What’s been happening at the shelter this summer?

Riley

It’s been a hot and busy summer at the shelter so far.

Riley & Lindy
In June Riley and her pup Lindy joined us at the shelter. Riley was found collapsed at the side of the road, terribly thin and trembling with fear. She let us put her in the car and take her back to the shelter. After her first night with us Riley began to look a lot brighter and they are both now doing really well.

One of Heidi’s pups

Heidi and her pups
We had been trying to befriend a forest dog (Heidi) for a long time, but she could never take the leap and trust us until one evening in June when she showed up at the gates with a big tummy.

That evening she gave birth to four pups, they are all thriving.

A forever home for Kula?
After a year in foster care we are still looking for a forever home for gorgeous Kula in the UK. He will make a wonderful and loyal companion for someone who is able to provide the time and patience he may need to settle into a new home. He really is a special boy, who deserves a family of his own. If you can offer this sweet boy a loving and experienced home, please go to our adoption page at: www.streetdogrescue.com/adopt or if you have any more questions, please email our UK Adoption Team at rsdrukadopt@gmail.com.

Kula

June update on registration
We have had word from officials that they require a more detailed plan and project of all the work to be done at the shelter, and this is being created by our builder and architect. Once this is completed it will be stamped by the municipality and we can submit the report to the other departments that require more detailed information, and then hopefully the registration inspection can go ahead.

While the shelter registration is ongoing all adoptions are on hold. If anyone wants to be approved for a “RSDR dog or cat”, they can still apply using an application form and with a phone interview/home check. Once adoptions resume they will be able to adopt if they have recevied approval, however we cannot guarantee how long it will take for adoptions to start up again. Because of this, we will not take any deposits, but approved people can still put their name down for a particular animal. We want to thank all our current adopters for your understanding and patience – we know you have waited a long time for your animal since February and it must be very frustrating. The registration process is completely out of our hands, we we can only continue one step at a time, so we completely understand if you were to cancel and will refund any adoption monies.

RSDR is already a registered foundation and are licensed to keep animals at the building, however we are not a registered shelter. During this process, RSDR will become the first “private” shelter to go through registering as a animal shelter in Bulgaria. This is why the registration is taking so long as a lot of the processes are being done for the first time. It will be a massive achievement once it has been accomplished, and we are getting so close to the end but we cannot give any timelines at the moment.

Olympia & Bear

Olympia being rescued

Liam got a phone call about a pup at the side of the road who couldn’t stand on her two front legs and was terribly dehydrated. Liam picked up little Olympia and brought her back to shelter. She went to Plovdiv vets for x-rays but luckily there were no breaks, although the vet believed a blow on the back of her neck had caused the problems with her front legs. We made sure she ate and drank well, massaged her shoulders and introduced her to little Bear who Tysan had rescued from a man killing pups in a nearby village. Olympia and Bear have become best friends, and Olympia is now moving around and using her legs beautifully, it is a joy to see.

 

Tysan with Bear

July update on registration
The architect and builder have been working diligently and have nearly finished the ‘project’ to create a detailed plan of all the work to be done at the shelter.

We have also now heard that the project will need to be submitted to the Electric and Water Board for approval. They have told us that this will then take approximately 2-3 weeks. After this, the plans will then go back to the Eco and Water Department in Smolian who will forward this and all other documents and training certificates to a department in Sofia. Hopefully we may then get a date for the inspection.

In other news, the builders made a bit of a mess of the upstairs floor when building the rooms, with plaster going everywhere. So we are waiting for them to fix this as the floor will need to be restained. The medical storage room has however been completed upstairs. We are holding off doing any major constructions with floors, walls and pens until we get feedback from the inspection.

Welcome to Dan

Dan with Smokie

We are delighted Dan has joined RSDR. Dan is from Manchester in the UK. Dan has been on holiday to Bulgaria and witnessed first hand the plight of the street dogs. He has come to us wanting to make a difference and help the street dogs and cats.

August update on registration
The architect has finished the project plans and they are now at the Eco office in the municipality. They will be at this office for a few days and then will be looked at in the Mayor’s office before going to the office in Sofia. Once in Sofia they will get in touch with the Health & Food Agency to arrange an inspection of the shelter. After the inspection they will make a decision about registration.

In other news, we ask people to please not dump animals at the shelter and please understand why we cannot take in any more dogs or cats. The RSDR shelter has been full since April 2017, and we have been told by officials not to take in any more animals until we receive shelter registration. RSDR cannot do any adoption transports until we receive registration, which means no animals are leaving the shelter but more animals are being left and taken in. We are receiving hundreds of phone calls and emails each week from all across Bulgaria to take in more dogs and cats and we have to say no to people. We cannot stress enough how full the shelter is and how overcrowded the pens are. It is not fair on the animals to bring in anymore and could be dangerous due to the lack of room, which may cause in-house fighting and less individual attention by shelter staff.

RSDR are still trying to help the animals in the area, and we are continuing to do our feeding runs for dogs and cats in different areas, so those animals are being fed. As we are so overcrowded, if you want to help take the pressure off funds by making a donation to our shelter during this time, please go to: http://www.streetdogrescue.com/donatehelp.htm. Or you might want to sign up for our sponsor program to help feed the animals at: http://www.streetdogrescue.com/sponsor. Please read about the shelter situation with updates at www.youcaring.com/saveourshelter. For those needing help with animals in Bulgaria if you email us at streetdogrescue@gmail.com we will send a list of other rescues in other areas in Bulgaria, that may be able to help.

Thank you so much to everyone for your support in fundraising and donating towards our shelter renovations. We still have a little way to go on our fundraiser, if you are able to help with supporting us, please go to: www.youcaring.com/saveourshelter to make a donation.