When an animal is taken in from the steet or brought out of Seslavci it is usually affarid and shocked by the world of men. In addition some have medical issues that need approaching. Of course, all must be vaccinated, chipped and de-warmed, but most importantly – they need to get back their trust in people before Animal Rescue Sofia can offer them for adoption. To achive that you can’t just tell a dog: pain is over, we’ll help you. This is where the huge help of a foster parent comes in.
Fosters are the ones who invest love in the dog. Foster work is a little like farming – you plant a ceed of love and trust, creating a bond between a dog and it’s humans, making it possible for this dog to go on living a happy life with a family of his own. Fosters are the people our little survivors first meet after having lived their lives so far, usually in horrid conditions. The day a dog enters foster care is a day it’s life starts all over again. It is a promise of survival, a change of destiny.
The work of a foster is demanding, but increadibly rewarding. Taking a hopeless, helpless animal with nothing but death and suffering ahead and turning into a confident, good-looking, playful buddy – is a feeling that can’t be explained with words. The satisfaction and hope, the bloom of kindness, the compassion and sence of grandeur are so overtaking – it’s hard to explain that it’s “simply” about saving a life…
Down on you will find a few testimonials from families who foster our animals.
Animal Rescue Sofia is deeply grateful for the love and hard work foster parents invest in their tail-wagging pupils.
Thank you, dear guardians. Thank you for your care.
Kostadinovi family
The main reason we have been caring for the homeless animals in our neighborhood for years is our daughter – Magdalena who is a true dog-freind. At home we have a 3-year old golden retriever and an adopted street dog who is 5. We joined the cause because we love dogs so much.
It’s difficult to describe the deeply emotional effect and satisfaction of saving the life of a doomed animal. To see how his eyes full of wild fear and desperation at the beginning start to change and tenderness and trust begin to form, transforming to simple joy and happiness. It is amazing to participate in this re-incarnation – both physical and mental.
We believe that this amazing journey has changed us as well – it awoke the kindness and nobility that was sleeping in us, tucked away by the everyday anxieties.
The experience that is worth every second!
Esin Halid
I have always loved animals. When I married we moved to a house. We took a puppy of a mixed breed from a family who didn’t want him. A year later we decided to adopt another dog of a mixed breed, 8-year-old, because her family didn’t have time for her any more. Some months later I found 2 puppies thrown in the woods, mixed breed again. I took them home and started to think what I could do to re-home them. Then I found an Internet site – dog.bg. The people there helped me a lot with their advice and example and later on with adoptions. They made me believe that there is still hope, that there are kind-hearted people who are ready to spend their time and money to help the stray dogs and cats in Bulgaria. Presently we have 5 dogs of our own and usually 1 or 2 others, waiting for their people. 
For about two years now I have constantly been fostering dogs from the streets and a lot of them have found their happiness abroad due to ARSofia, to whom I am extremely grateful. I also try to neuter as many dogs and cats as I can, but in Varna, where I live, I have to pay for these operations and it costs a lot.
Sometimes it seems I am trying to fill a holed barrel with water because I re-home or neuter one dog and the next moment I see a mum with 5 puppies, born in the streets, doomed to hunger, cold, human aggression, running over by cars… A short life full of struggles. A life deprived of love and hugs. But I don’t feel depressed because I am trying to help, though my help could seem like a tiny drop of happiness in a sea of pain. I know I cannot save all the stray dogs and cats in Varna, it’s impossible. But I can save one life today, another life tomorrow and that is better than nothing. I feel so happy when my fostered dogs find good families, when their life stories prove to be rags-to-riches ones. And the more people join and do something little, the more drops of happiness will flow into the sea of pain and finally it can turn to a sea of happiness.
People in Bulgaria don’t want stray dogs in the streets because dogs bark, dogs are scary, dogs can bite, dogs spread diseases. But dogs and cats are not guilty that they live in the streets. They were born there or thrown away from their owners and it’s most natural for them to try to survive. I don’t want dogs and cats in the streets, too. But I don’t blame the dogs, I know the problem is in us – people. We have taken away most of the natural habitat of all wild animals, we have tamed the dogs, we have invited them to live with us, to share their lives with us. And when we get bored with them we get rid of them kicking them out in the streets or killing them.
I am trying to help them in all the ways I can and I want to say to them. “I am very sorry that you suffer because of people’s egoistic nature. But not all of the people are bad. You yourself have noticed that because there have been people feeding you, there have been people hugging you. Most people think this is the only help they can offer you.”
And I want to say to the good-hearted people: “You can do more than that. You can become foster families, you can arrange for neutering so that no more puppies are born in the streets, you can pay the medical treatment of a dog or cat in need, you can adopt a puppy or a kitty form the streets or dog shelters instead of buying one. You can change life for better”.
Galina Angelova
I have a 2-year old dog that I adopted through bezdom.info – Roxy. The dog I was dreaming of my whole life – my first.
Why I joined is a question I can’t answer to myself clearly, although I have a million reasons. Maybe the biggest one was the good example of so many wonderful people who’ve shown that not all in life is money, snobbishness, calculations… That helping is a necessity, especially when death waits for you to refuse.
The feeling is overwhelming. But the best part is that so many new people are joining the cause every day!
My own impressions with Blacky – a month of worry and hope – feeling desperate and then faithful again that things would change for the better, that the illness will go away… A month dedicated to creative obedience, potty-training and socialization. And then – happiness and calmness – the dog begins to change before your eyes, becoming someone happy and playful, someone whose life has turned at 180 degrees, someone who will live. And that means live well, not die behind bars in agony. There’s nothing more to dream for!
Esin Halid
I have always loved animals. When I married we moved to a house. We took a puppy of a mixed breed from a family who didn’t want him. A year later we decided to adopt another dog of a mixed breed, 8-year-old, because her family didn’t have time for her any more. Some months later I found 2 puppies thrown in the woods, mixed breed again. I took them home and started to think what I could do to re-home them. Then I found an Internet site (http://forum.dog.bg/-f55.html). The people there helped me a lot with their advice and example and later on with adoptions. They made me believe that there is still hope, that there are kind-hearted people who are ready to spend their time and money to help the stray dogs and cats in Bulgaria. Presently we have 5 dogs of our own and usually 1 or 2 others, waiting for their people.
For about two years now I have constantly been fostering dogs from the streets and a lot of them have found their happiness abroad due to ARSofia, to whom I am extremely grateful. I also try to neuter as many dogs and cats as I can, but in Varna, where I live, I have to pay for these operations and it costs a lot.
Sometimes it seems I am trying to fill a holed barrel with water because I re-home or neuter one dog and the next moment I see a mum with 5 puppies, born in the streets, doomed to hunger, cold, human aggression, running over by cars… A short life full of struggles. A life deprived of love and hugs. But I don’t feel depressed because I am trying to help, though my help could seem like a tiny drop of happiness in a sea of pain. I know I cannot save all the stray dogs and cats in Varna, it’s impossible. But I can save one life today, another life tomorrow and that is better than nothing. I feel so happy when my fostered dogs find good families, when their life stories prove to be rags-to-riches ones.
And the more people join and do something little, the more drops of happiness will flow into the sea of pain and finally it can turn to a sea of happiness.
People in Bulgaria don’t want stray dogs in the streets because dogs bark, dogs are scary, dogs can bite, dogs spread diseases. But dogs and cats are not guilty that they live in the streets. They were born there or thrown away from their owners and it’s most natural for them to try to survive. I don’t want dogs and cats in the streets, too. But I don’t blame the dogs, I know the problem is in us – people. We have taken away most of the natural habitat of all wild animals, we have tamed the dogs, we have invited them to live with us, to share their lives with us. And when we get bored with them we get rid of them kicking them out in the streets or killing them.
I am trying to help them in all the ways I can and I want to say to them. “I am very sorry that you suffer because of people’s egoistic nature. But not all of the people are bad. You yourself have noticed that because there have been people feeding you, there have been people hugging you. Most people think this is the only help they can offer you.”
And I want to say to the good-hearted people: “You can do more than that. You can become foster families, you can arrange for neutering so that no more puppies are born in the streets, you can pay the medical treatment of a dog or cat in need, you can adopt a puppy or a kitty form the streets or dog shelters instead of buying one. You can change life for better”.
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