Spay and Neuters on Dogs/Cats in Bucharest

It has always been understood that the public shelters in Romania are notoriously bad for treating dogs like vermin. Succumbing to communicable diseases for which none are vaccinated, multiple pregnancies, starvation and bludgeoning to death have all been noted as a result of living in a public shelter.

However, this is not the end of the story as last weekend people across Romania came together to protest. The protest focused on the public shelter in Suraia where 15,000 dogs were killed. This is obviously not the first incident of its kind but it was the first time so many people (in their thousands!) have marched in solidarity against such horrors occurring.

“Thousands of people gathered in Bucharest yesterday. From all corners of Romania, they travelled to the capital to make their voices heard. The reason was the horror in the public shelter Suraia, where as many as 15,000 dogs have been killed. Slaughtered for no reason! The news about this has reached all over the country. Images and testimonies have caused deep outrage. People are tired of government supervised animals being abused and even tax money being used for it. The demonstrators demanded transparency, responsibility and most of all change. They want this to stop. That animals will no longer be treated as street garbage, but as living beings with rights.”(Stichting Le Woef, February 2026)

This is where animal lovers in Romania stand today, ASNI is proud to share this knowledge and know that education over the years is having a powerful positive effect on people’s care of their animals.

Now for the governmental authorities to be educated and make changes!

Links:

• http://www.animalsni.uk

Animal Spay and Neuter International became a charity in 2014, founded by Nancy Janes and borne out of Romania Animal Rescue, it is the UK branch of RAR.

History

During a hiking holiday in the Carpathian Mountains in Romania in 2001 Nancy Janes became increasingly aware of the sheer number of stray dogs on the streets, in the fields and mountains. She vowed to come back and do something about it when she went home and in 2003 founded the charity Romania Animal Rescue. Nancy focused on sterilizations as a way to combat the overpopulation of dogs and cats on the streets of Romania by holding mass spay and neuter campaigns she named “Spayathons”.

2008

Veterinary Surgeon Dr Aurelian Stefan joined forces with Nancy Janes having a common goal, to reduce the number of strays and to educate the general population on the importance of sterilization of their pets. Dr Stefan was trained in keyhole surgery in the USA which allows for mass spay campaigns to be carried out. He also had a vision of building a specially equipped Animal Hospital for all animals where spay campaigns could take place as well providing general veterinary care for the public’s pets. In 2016 The Center of Hope Animal Hospital was opened, with a specifically built spay and neuter wing following in 2022.

2025

To date Romania Animal Rescue and Animal Spay and Neuter International have spayed and neutered almost 150,000 animals since RAR’s inception. This has only been possible due to general public donations. Bucharest, on observation (no statistics exist as to how many strays remain in Romania) has very few if any strays now. The stray problems still exist in surrounding villages and towns but educating the general public is one of the main aims of both charities.

Links:

• ASNI Website
• The Center of Hope Veterinary Hospital
• Veterinary Training Camp Website