HAPPY SPRING, dear friends! Winter is now officialy over and with it, 29 dogs and 6 cats have flown north to a happy life with new people in Holland and Germany. Our sincere thanks to the kind people at Tierhilfe Sofia and Ovidefarm for this amazing spring present!

To our huge joy, this is yet another transport that sends animals from that exact Unwanted Category. 29 doggies and 6 cats who would have otherwise had little or no chance of being rehomed here in Bulgaria. We are very grateful to our friend in Germany – Martina for arranging these miracles! SO here are a few words about our new Germans:

The shelter will never be the same without the everlasting kind presence of the three noble ladies – Momma Cow or Krali; Miss Daisy AKA Puhla; and her majesty Shazzy.

Krali has been with us for 2 years now. But two yeras in a cage are not something that would let Krali down – she has always been smiling and showing her lovely friendly temperament and good heart.

Puhla came to Bogrov in August 2010. One of her puppies was a star in the 2011 calendar and of course – it was adopted. A second of her pups – sweet Bear went to Germany with our previous transport. And there is still one sweetheart waiting for love at the shelter.
Puhla was “scary” to prospective adoptive parents on account of her huge size and loud bark that couls startle anyone. But she became a totally different dog the moment you put a lead on her – a friendly, funny, playful bearling.

Shazzy… Aaah, what a story! Shazzy comes from the municipal dog pound in Seslavtzi – she was deemed “agressive” because she had replied to just one of many beatings. She was so badly beaten that she lost one of her clever blue eyes and stopped to trust himans. It took keeper Vessy Kosturska many months of specail care to build a trustworthy relationship with Shazzy and begin teaching her that life could be good after all. It has been 3 years of waiting for Shazzy. Now she is finally going home!

Two fostered puppies also went to Germany – little Toshko and miss Pumba. Toshko is a boy of the most amazing graffiti color. Pumba was first deemed a clever boy by her foster mom, it was only afterward that a kind doctor poined out the obvious lack of a penis and Pumba had to quickly transform into a sweet little princess.

Here are also Ava, Nia and Timber – three dogs fostered by our doctor Marieta Stankova. All three of them are young and desperate and were rescued from near-death situations on the streets of Sofia. Well, only good things are to come for them, that is sure!

This here sweet lady is Siva. She has been with us for a looong time. She came in with her siblings – five puppies, only 3-4 months old, but already neutered in the most dispeakable way at the municipal shelter of Seslavtzi. They were all bones, neutered by a butcher and minutes away from death when we came accross them. Unfortunately they do not seem very attractive to the people who come looking for a dog – Sivka is only the second one to go home, there are still 3 sweethearts in waiting.

Mishi is the favourite shelter dog of Vessy Kosturska. She had taken her in and was thinking about adopting her, but chose to send her to a happy life abroad and thus be able to offer a foster home to another dog in need.

Woli has lived in Bogrov for about a year or a bit more. She was hit by a car when we found her – her recovery was long and our doctors really did their best to help her get back on her feet. She recovered completely and showed herself as a very friendly, energetic little lady. We are so glad she will find love!

There are also 3 dogs from Seslavtzi that we managed to send with this transport. And 4 puppies that we don’t have a photo of. But if you are wandering wich puppies left – it is the ones from the litter of 7 from the big quarantine – the 2 black girls and 2 grey boys.

Also, Germany welcomes 6 unwanted kitties from the streets of Sofia. 5 ladies and one gentleman – all from foster homes, really lovely kitties. The two sisters Leda and Severina, the tiny Cookie, the beautiful Missy, the amazing Peppy and the one and only “kitler” Michael! It is so difficult to find a home to an adult cat in Bulgaria – we are SO happy that they will no longer face and uncertain future!

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ALSO! We had 10 puppies go to our friends in Holland – Ovidefarm. By the way – 9 of them are already with their people, only Pandora remains at the farm – she is far too funny to give away immediately, what a funny little pup! Here they are – soooo lucky:

Here are the 9 unwanted mice who found their happy new life in the land of tulips. All of them have one thing in common – their mothers were owned by totall idiots – the peple who hrew them out on the streets of Sofia.

And Pandora. The above is especially true for her. She may look to you like a boxer pup, but she is infact the baby of a French Bulldog who became pregnant from a stray dog. Whilst her siblings that looked like typical bulldog puppies were sold, she was dumped by the garbage bin, because she “made them look bad”. Not that she cares! She has an amazing temperament – so lively, so energetic, so enthusiastic and full of joy!

Well, that is it. Our thanks to all foster families, a big WELL DONE for drivers Peter and Valko for bringing them safe and sound.
Spring has come and this is a great way to celebrate the end of this hateful, cold, miserable winter! Time for sunny days at the Bogrov shelter!

A large part of our work as an Animal Wellfare Organizaion is to be involved in the making of animal-related legislation. Besides the local municipal legislation there are national regulations – most in the Animal Protection Act.

So what is this Regulation 41 and why is it so important? Many people are wandering – what’s all this noise about? But it is very importnat, because it is a Regulation for the requirements to facilities where pets are being kept, bred, sold – pet shops, pet hotels, shelters, kennels and etc.

Until now Regulation 41 had reqirements of the Central-European type. A building with small outside yards where small groups or single animals are kept. Today, under the pressure of the local athorities the Ministry of Agriculture is pushing forward some changes. The most important among those are:

• placing dog houses out in the open is small fenced yards;
• keeping up to 15 dogs in yards as small as 45 square meters – 3 m2 per dog.

These are the living conditions of dogs in municipal shelters accross the country today – images from Dimitrovgrad, Stara Zagora and Pleven
Whilst we support and understand the need of allowing municipalities to keep dogs in fenced yards outside, we are shocked and very worried by the idea of stuffing so many dogs in such small enclosures. We beleive this will lead to constant fights and deaths in the shelters as dogs are not meant to live in so crowded conditions.

We sent our position to the Ministry of Agriculture upon request. Not only ours, but many other organizations as well. How surprised were we to find that there will be a working group formed to work on these changes – and we were not invited.

This is worring for a number of reasons, the first one being the fact that Animal Rescue Sofia runs Bulgaria’s biggest shelter and has been working well with the Ministry of Agriculture. It came as quite a shock to hear that the other organization keeping 3 shelters in Bulgaria – the DBT was also not invited to the group. But then – who is???

These are supposed to be normal living conditions for a dog in 21 centry Europe, according to the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture

The most vital change that is being pushed quietly in Regulation 41 is the private space of any kept dog in shelters. Till now the regulation stated there will be no less than 5,1 sqare meters per animal. Now the Ministry of Agriculture is quietly changing even this insufficient space to 3 sqare meters.

This is very disturbing and will create an opportunity for real death camps to spring up all over our country. We hope the Ministry of Agriculture will not ignore the voice of expertise and experience and condem hundreds and thousands of dogs to a life of agony in overcrouded and hostile prisons.

The resources are available in Bulgarian only:
Regulation 41 as it is
Changes suggested by the Ministry of Agriculture
Our statement on the changes proposed
Our letter suggesting memberd of our organization to be invited to the working group
The letter sent by Fier Pfoten Bulgaria in outrage of the secretive methods of the Ministry

Please, stay informed on this matter as we may need your help to prevent a genocide from happening. Thank you!

Our first Charity Bazaar took place last weekend at Vitru furnishing studio and was very successful!

Thank you for coming, dear ladies, thank you for supporting our work!

1553 BGN for the dogs of the Bogrov shelter were collected:

We sincerely thank the people who made this possible:

• The ladies who donated lovely stuff for sale;
• The ladies who came anf got this stuff, making a donation;
• Our hostess Anelia and her helpers Maria Dicheva and Pavlina Samokovlieva!

We are much in debt to everyone for mistakigly writing a wrong address on the invitation. Hope you will forgive us, we cross-checked it so many times, but nobody saw the mistake. We owe you a drink!

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Dear friends,

you are warmly invited to our women’s day Charity Bazzar!
It is a continuation of our previous very succesfull “Pay it forward” bazaars and will take place at VIRTU furnishing studio.

Hundreds of wonderful things are waiting for your attention – from pendants, through watches and scarves, to books, pet gear and much more!
Every item at the Charity Bazaar was donated by Animal Rescue Sofia supporters and are brand new or sligtly used – all in perfect condition.

This will be an all-ladies event – our friend and hostess Anelia will be waiting for you armed with warm tea, coffee and sweet cookies!
The Bazaar will be open for two days from 11 to 17. All you need to do is stop by, have a nice cup of coffee and pick up something you like.

ALL profits go solely to the animals. By getting something from the bazaar – you will be helping 500 dogs at the Bogrov shelter.

March 10 and 11 – Saturday & Sunday

11 – 17 o’clock

VIRTU – 113 Gotze Delchev blvd

YOU ARE VERY WELCOME!

SIGN IN AS A GUEST ON FACEBOOK

SEE YOU AT VIRTU NEXT WEEKEND!

Animal Rescue Sofia is a social partner at the INTRO! FESTIVAL!
Find them on Facebook. Tickets now available on Eventim.

What a great week it has been with adoptions at Bogrov!
Not only did we rehome many dogs in Bulgaria, we also had a most wonderful transport to Germany, sending 15 unwanted sweethearts to a new destiny – a life with people who would value and cherish them till their last breath.

We must begin with Batta – a lady who was shot in the chest to be killed and had to have her leg amputated. Thanks to your generous support Batta recovered and learnt to live on 3 legs. She wasn’t friendly with everyone so we were quite worried about her rehoming. So as you can imagine we are very, very excited to know she will be well taken care of in her new German home.

A current photo of Batta and one from her worst days 4 months ago when we took her in

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Katty and Kayla are two girls who would have hardly had any other chance of happiness. Both sweet, kind, loving, but also very plane-looking, noone ever showed any interest in having any of them. We are very pleased the girls will go to a place where they will be special and deeply loved.

Must sound very strange to you, but these two puppies were dumped at the shelter by no other than employees of the municipal company “Ecobalance”. We were shocked at the site, but there it was, a carton of unwanted pups on our hands, no quarantine room for them, nowhere to place them… hese two sweethearts were lucky, that’s all we can say.

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Normally our staff doesn’t pick up animals off the street unless they are injured or for neutering. We are always overflowing with dogs and cats at the shelter and people spend many hours yelling at us why we aren’t picking up each and every animal in need… So, you understand why we are so keen on taking in as many dogs from the public as possible.

So you can imagine what Twitch looked like to be picked up by them… The poor guy was a tiny puppy with skin-illness, all boney and with big scabs all over his body. He was looking like he is just about to die there – sad and miserable. Thats how he came to Bogrov and got the name Twich. Today he is a shiny, furry happy-go-lucky kind of guy. He will be a great pet to the people who chose him.

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Ember is a wonderful girl whom we’ve had since she was a tiny baby. Truly a sweetheart she was not noticed because of her simple looks and remained to be the last of her litter to be rehomed after so many months at the shelter. Congratulations, Ember! You so deserve to be happy!

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Poor Breaker probably got his leg ran over by a car or something of the sort, because he had 3 broken fingers on his paw when we picked him up. He grew up to become a really lovely fellow, sweet, energetic, good looking and very friendly. A long and fun life is now ahead of him!

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Now here is someone we are very excited to see leave off to happiness! Farewell dearest Flea!!!

She was a mother with her pups when she came to the shelter back in 2010. We hoped that her small size and perfect temperament would help her find a home, just like it did for the 5 puppies she raised under our care. But sadly it took us 2 years to be able to find a good place for her. Finally – the kind lady will be loved and appreciated as she deserves it!

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Janka is yet another sweet mother who had all her babies rehomed and waited a long time for her own happiness. The only difference is that she came from Mladost district and was most likely someone’s yard dog before she was dumped with her newborns. A lovely lady as well she will make a wonderful pet!

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Bettany is one very quiet little lady who was practically invisible inside the shelter. Her brother Hawk left for Germany a month ago and since then she was even more sad and quiet. So, obviosly – she had to go to Deuchland as well. We are very pleased she was among the ones chosen – she would be much more confident and cheerful in another more friendly environment.

Some dogs do great in the shelters, some don’t. And Bettany was simlpy not fit for a noisy spartan life. It’s great she will finally havethe possibility to live on her own pace and regime.

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Needless to say what a lovely animal Daki is – her face says it all. Kind, calm, gentle, loving – this is one dream dog.

You wouldn’t beleive this if you had seen her when she arrived – she was a terrifyed, trembling thing that would not let a person come near and would scream in horror if touched. It was only through the great effort and care that the volunteers put in her that Daki managed to lose her fears and became ready for adoption.

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This jewel is Dorothy -an impossibly sweet little dog, she and her siblings were dumped to die as newborns. We are astonished that we still have Dorothy’s brothers – Josh and Kevin. Take a look at them, how is it possible that they are still without homes!?

Josh and Kevin, Dorothy’s siblings who are still in Bogrov

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Beli and Monique are two ladies from Kremikovtzi.
Beli was transferred to the shelter in the summer of 2011 – a wonderful, easy-going lady with a wonderufl temperament.
Monique was one of the last babies we took in September, she is a sister to Romul and Rem. Very quiet and gentle, she is a special little lady.

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Lulu is also one of our shelter veterans. A small and tender little lady whose story, to be honest, we don’t even remember anymore… Was she dumped, was she ill, how she got here… we don’t know. Don’t judge us – it can be really hard sometimes to distinguish everyone from one another and remember each and every dog’s story.

The fact or the matter is that Luly has been with us for over a year and will finally get the comfort and happiness she deserves.

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To the joy of every volunteer who has come to walk our doggies, here comes a wonderful peace of news!

Maskata, or Mally, has been adopted in Germany too!!!

Maskata has been at the shelter even before whe arrived to work here. She is one of these 60 dogs who have lived in Bogrov for 3 years.

Everyone knew and loved Maskata, she was one of the first dogs to be walked every weekend, because she is so good and kind and playful and friendly and perfect in every way! And now she is also a dog with a great future! How fabulous is that!?

Well, that’s it. We also had 5 dogs from Seslavtzi leave to their happy new lives with this transport. As you can see – it is yet another journey where shelter veterans are finally going to a safe and happy future. This kind of journeys we love most!

Kind regards and many thanks to everyone involved in this small miracle! Our colleagues in Germany, our staff, ou volunteers. Hurray for yet another 15 souls saved!