizations, groups or individuals who rescues dogs usually have no resources to prevent diseases by vaccinating all dogs. Diseases such as parvo can quickly take hold of the dogs that have to coexist in a small area and then lead to death, especially pups and old dogs.
A few fortunate dogs get adopted
All dogs in the different enclosures will not get adopted, there aren’t simply enough persons willing to open their homes for a former stray dog. Also, many dogs are not suited for a life with a family that lacks the expertise that is sometimes required. Thousands of rescued dogs will therefore spend the rest of their lives in a small enclosure, with all the stress that is involved. In addition, during the time it takes to read this article, hundreds of new puppies are born on the streets and they will have to be saved in order to survive. Everyone understands that the challenges are enormous.It is also becoming common nowadays that different shelters offer opportunities to sponsor a specific dog. A question arise if a sponsor dog, for which the shelter can get significant amounts of money, will be given the chance to be adopted on the same terms as other dogs? Or will it remain in the enclosure as long it brings donated money from its supporters?
Castration – the single most important aid
Strays Mayday knows that the situation, especially in Romania, is chaotic and that all animal lovers in the country are doing the best they can with the limited resources they have. However, we believe that everyone, including animal lovers in Romania, also need to invest in a plan so that new dogs won’t be needed to be taken care of in the future, by spay/neuter campaigns and educational programs. Otherwise, the problem will be the same in the following years to come. Nothing will have changed, upcoming millions of dogs are, in advance, doomed to a life in misery and to atrocities that we can not even imagine.Theoretically, a dog, through its offspring, can produce 67,000 new dogs in 6 years. In reality, many puppies die before reaching sexual maturity, so the real figure is perhaps “only” 10,000-20,000 new dogs. If we do not want to judge our best friend to be neglected, abused, having to fight for its survival, donations to spay/neutering campaigns is the single most important support we can give!
