![Catarina arrives at Center of Hope hospital]()
Catarina arrives at Center of Hope hospital
Greetings Wonderful Supporters of the Homeless Animals Hospital Program!
The work continues daily to change the fate of the most vulnerable.....the animals that have no chance for help without our intervention receive it when we receive donation support from great people like you.
Here are a couple recent desperate animals treated at Center of Hope hospital, Romania.
Tiny Catarina was found wandering along the side of a busy road. Able to fit in ones hand, abandoned in below frigid temperatures, and suffering from severe mange that covered most of her body. She only had a clump of hair along her back. A Good Samaritan brought her to Center of Hope. He had heard about our social program that helps injured and diseased animals and hoped we could treat her as he had no funds.
Catarina was welcomed into our program. Freezing and so itchy......but not anymore. She was given a nice calming warm bath and snuggled into a warm coat as the medication administered killed those awful mites she was infested with.
Now she is recooperating and playing with her new toys, far from the horrid existance she once knew. Once she is older she will be adopted in Holland with our adoption partner charity Stichting Le Woef.
Please view the youtube video of little Catalina at the hospital in our "links" section below.
Our next story is about a little one we named Bloom. Bloom was found abandoned by a rescuer whom we call "The Saint". We work closely with the Saint and he was on his way with another dog to Center of Hope hospital when he noticed a small white ball of fur on the side of the road. He quickly inticed her to go with him and brought her to the hospital.
Bloom was also suffering from frigid temperatures and mange. It boggles the mind how anyone could simply abandon puppies and kittens in freezing weather with no regard for their lives. Upon arrival, Bloom was given a nice warm soothing bath and put under treatment for mange. She was the star of the Center, until the following morning when it was discovered she had parvovirus, a sometimes deadly virus that puppies often succumb to.
She was immediately put in our parvo isolation unit and put on a drip to keep her alive. It's always so worrisome for the first few days.....
But as of the time of this update, Bloom is still alive and seems to be on the mend. Please keep her in your heart, she deserves to live and find a wonderful home in Holland as well.
Lastly, I have translated this article about the First Social Animal Hospital in Romania, funded under the Homeless Animal Hospital program. Romania Animal Rescue has worked in partnership with Dr. Aurelian Stefan since 2008. We are partners with his Romanian charity W.A.V.E., Romanian Animal Veterinary Emissaries.
Thanks to all of you for reading our report.
The article appeared in Haute Culture Magazine, Romania. The original untranslated article appears in the "links" section of this report.
English translation:
Aurelian Stefan has over 20 years of experience as a veterinarian. It wasn't enough for him to save animals, so he founded the Homeless Animal Hospital, the association that gives a chance to dogs and cats that need help.
Aurelian Stefan worked for a long time in the private sector. He often found himself thinking about the "patients"who needed help but didn't have the resources to get it. Trying to find a solution, Aurelian understood that he wanted to do something different from the few associations that were operating at that time in Romania and offered services to abandoned or sick animals.
Since all veterinary clinics operate in a private system, and the Romanian state did not get involved in this field, the veterinarian visualized a hospital for dogs and cats that would operate on the free market and that would help animals from a medical point of view, not that would only provide shelter.
Via a Facebook fundraising campaign in 2015, the hospital was a project of the World Animal Veterinary Emissaries charity, Romania.
Aurelian Stefan started the construction of the building with personal money and with a
fundraiser organized on Facebook (by the USA charity Romania Animal Rescue Inc.) In the first stage,
people donated money for 5000 bricks.
Then professional associations that were directly involved
in the construction of the building came to help, such as
Romania Animal Rescue, where Aurelian Stefan is the
Medical Director, who bought the necessary materials.
Today, Homeless Animal Hospital has a team of twenty
doctors, veterinary nurses and support staff, who together
have one goal: to help where no one helps and where the
need is urgent and critical.
A typical day for Dr. Aurelian at the Homeless Animal Hos-
pital begins at nine in the morning. First on the list are "pa-
tients" in critical condition.
“It is very difficult to watch all these animals struggle to
live. You do your best, but sometimes you have no choice
but to, effectively, grit your teeth and hope.”
Then the day continues with routine consultations, with
treatments and analyses, with meetings with the staff, but
also with many telephone dialogues with people who have
a sick animal and cannot afford to treat it.
He does not have a fixed time when he returns
home. There are cases that keep him at the hospital until
quite late, and when he feels tired, he runs home, because
he knows that there are always colleagues who stay.
“The veterinarians at Homeless Animals Hospital are passionate. It is hard to find people who are so involved in social work, and when you do find them, some of them find it very difficult to fit into a veterinary clinic in the open market.”
"An animal is a friend, not an object to be afforded"
Homeless Animal Hospital, located in Piteasca, a small town near Bucharest, offers animals orthopedic services, radiography, surgical operations, inhalation anesthesia, days in intensive care, and this year the first social CT for animals in Romania will be inaugurated.
The goal of the NGO founded by Aurelian Stefan is to give people more time to spend with their pets. For example, the doctor told me, some time ago he came across the case of an old woman alone, with a small pension, who had a dog that comforted her. They were the best of friends.
Then, as the years went by, the puppy got sick, and the woman couldn't afford the treatment. She found out about the Homeless Animal Hospital, where she hospitalized the puppy, and then, after treatment, the four-legged friend returned home and lived with his girlfriend for many more years.
Likewise, there are cases of larger families from the countryside, with low incomes, who depend on a pet. When the dog gets sick, the children are depressed and, more than that, the adults are left without a guardian of the household. Instead of losing the animal, they turn to the services offered by this veterinary hospital, which deals with providing help to "patients" starting from zero lei (Romanian money).
“At Homeless Animal Hospital we not only love animals, we consider them our equals. In our vocabulary the term “master” does no exist, only human, canine and feline companion.”
Projects that consider health and education
Aurelian Stefan told me that people in Romania do not perceive how many animals need help. In the countryside, in the twenty-first century, we still have cases of dogs being kept on chains, and then we still have to deal with illegal hunting, because of which domestic animals are also chained.
Moreover, also in the countryside, but not only, there are still cases of animal cruelty. The NGO fights not only to save them, but also to change mentalities and somehow decrease the rate of tortured animals.
“We are a piece in this mechanism and we know that through what we owe can change the world, even if some- times we talk about the one around us.”
Currently, in addition to the medical services offered at the hospital, Homeless Animal Hospital has several ongoing projects such as "Animal ABCs," "Veterinary Patrol," and "Education, Education, Education."
"ABC" stands for "Animal Birth Control." The act of sterilization of animals is the basis that ensures their health. In seven years, a canine couple can give birth to more than 60,000 puppies. Thus, their multiplication rate is much higher than the adoption rate and many puppies are at risk of being abandoned or even killed.
Through this project, Homeless Animal Hospital offers sterilization from 0 lei for dogs and cats that are at risk of uncontrolled reproduction. So far they have sterilized approximately 125,000 dogs and cats, most of them in Romania.
There is also the "Veterinary Patrol" program that has put into operation a mobile clinic that regularly goes to under-privileged areas in Romania and treats animals in need free of charge.
And the third ongoing project, perhaps the most important for doctor Aurelian Stefan, is "Education, education, education". It offers scholarships to doctors who want to help animals, but are just starting out. And also offers training to human companions. People who own a puppy or cat will not only have direct contact with doctors, but will also learn, step by step, how to properly care for their furry friend.
More than a vocation
In 2023, there was such an emotional case that still haunts Aurelian Stefan. It is about the puppy of a lady from
Braila. Overnight, it could no longer be lifted. He was eating, he was acting normal, but he was sitting like a turtle that fell on its back.
The lady had rescued him some time ago from a cemetery. After he arrived at the woman's dorm, the two
became inseparable. So, when she saw that the quadruped wouldn't get up, the woman panicked and called the Homeless Animal Hospital in desperation, because she couldn't afford any private clinic.
The dog arrived at Piteasca, and there an MRI and a CT scan were done. A cervical disc herniation was discov- ered. He had surgery, and after a week, the puppy was up as if he never had a problem.
“I remember how excited that woman was when she saw it. With tears in her eyes, she said that he no longer looks like the animal she had left, that he is so lively. Somehow I felt like a gave them six feet so they could enjoy a lot more time together.”
If their income is higher, they can treat their pet at the Homeless Animal Hospital as at any private veterinary clinic, and their money will stay in the association and be used later to treat other four-legged friends.
In closing.....
“I am so happy that, in addition to all the cured animals, we have transformed Piteasca, a forgotten town near Bucharest, into a veterinary campus."
![Catarina staying snuggly at Center of Hope]()
Catarina staying snuggly at Center of Hope
![Bloom is rescued from the road]()
Bloom is rescued from the road
![Bloom with the Saint following her bath]()
Bloom with the Saint following her bath
![Bloom under treatment for parvo]()
Bloom under treatment for parvo
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