This week  animal welfare activists from Sarajevo visited dog ‘shelters’ at Foča and Gorazde, about 100 + KM from Sarajevo.

One of the dogs saved during this trip is Lucia, a sweet dog, virtually starved and with a critically injured paw.

She was taken to King Pension in Sarajevo and today will be operated on to see if the paw can be saved. The cost of this operation is estimated at 225 euros (approximately 300 USD). The cost of her stay in King Pension (the best in Bosnia, the only one that is suitable to take care of such a thin and injured dog) is 120 euros (160 USD) per month. Funds are desperately needed to take care of her. If you can help please send donations via Paypal to donations@awabosnia.org – mark ‘for Lucia’. For more details. see the bottom of the page.

Gorazde “Shelter”

Gorazde shelter is situated in a small area in the middle of the woods, housing about 150 dogs. Dogs there are given terrible treatment. An employee told the activists that a vet comes once in a while and just randomly chooses dogs to be killed.

“What we saw there can’t be described with mere words but only feel, I was screaming,” said one of the activists. The dogs are stuffed into small, filthy cages and given dry bread to eat, nothing more.

Taking photos and walking around is prohibited by warning signs, all photos of the shelter were taken undercover, but only a few could be taken.
In the photographs taken you can only get some glimpses into the general condition for the dogs there. What is clear, is that the dogs in Gorazde are on death row. All of this is happening in disrespect of the current animal welfare law and, no doubt as with so many of the other shelters somebody is stealing money meant to help these dogs survive. “We saw one dog with broken legs… Worker said that they are waiting for the vet to put dog in sleep but I know how their “euthanasia” looks like.”

The activists managed to take out only two dogs, one of which they immediately found a good home for in Sarajevo, a purebred pug (which had many offers of a home outside of Bosnia too. Unfortunately the demand for purebred dogs is high everywhere, and yet there are so many beautiful mixed breeds desperately needing homes.)

This little girl below, called Mica, lived in a cage in Gorazde with 15 other dogs who wouldn’t allow her to eat or drink.
“She was shaking and practically begging us to save her…” said the activists. So they did. She is currently in foster home but will need either to find a long term home very soon or be put into pension (kennels). If you can help please contact us or perhaps you can make a donation towards her care.

On a soft bed at last……

Foča shelter

Activists said: “Even though we thought we will see horror there as there is no information about Foča shelter available it turned out to be heaven compared to Gorazde.”

“Scruff” at Foča shelter:

The man that worked at Foča shelter told them that they need all help possible and that they can’t manage to take care of the dogs adequately without assistance.

Currently there are 5 dogs there, and they are only fed white bread.

However, compared to other shelters and to Gorazde, this shelter is not so bad. Conditions are clean, but there is no adequate protection for the winter where temperatures can drop to well below freezing.

But the activists saw that the man working there really gives his best: “Dogs walk after him and listen to him well.” We started a Facebook page to help these five dogs: Saving the Dogs of Foča.

One of the dogs may have a home in Sarajevo, and the little one we call ‘Scruff’ might have a sponsor to take her out of the shelter and into a pension in Sarajevo.

But this lovely dog we call Alexia has an eye condition and might be going blind. We are trying to raise funds for a vet to give her an examination:Funds are needed to keep them fed on proper dog food and warm in the winter. Every trip to Foča shelter to deliver food etc costs about 50 euros (70 USD) in petrol, one 20 kg good quality food costs – 40 euros (55 USD), one 20 kg bag low quality costs 20 euros (30 USD). This will feed 5 dogs for about 10 days.

Little Scruff….

The trip to Foča and Gorazde shelter is part of a project to investigate and document contraventions of the animal welfare law in Bosnia, which requires that dogs are kept in good conditions in shelters and that only suffering dogs be ‘euthanised’. It is well known that dogs are routinely killed in shelters, regardless of health, and usually by extraordinarily inhumane methods: injections of bleach, clubbing and so on. The next session of the BiH Parliament will be held October 5th 2013 and at the session the issue about the animal welfare law in Bosnia will be heard. Examples of the law being violated are critically needed for presentation at the session. Please sign the petition on this post BOSNIA! IMPLEMENT HUMANE STRAY-DOG AND CAT POPULATION CONTROL AND TREATMENT.

Relevant articles from this blog:

Dog Shelters in Bosnia: A Complex Situation
Horror Camps for Animals in Bosnia
Concentration Camp for Man’s Best Friend
Concentration Camp for Man’s Best Friend PART TWO
Mass Graves Found Near Dog “Shelter”

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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.