Stray Animals in Europe

Question

Visiting Bulgaria few days ago I was extremely disturbed by the situation of stray animals on the streets. I did some research and realised that there are not that many (if any) charities that fight for the cause of these animals. There are some in Romania and some in Greece but apart from that, Eastern and Middle Europe are abandoned by any organisations who could help them.
I would like to raise the awareness about the situation of stray dogs and cats. I have never in my life seen an animal who would be so scared of a human being, who instead of begging for food, would rather run away in fear of being tortured. These animals are walking the streets hungry and mutilated, and they are not spayed.
My ambition is to be able to raise money or food donations and travel regularly to these countries to feed the strays. Moreover, I would love to get some vets involved who would be able to spay the strays instead of killing them. Also, this is a place where you can help me find homes for the stray cats and dogs!

Since this is the first time I have ever took matter in my hands, I would really appreciate any tips and advice you can give me to make this work. Currently, I have a face book page but I'm also starting a society at my university. 
here is the link to the page:
https://www.facebook.com/strayaware

These animals are innocent and they have no choice but to live in the countries where they are treated like vermin. I believe ignoring the matter is not just inhuman. It's sick. Stop stray animals torture!

happycowgirl · Answer

Hi strayaware,
How wonderful of you! What a very noble cause. 

I understand what ur talking about. I've been to Romania and saw the stray dog situation there. I was told about the packs of dogs running the streets before I arrived, but until I saw it with my own eyes I didn't believe it. Coming from America where we just don't have this problem, I could never have imagined anything like it. When my plane was trying to land at the airport in Bucharest we had to circle back around b/c there were stray dogs on the runway. The Romanian resident I was staying with was a small woman and she carried a huge stick with her when she went walking in the streets of Bucharest. She used it to fend off the stray dogs, saying she was bitten once. I encountered solitary dogs to huge packs of stray dogs roaming the major thoroughfares of Romania's biggest cities to the small towns in Transylvania. Every dog was skin and bones. They'd approach me begging for food.  It was heartbreaking.

ahimsa32fa · Answer

Thanks for your comment.

It's better in the US, though we "euthanize" millions of "unwanted" dogs and cats every year.

And let's not forget the millions of animals that have been tortured for "research" in the US...

happycowgirl · Answer

strayaware, I forgot to say, in terms of helping the strays, it may not seem kind at first but feeding them is not helping them. Feeding them will encourage their population to grow. I would spend any money your organization receives on spaying and neutering. Have you heard of T-N-R? In the U.S., we have a Trap-Neuter-Return movement that is becoming very popular. It is used here for stray cats but could just as easily be used for stray dogs. (Perhaps for dogs it would be Catch-Neuter-Return.) Here is some info on it: http://www.alleycat.org/trap-neuter-return

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