Alina’s Shelter Fundraiser: Part 2
As we are sure you all know by now, Alina is an incredibly important part of OUR. She works tirelessly, day in and day out, to fight for animal welfare in a country that is far behind the times. Hundreds of dogs have been saved from the kill shelter, and moved via rescues into homes, all thanks to Alina stepping up to save them.
Unfortunately, her vital work is still at risk from the Romanian government. The DSV visited her on the 7th of November 2022 to inspect her property and came up with numerous changes to be made to become a fully registered shelter, and a timescale put on these, despite her dogs being better cared for than the registered kill shelter.
Since then, we have done a fundraiser on Crowdunder, raising over £20,000! That incredible amount has gone a long way towards the improvements, including rebuilding 11 pens and building 3 from scratch. These pens now comply with regulations, and will last for years being built of strong iron fencing.
Alina has been called to court numerous times to give evidence and fight her case, but this road is long from over. Each trip to court takes away hours from her precious time caring for dogs. With just her and her husband working with over 150 dogs, this time loss is devastating for them and the dogs in their care. Since she is fighting the case in court, with the last date being September 2024, the animal police can no longer make visits. However, we still need to get these changes done ASAP to ensure she can finally feel the benefits of being a legal shelter in Romania.
The final changes needed include a septic tank and drainage, completion of further pens and adding a safe area for the dogs to play outside of their pen environment.
Alina may be one of a few fosters we use, but we would love to achieve this for her, and the dogs in her care.
We have put so much work into this project that we cannot afford to fall at the final hurdle. Please help us.