The Stray Dog In Romania - by Michael Bird

For the past two years I have been working as a journalist making a film about Romania’s problem with stray dogs. The east European nation has millions of the animals prowling the streets, hotels, car parks, blocks of flats and even the backyard of Parliament and along the corridors of a children’s hospital.

A UK national, for nearly a decade I have been a resident of the capital Bucharest, where the dogs are part of the fabric of the city. So together with a local production team, we felt it was necessary to record on film the phenomenon of a capital in the European Union still plagued by wild animals.

We talked to animal and social experts about this environmental disaster, chased dogs through the streets, talked to victims and were attacked by a pack of strays in an abandoned playground. Often I would hear extraordinary stories about animals and their relationship with Romanians, but few of these could be demonstrated for the camera. Some included the low-cost methods county councils used to kill them, such as injecting the dogs with vinegar or burying them alive in limestone. But there were incredible stories about the dogs, including how they could use the buses, trams and underground trains – one dog (now deceased) could slip under the barriers at the Metro station, negotiate the stairs and enter the train, moving between two different stations every day to a place where she could find food.

However these dogs were close to extinction at the beginning of the last decade. In Bucharest, the mayor decided to organize a mass-slaughter of the dogs. This move would have been simple in a time of Totalitarianism, where the people rarely took a public stance against the police. But in a time of a fresh democracy, where the public were exercised at attacking the forces of order, this would prove difficult to manage. Added to this was a huge problem that continues to undermine Romania’s development—the fact that a scary number of people in public service and business are on the take.

There was this one block in Bucharest where a dog lived. He was a fat and shabby mongrel who sat at the front entrance, eating leftovers thrown out of the windows by the residents. Fed many times a day by different families, he lived a content life, sunning himself outside in the summer and finding a home in the basement of the block during the freezing winter.

But, with the mayor’s decision, a city dog catcher visited the block with a mandate to catch and kill the animal. The fat creature put up little resistance as he was trapped inside a metal loop and taken to the city pound to receive a lethal injection. When one of the residents of the block—an elderly woman—realized he was gone, she visited the pound to plead with the dog catchers to let him go. They were intransigent until she reached in her pocket, pulled out her purse and produced a few notes—worth about ten dollars—to take him home. Within half an hour the dog was back in his usual position, waiting for his next meal.

Now the dog catcher figured he was on to a good deal. Once a month he would visit the block, threaten to take the animal away and the pensioner would have to muster a ten dollar bribe to keep the dog alive.

But one afternoon, the dog catcher found the woman was not at home. Instead another elderly pensioner who fed the dogs was sitting outside in her dressing gown, cuddling the filthy animal. He asked her for money and there was an argument, but soon she agreed to provide him ten bucks to leave empty-handed.

The dog catcher began to increase the regularity of his visits. He would come back every week at a different time and encounter a different person caring for the dog and solicit a payment. If they refused he would seize the animal, chuck him in the back of his van and lock him up in the pound. Someone from the block would have to come up with the cash to save the creature from the needle.

The dog catcher ended up pocketing around 100 dollars per month—close to the then average salary in Romania—for the job of threatening to kill one animal. If dog catchers were replicating this pattern across a city of two million people, with around a thousand blocks, each with their own resident dogs, there was scope for a 1.2 million-dollar-a-year black market. It’s possible that corruption saved thousands of vagabond canines.

This is a story I heard in many places across many cities in the country. Unfortunately on camera I could never catch someone taking or giving a bribe, but I thought this was a great example of how a society was failing in a surreal fashion—by doing nothing but sitting outside a block of flats, getting fat, wagging his tail and being friendly to anyone with a bag of bones, the stray dog in Romania had become a currency.

Source: http://www.loopletters.com/the-stray-dog-in-romania/

Please WATCH the DOCUMENTARY "Man's best friend", produced by Michael Bird, at:

http://vimeo.com/74578670

and please read also Michael's article "Ten reasons why Romania’s proposed mass-kill of millions of stray dogs won’t work and two reasons why it might" on our website, at:

http://www.romaniatourism.biz/#!mans-best-friends/c1edx

 

Corruption in Romania

Corruption is part of daily life in Romania, with almost half of Romanians admitting to paying bribes. It's almost become compulsory. "They no longer mention it, you know what's expected."

Some officials struggle against the rampant corruption but it often results in their dismissal. It's an ongoing battle between the politicians exploiting corruption and those fighting it. But following a push from Europe a number of high profile politicians have been charged, to the delight of Romanians. "People want to see convictions."

Almost everyone cheats or accepts cheating. Bribery is widespread. Indeed, it may be that Romanian society currently needs corrupt politicians in order to function, states an article written by 'European Voice'. An honest political elite working to reform society would lead to a collapse of the current system, since a significant number of leading business people, journalists, judges, teachers, academics, leaders of civic society and syndicates would have to be dismissed (and some imprisoned). The higher-educational degrees of many major politicians would have to be reviewed (and in many cases annulled).

On top of everything else, Ponta was proven to have lied about a master's degree and to have plagiarised much of his doctoral thesis. The accusation came from the camp of President Băsescu, who seems oddly unaware that himself exaggerated his own daughter academic credentials in 2009 when defending her nomination for a place in the European Parliament. (Some of Basescu's closest, and most powerful, allies are doctors in science without any peer-reviewed scientific publication.) Two of the ministers appointed by Ponta proved to have serious problems – one was dismissed as he plagiarised the other presented herself falsely as a graduate of a prestigious US university. Ponta resolved the issue by dismissing the governing body of the expert group that had accused him of plagiarism, claiming that it was staffed by Băsescu's supporters.

Most members of the political elite enter politics with a poor record: most of the older politicians were closely connected to the Communist Party before 1989; while most of the younger politicians have no experience of work beyond jobs that they received due to their political affiliations.

No political leader – Ponta, Antonescu, Băsescu and many others – can enjoy credibility in the eyes of the public when they inveigh against nepotism. Daciana Sârbu, Ponta's 36-year-old wife, had little on her curriculum vitae when she entered politics, but immediately became an adviser to the Năstase government – in which her father served as a minister. She is now a member of the European Parliament (and Vice-President of the European Parliament's Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals) – one of the best-paid jobs possible for a Romanian politician. So too is Adina-Ioana Vălean, Antonescu's wife.

The ascent of Băsescu's daughter Elena to a similar position in the European Parliament was appalling even by Romanian standards. In an incredibly short time, she moved from being a model to being leader of the PDL's youth wing and then to the European Parliament. (The job that Băsescu's other daughter, Ioana, has – as a notary – may to non-Romanians seem unlikely to raise suspicions, but in Romania being a notary is one of the best jobs and almost impossible to get without very good connections.)

In attacking politicians as corrupt, the media risk hypocrisy. Most advertising comes from the state or from companies connected, tightly or loosely, to politics. There is no truly independent media outlet in Romania and journalists are viewed as buyable.

The added documentary from 2008 by Journeyman Pictures is a MUST SEE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkNGvpTzLXk

Relating readings:

http://www.occupyforanimals.org/romania--organized-crime--stray-dog-business.html

http://www.occupyforanimals.org/romania---daciana-sarbu-a-head-with-two-faces---one-face-smiling-at-the-death-bringers-the-other-face-smiling-at-the-protectors.html

The invisible Rape of Romania - The Psychology of Violence

by Andrzej Szczepanek - Relating to others in terms of cultivating an emotive relation with other humans or animals is man's and animal's most basic psychological need.

In this way, a mother relates to her child, and the child to his or her mother. A pet owner relates to his pet and the pet emotively reciprocates. A gay person affectively relates to the other one. An animal emotively relates to an animal. A child relates to a pet and the pet, in its own way, determined by the species' psychological make-up, relates to the child.

Is it a universal truth? Yes, it is.

A human being has an inalienable and a natural right to relate emotively to other living beings, be it humans or animals and as, universally, this relation constitutes the foundation of man's sense of security and well-being as well as the sense of his identity and as the character of this affective relation is the same regardless of whether this relation exists between humans or humans and animals, any one who perpetrates the violence-related trauma resulting from the suppression of this natural right should be held accountable as the violation of this right causes psychosomatic suffering equivalent to the violation of personal rights and freedoms.

As long as animals rights are an abstract entity in no way related to the general question of human rights and the trauma of violence, especially state-fomented violence and oppression also understood as socioeconomic marginalization, the concept of human rights will be dangerously flawed and discriminatory because it does not protect the rights of those humans who develop a strong and lasting affective relation with emotively responsive animals. It will also mean that the law tolerates discrimination against other human beings, which makes the law dangerously inconsistent and it polarizes the society ultimately destroying the moral foundation of the law by the relativization of violence, suffering and the psychological trauma of the victim. Not only are the human victims of this legal prejudice and violence psychologically traumatized and sometimes physically abused.

They are deprived of the very right to seek compensation for the violation of their basic and natural right to enjoy and develop emotive relations with other emotively responsive beings.

Violence, in particular, institutionalized and legalized violence promoted by a terror state destroys such emotive relations, which is synonymous with the heightened levels of primeval anxiety and functional changes of the brain.

We need to affectively relate to other living and feeling beings for protection in exactly the same biologically determined manner as the very young child relates to its mother because the mother-the child emotive quality of this relation affects in a fundamental way the character of our prospective emotive relations as we grow older.

The loving relation that we cherish and cultivate is the foundation on which our well-being and the sense of security rests. It helps us to relate to other more distant members of the community and finally, it enables us to function as social beings.

Not long ago, child abuse was endemic because of child's alleged inferiority to adults. Not long ago, slavery was no to be challenged and it constituted one of the most infamous foundations of the world's economy. We are still enslaving humans who stand up in the defence of animal rights because we restrict their freedoms and do not protect them from violence.

In fact, the corrupt Romanian government executing the policy of animal mass extermination targets millions of sensitive people who are being socially marginalized and who are deprived of any legal or constitutional protection. The corrupt nature of such a deviant, murderous and criminal policy advocated by the state bureaucrats makes one believe that those who oppose violence are acting against the law and it is them who deserve condemnation.

In this sense, Romania is a corrupt country and those who keep silent on the question of human rights in Romania including global institutions allegedly promoting democracy are guilty of tolerating the evil, the frenzy of killings and the human rights as well as social crisis.

Yes, Romania is in the grip of a social crisis and the international community simply ignores it.

The traumatic consequences of the state terror, in their most dramatic form, may include depressive anxiety, affective disorders, psychosomatic disorders and finally symptoms of clinical depression.

That is why the question of violence and trauma should be made an absolute priority dominating the agenda of any responsible dialogue and social policy.

Evidently, this is not so, as the case of Romania and the wide-spread violence demonstrate. In this respect, human rights are being universally violated and humans are subject to psychological rape because we are not fully aware of the ultimately destructive character of the violence-related trauma. We need to redefine the concept of violence within the broad psychological, moral, social, legal and political context and urgently raise the issue of accountability. 

Read more, at: http://www.multipleimpact.net/the-invisible-rape-of-romania---the-psychology-of-violence.html

 

FIRE Mr Iulian Badescu. The Mayor of Ploiesti.

The Death Camp Mayor .

Resign Now. 

Badescu (born May 21, 1974, Cărbuneşti, Prahova , Romania ) is a Romanian politician, elected as a senator of Prahova in 2008 by the Liberal Democratic Party and in the meantime become a member of the Social Democratic Party . [1] He was elected when the College no. 2 senator constituency no. 31 Prahova (covering the city of Ploiesti , cities Plopeni and Slănic and municipalities in their area). PSD is deputy leader of the parliamentary group of the Social Liberal Union Senate and candidate for mayor by the municipality in local elections in June 2012. He can be found on Twitter here. 

Recently a message appeared on Facebook. This is what it said. 

**PLEASE READ**The mayor of Ploiesti has announced publicly that he hates animals and wants all strays killed as of 13th September, but a very trusted contact of mine has just confirmed that around 100 public shelter dogs were killed today! They have also taken her 5 strays we were trying to save!! Around 200 dogs were caught by the dog catchers in the are in the last 4 days!!! WELCOME TO ROMANIA 2013!!! [Source].

Previously a petition was signed by more than 2000 people. Visit the petition here. It is currently closed but will hopefully reopen so check back to it soon. This is the text. 

"No day passes by without horrible news about mass killings of stray dogs and cats in Romania. This time mass poisoning of dogs ( and other small animals ) has been reported in PLOIESTI - Prahova County - Romania...  

It has come to our attention that "squads" of dog catchers operate at night in many neighborhoods in Ploiesti, picking up dogs and possibly placing POISON....It seems OBVIOUS that the town hall of Ploiesti is NOT stranger to their activities, there for THIS TOWN MUST BE BOYCOTTED...and shamed in front of the entire world. 
The law enforcement agencies have been informed, YET the chances that the local Police will do everything in their power to find him and to prosecute him, are quite slim....so I guess we need to pressure them....because this is Romania and they take very very lightly these crimes... 

It also might be possible that ,at least some of local authorities KNOW what is going on and maybe THEY decided to "clean up " the streets in this MOST BARBARIC and despicable manner....Prahova County and its capital city PLOIESTI< are already NOTORIOUS for so many crimes against animals gone UNPUNISHED because way too many times the POLICE does not even bother to investigate and because way too many times, THOSE who are already known of committing crimes ( intentional killings of animals ) have "friends" in high places....

A local article accompanying the petition stated as follows :-

DOGS POISONED IN THE NORTH BUS STATION IN PLOIESTI

Scene nightmare, this morning, for several Ploiesti Nord living near the city bus station. Several dogs were found dead by employees of a car service in the area, most likely being poisoned.

People argue that quadrupeds who hang out in the area are vaccinated and sterilized and, moreover, are very gentle. Animal Protection Association representatives were informed by residents and, shortly after the shocking discovery, went to the palace administration. At present, they are waiting to enter the supbrepfectul Rodica Paraschiv because, they say, more than a week in several areas of the city were found dead dogs, quadruped sterilized and maintained by them. In addition, representatives of the Association for the Protection of Animals will later today submitted an application to Ploiesti City Hall requesting authorization to conduct a protest on the issue. See below for images of dogs poisoned in the North area of ​​the city.

The piece had distressing images of dogs who had been poisoned. Please review original photography here. Anyone with more information, please contact us. We are happy to receive anonymous tips from whistleblowers within the town. Also, photographic evidence will be welcome.