Children and their Dogs Living in Garbage

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Sandra Jensen

Recently Jelena Paunović and other animal activists in Sarajevo went on their rounds to feed stray dogs. They came upon a very sad scene, in Jelena’s words:

“The whole world knows me as “Jelena who helps animals”. From time to time, there is someone who is “surprised” when I share a post to help people. “Oh my God you are helping people too…”

I am not sure if I am helping them, but as a human being, I can, if nothing else, share other’s people troubles and hope some assistance comes their way.

We visited a few places in the city today. We met new people and new animals. People are as miserable and hungry as their dogs are, but they don’t give up on each other. We visited one Gipsy quarter where we met 15 children who feed stray dogs and cats, in spite of the fact that they don’t have anything for themselves.

When we leaving them one girl said that her life wish is to have shoes. The day when we visited them it was raining heavily and the girl was walking barefooted over the garbage where she lives with her parents, brothers and sisters. Hungry dogs and cats were hopping around her, and I was ashamed to be a human being for having thought about the holes in my own sneakers. The girl was looking and me with a hope that I will, somehow, bring her shoes and she will never walk barefoot.

We left the place where they live as best friends, we promised them shoes, chocolate and food for the dogs and cats, but in fact we know we will have to beg good people to help us with this case. We all have shoes but these children every night sleep in a wet bed with dogs and cats they are taking care of.

And please, don’t tell me that they are “dirty Gypsies” and how much money beggars can earn per a day.

I only know that these children were wet, without shoes. In spite of the situation they live in, they were happy because we fed their pets. They hope they we will have chocolate for them next time. They also hope, we will bring some food for their dogs which are living same life as they live.”

Please note that food is desperately needed for feeding stray dogs and cats. 20 Euros a day (about 26 USD) will feed most of the strays visited by Jelena and the other volunteers we are in touch with.

Paypal Donations for the dogs and children in the post above via Andjeo Sarajevo at andjeosarajevo@gmail.com or through our group Animal Welfare Advocates for Bosnia at donations@awabosnia.org – please state for “Gypsy Quarter” and how you would like your money used.

If you live in the UK and can donate supplies for strays (food, veterinary supplies, blankets, collars, leashes, vitamins) or the children above, please send an email to Debbie Birch as we are now able to bring supplies over once a year via Alstrays pet transport and Debbie, who adopted a dog from Bosnia, has offered to co-ordinate.

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DONATIONS Funds are needed not only to help individual rescues and to help us keep safe the rescued dogs we are sponsoring but also to continue our advocacy work in Bosnia, uncovering the truth about what is happening there.

On our sister site, Animal Welfare Advocates for Bosnia, you can set up a monthly donation via PayPal, or if you want to make a one-off donation, please go to your PayPal account (or set one up, it’s very easy) and send the money to: donations@awabosnia.org as a ‘gift’. Click on the image below to be taken to PayPal’s home page.

Or if you want to use the customised PayPal form, click the link below. However, a transaction fee and a percentage (2- 5.4%) will be deducted by PayPal for any contribution made.

If you want your contribution to go to a specific dog or cause, please make a note in the PayPal comment box. If you wish to contribute via bank transfer or have other difficulties or questions, please go here.

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This site is dedicated to Vučko. Read his story and don’t let him have suffered and died in vain. Please help the stray dogs and cats in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The situation there is utterly dire, Vučko is but one amongst many horrifically abused animals. Go here to find out how to help them. Money is needed for food, medicine and foster housing. Even just one dollar or one euro will help.

Saving Jela’s Cats

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Sandra Jensen

This appeal is in memory of Tufftom…

Tufftom was a Bosnian street cat who lived in the rough streets of Sarajevo. He was injured and had a large wound on his neck. Like most strays in Bosnia — dogs or cats — he was subject to abuse and starvation and freezing to death in winter. Facebook activists from all around the world rallied around collecting donations, and local rescuers managed to catch him but sadly for Tufftom help came too late. He died before veterinary intervention could help. Another cat with a similar injury was also seen and a rescue was attempted, but sadly failed. The stray cats in Sarajevo are for the most part terrified of people and very difficult to catch.

We were unable to save Tufftom’s life, but we still have a chance to make a difference. It was decided to use the donations collected towards a large group of cats in desperate need.

Meet Jela, an 89 year old Bosnian lady who lives on a minimum pension and still takes care of a houseful of cats that she tries to keep safe from the streets. The money raised in Tufftom’s memory went towards food, medication against parasites and fleas, and to spay one of the female cats. But there is still much need.

When we first heard about Jela from Aldin Pašić and Edina Pašić, animal activists who run the Sarajevo based animal welfare and rescue organisation, Andjeo Sarajevo, Jela was taking care of 21 cats.

However Aldin and Edina adopted one kitten and its mother and were able to find homes for two other cats, so there are now 17 cats in her home.

Jela herself has absolutely no comforts in her apartment that she shares with the cats, but she still does her best to take care of all of them. These cats mean everything to her. She struggles financially to cover their bills: some of the cats need veterinary care, as several have severe eye infections that need treatment. All the cats need vaccinating against diseases.

One poor cat called Boxer has a particularly sad story. Boxer was beaten in the face by someone who hates cats. All but two teeth of Boxer’s are broken. He was one of the healthiest, fattest cats in Jela’s house, but now he is very thin. He needs good quality, high calorie food and vitamins to help him gain strength and health.

Boxer

Jela needs help. She needs help with feeding the cats, taking them to vet, caring for them in the cold winters of Sarajevo. Edina and Aldin try their best to help her to take care of the cats, but they need financial support.

So this is our chance to step out and help Jela take care of the cats she loves so dearly.

You can donate directly to Andjeo Sarajevo via Paypal: andjeosarajevo@gmail.com – PLEASE NOTE “FOR JELA AND HER CATS”, or donate via AWAB as detailed below. Again, please make sure you mark your donation “for Jela and her cats”.

The cats Jela has in her care right now are all sterilised – this is always a priority. But donations are needed for food, vaccinations and veterinary care for those cats who have eye infections. It costs 30 Euros to complete a vaccination protocol per cat (about $45 USD).

One month’s food for all cats is about 70 Euros (about $100 USD), perhaps little more to ensure high protein soft food for poor Boxer.

For ongoing information on Jela and her cats and information about what is needed, please visit the Facebook Page in memory of Tufftom.

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Or if you want to use the customised PayPal form, click the link below. However, a transaction fee and a percentage (2- 5.4%) will be deducted by PayPal for any contribution made.

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Saving Sacha

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Sandra Jensen

This beautiful dog, a stray on the streets of Sarajevo, was found in early July after being run over by a car. She was taken to a vet for a full examination.

Sacha’s front leg had multiple fractures and the wound was very infected. Unfortunately the only option was a high amputation. She recovered well from this and with donations was able to be kept off the streets in pension. However now there are no more funds to keep her there. We are looking to put her in foster care, but funds will be needed for her food, and her vaccinations and microchip.

Activists are trying to find her a permanent loving home, can you help? Sacha is very lively girl even though she is handicapped. While living on the streets she lived on people’s lunch leftovers so she is still more interested in potatoes then dog food! She has no issues with other dogs but she haven’t been tested with cats yet.

If you think you can sponsor this sweet dog, or help find her a home, please let us know: info@awabosnia.org. Donations can be sent as per the instructions below. Please make sure you mark it for ‘Sacha’ or send us an email.

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Sadly Sacha’s case is just one amongst thousands. Although Dogs Trust UK recently completed a spay-neuter project in Sarajevo of 3000 dogs (the original count was 11,000 strays), activists say they see more dogs on the streets than ever. Dogs are routinely abused, shot, used for bait in dog fights and worse.

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DONATIONS
Funds are needed not only to help individual rescues and to help us keep safe the rescued dogs we are sponsoring but also to continue our advocacy work in Bosnia, uncovering the truth about what is happening there.

Or if you want to use the customised PayPal form, click the link below. However, a transaction fee and a percentage (2- 5.4%) will be deducted by PayPal for any contribution made.

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Horror Dog Shelter in Bihać, Bosnia

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Sandra Jensen

On July 12th 2013, I was informed about another horrific situation for dogs in a ‘shelter’ in Gorjevac, Bihać, in the north-western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I made a post about the horrendous conditions of this shelter in the AWAB Facebook group and a number of people rallied around to contact IFAW, Four Paws and WVS.

This shelter was built in June 2012 on and near a landfill, offering space for 100 dogs in 30 pens with small wooden kennels. Conditions were reported as inhumane as soon as December, 2012.

There is no water (just a tank that freezes in winter and with no pressure in other seasons) and no electricity. Outside the pens, roughly 300 dogs roam freely. Since no food is provided for these free-roaming dogs, they survive by scavenging garbage from the landfill.

The dogs that live in the pens are given very little to eat, and meals often consist of just dry bread as food. We have also been informed that cannibalism has occurred among starving dogs. They are not sterilised and there is no vet on hand for any medical necessity.

On August 10, 2013 an animal activist in Bosnia informed us that family members who live and work in Germany visited Bihać shelter early this month:

“They carried a bag of dog food with them and some sausages. What they found at the shelter can be best described with word horror. The shelter was not attended. There were no workers there, the place looked abandoned by people, their assessment was that they saw around 150 dogs. The main shelter gate was open and many dogs roamed freely around. There were many dogs on landfill that is near the shelter that were going through garbage looking for food. They could not find and see any food or water for dogs at the shelter.

Many dogs were closed and locked in kennel houses, cages and they had no water or food inside, many looked emaciated and some were too weak to walk. They saw many dead puppies and corpses of dead dogs inside and outside the shelter. Fecal matter was all over the place… When they began to feed dogs, the dogs started to fight each other over food and the bag of food that they spilled on ground was devoured by hungry dogs within minutes, at that moment my cousin was already weeping and sobbing and her husband told her that it was good time for them to leave. He forgot to take pictures unfortunately, they remembered that they should have taken photos of the place when they were already at home. CONCLUSION IS: Nothing has changed at Bihać shelter since July 12.“

On August 6, 2013, volunteers from the local animal welfare organisation SPAS brought food and fresh water for the dogs in the shelter. The local TV station RTVBihac has a short report about it here.

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Articles:
December 5, 2012
Horor u azilu za pse u Bihaću / Horror shelter for dogs in Bihać (Serbo-Croatian)

Excerpt in English and two photographs from this article:

“…Today’s visit to asylum does not reveal a picture of a European city that humanely deals with the problem of stray dogs.

One look at the city and it is clear the society is not mature enough to be able to distinguish right from wrong.”

15 July 2013
Azil “smrti” u Bihaću (Foto+Video) / “Death”shelter of Bihac (Photo + Video) (Serbo-Croatian)

Another article about this ‘shelter’ was published on the Bosnian news portal krajina.ba, but is currently unavailable:

Donosimo “nove” fotografije: Ko je kriv za “Azil smrti” na Gorjevcu? / New” photos: Who is to blame for the “Shelter of death” on Gorjevcu? 17/07/2013
There is a web-cache version here (in Serbo Croatian)

However we managed to get a translation into English:

Well known Doctor Zekerijah Ika Alagić, better known by his nickname Doctor Mengele than by his real name, who is director for life of JP Veterinary Station Bihać (“JP Veterinarska stanica Bihać”) and founder of private company “Veterinar” is the person most responsible for creation of the dog shelter in Gorjevac, Bihać. He was the man who had the idea to build it there. The idea arose so that the director for life, under auspices of his brother (politician) Mahmut Alagic, could strengthen his private business and sales of Eukanuba dog food that he is the main distributor and importer of for the whole Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Zekerijah Alagic has been director of the JP veterinary station for over 20 years where he just renewed his mandate for another 4 years, 20 years have not been enough for him.

The shelter Gorjevac was built without any consent, without construction plan and it was located on an area that is source of contagious diseases for both dogs and people (landfill).

You can see it on the photos for yourself.

Gorjevac shelter was supposed to be funded and built with 65,000.00 BAM (32,500.00 €), we ask openly, does what you see on the photos cost 65,000.00 BAM?

The Gorjevac death camp was built on top of a mass grave where euthanized animals were buried: domestic animals that were sick …

According to information we obtained, Cantonal veterinary, sanitary and construction inspections know about the problems at the location but nothing has been done about it. Cantonal prosecutor has received documented reports about criminal actions of Zekerijah Alagić and his abuse of dogs at Gorjevo. The reports are getting moldy in drawers of the prosecutors.
Meanwhile things got worse in Gorjevo, cannibalism has occurred among dogs because dogs are kept there without food and water and because hygiene and sanitary conditions are catastrophic, the photos taken in Gorjevo death camp can clearly confirm it.

Doctor Mengele did everything for his personal gain, he did it to make quick profit. He claims that each dog at the Gorjevac shelter eats 3.5 BAM worth of dog food every day (1.75 Euros). If there are 100 dogs at the shelter you can easily calculate how much it altogether costs.

There is more: JP Veterinary Station has ordered dog food from Private firm VETERINAR and invoices were sent to Bihac City Hall. (All invoices /bills available to internet portal editors, this means that Doctor Mengele was buying food for the shelter from his own company. )

It’s evident that a few people defy the laws and the authorities do nothing about it.

Is trade in politics, that Alagić brothers are brokers of, worth more than someone’s life? It seems so, because Doctor Mengele remains inviolable veterinary ruler of lives of innocent dogs that pay the highest price with their lives.

Petitions
Stop the inhumane treatment of the animals at the dog shelter in Bihać
Tell the Municipality of Bihać, Bosnia & Herzegovina to stop killing stray dogs and cats

Animal welfare organization in Bihać: SPAS
Facebook Group
Facebook Page (English)
President of SPAS, Rosic Senad

HRESA “SHELTER”:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

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DONATIONS
Funds are needed not only to help individual rescues and to help us keep safe the rescued dogs we are sponsoring but also to continue our advocacy work in Bosnia, uncovering the truth about what is happening there.

Or if you want to use the customised PayPal form, click the link below. However, a transaction fee and a percentage (2- 5.4%) will be deducted by PayPal for any contribution made.

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Can You Help Lovely Lady Find Her Forever Home?

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Sandra Jensen

This beautiful girl was rescued from the streets of Bosnia. She was one of the 15 rescue dogs our group, AWAB, brought out of the country in June to their forever or foster homes in the UK, Germany and Norway.

Lady is about one year old and is fostered in Dorset. She is now looking for her forever home. She’s spayed, vaccinated and has a real zest for life! She’s good with dogs, cats, hens and children. She has a lovely loyal, gentle and calm nature and loves the opportunity for playtime. She particularly loves a tennis ball and Hide and Seek/Peekaboo.

Lady adjusted well and quickly into family life, and her health is excellent. She’s put on weight and strength, which she needed – nearly all the rescues were underweight and lacked muscle strength. Her few patches of demodex have gone, her fur growing in beautifully thick where it was once patchy.

You can watch Lady here, romping through the lovely Dorset countryside with her foster family:

Lady’s story: she was found last year as a young puppy with her sisters in Sarajevo, one of thousands of strays. She and her siblings were rescued by animal welfare activists and put into pension (a kind of kennel). Donations from all over the world came in to keep them fed and safe. Unfortunately there was an outbreak of canine parvovirus in the city and five dogs out of thirteen died. It was a terrible time. But Lady survived.

Because of her lowered immune system, she caught a mild case of demodex which is a non-contagious illness that is very common in strays, a result of malnutrition, illness and stress. But Lady was always a sweet, friendly dog, in spite of spending most of her young life in a dog pen and having limited interaction with people. You can see from the photograph slide-show below how she’s changed, and quite radically since she arrived in the United Kingdom barely a few weeks ago.

Lady would make anyone a fabulous pet. Please contact AWAB if you think you might be the right forever home for her, or if you have any questions: info@awabosnia.org.

Photographs of Lady in both Sarajevo and Dorset:

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DONATIONS
Funds are needed not only to help individual rescues and to help us keep safe the rescued dogs we are sponsoring and finding homes for, but also to continue our advocacy work in Bosnia, uncovering the truth about what is happening there.

Or if you want to use the customised PayPal form, click the link below. However, a transaction fee and a percentage (2- 5.4%) will be deducted by PayPal for any contribution made.

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IN MEMORY OF VUČKO

raising awareness and funds to stop animal suffering in Sarajevo and Bosnia-Herzegovina

Monthly Archives: August 2013

Children and their Dogs Living in Garbage

Saving Jela’s Cats

Saving Sacha

Horror Dog Shelter in Bihać, Bosnia

Can You Help Lovely Lady Find Her Forever Home?