Project Report Albania February 2020
The birth of a new
project
Albania is still a white spot on the map of animal
welfare. There are a few associations and animal shelters indeed, but
sadly there still is a lot of pain and suffering. Stray dogs are
killed: shot, poisoned…
For some time now, Robin Hood has been
helping the Albanian association “Elbasan Rescue”. In
February, we visited them to meet the animal rights activists in
person and see their shelter.
One note beforehand of the project
report, this trip was not in vain.
Day 1:
Vera, her
daughter Otelia and her friend Marianna pick us up from the airport.
The welcome is warm, the weather springlike and mild and the sun is
shining. Our first stop: The veterinarian Vjola, she houses dogs,
that are adopted from as far as Italy. The dogs are transported there
by ship. Vjola wants to participate in our castration project, which
we are very happy about. Moreover, we also get to know Arjola, an
activist who also wants to join our cause.
There is no time for
long meetings, we immediately drive off to the mountains between
Tirana and Elbasan, where we feed stray dogs. Every day, Vera visits
stray dogs in a wide area around Elbasan to feed them. They know her,
come running at the car as soon as she pulls over and are happy that
we are here. Vera needs about 500 euros worth of dog food per month,
which is a lot of money in Albania. A 20kg bag costs 24 euros!
Moreover, the dogs in the shelter also want to eat, 150 hungry dogs
have to be fed there. Just before the sunset, we rush to the shelter.
It is a fairly big area, there even is a worker there every day. The
enclosures themselves are spacious, but you can see that fences and
kennels are in poor condition. We want to help in this regard. A few
dogs are even allowed to roam around freely. A few are on chains as
they are incompatible, but they are supposed to get their own
enclosures in the future.
Now it’s getting dark quickly and we
drive back to the centre of Elbasan, more precisely to the flat of
the Muslim Mimoza, a kind-hearted woman who lives there with her
mother. She offers her small apartment as an overnight accomodation.
My colleague Jakob and I share the living room, everything is
furnished and decorated lovingly. Three cats have found their new
home here, one of them with only three legs. Every morning at 04:00
a.m. Mimoza gets up and heads out to feed the stray dogs.
Day
2:
Early in the morning, we join Mimoza and feed the stray
dogs, meeting animal-loving people, something I had not expected
beforehand.
Next, we rush to one of Elbasan’s high schools, where
I am allowed to talk about the importance of animal welfare, our
project and about the fact that dogs are incredibly precious and
valuable friends. Even the local TV is present and films everything.
The students are interested, some even offering to help.
Without a
break, we continue to our meeting with the mayor, a young open-minded
man who doesn’t want to kill the stray dogs. I submit our
recommendations to him and am surprised about his modern views. For
example, people who adopt a dog should receive financial aid from the
local authorities to be able to afford dog food and also veterinary
costs. A novel concept that I hadn’t come across before. Moreover, he
wants us to train the vets so that all strays can be neutered well.
Together we plan the castration project in Elbasan. I hope that we
can actually put all the plans into practice.
It has been raining
all day and the warmth of the previous days has completely vanished.
Wet and freezing we meet up with the veterinarian of the public
shelter, which we are not allowed to enter… It was Friday evening,
it would no longer be possible…
The veterinarian is experienced,
can castrate and wants to work with us. He tells me, that all dogs
who end up in the shelter and aren’t adopted after 14 days get an ear
tag and are released again, of course, castrated. I can hardly
believe this and have my doubts, but even the animal rights activists
say that this is true. And correct, again and again, I see stray dogs
with yellow ear tags. Many EU-countries can learn a thing or two from
Albania in this regard… At least from Elbasan, in other parts, the
dogs are still killed.
Day 3:
The last day, or rather
the last few hours pass by quickly. Under bright sunshine, my
colleague Jakob and I join Vera on her dog feeding trip. And
afterwards, rush to Vera’s shelter. The farewell is approaching
rapidly… we already said goodbye to Mimoza and her mother in the
morning after leaving her flat. In these few days, not only the dogs
but also these animal-loving humans grew dear to our hearts. At the
airport, we say goodbye to Vera, her daughter and a friend of her.
Vera is crying… the woman who otherwise appears to be rather
unapproachable is moved to tears. It’s not easy for us to say goodbye
either. But we will be back for sure.
A new project is born, for
which we are going to do and give everything possible to help the
dogs in Albania.