12-02-09
That the SDB is lucky to have all the people that help and support is
very clear. However, we are always surprised by the actions taken by these
people to raise money for the stray dogs in Bosnia.
There was a mail from
Ron and Charles.
"Dear
Tanja,
we
have adopted the dog Prince on a distance for some time now. We came in
contact with you via the website marktplaats because we offered a bench.
Unfortunately it was already sold before I could give it to you, but we
used the money earned for the adoption of Prince. My friend Ron and I
were married at the end of last year, and last January we organized a
drink to celebrate this. We requested our family / friends not to give
any gifts, but to make a contribution to the animal shelter in Amsterdam
and your work in Bosnia. We have a cat and a dog, and we think your work
is really great. The proceeds of the drink were 300 euros, of which there
are 150 euros transferred to your bank account.
Sincerely, Ron van der Spek and Karel Massop"
Dear Ron and Charles, really great thanks for this donation! You guys
are the best.
09-02-09 All sorts of news items.
The new year is not new anymore because we are in February already. Time
flies. The last trip to Sarajevo is still fresh in my memory. What a trip
that was again, very special. The dogs that came with us from Sarajevo
have all been re-homed, except for one and they are doing very well. A
visit to to Sarajevo and Orasje has been scheduled already early March.
The story on the trip to Sarajevo, you can read on our page of reports.
Orasje
In Orasje, there are currently more than 110 dogs. A husband and wife
has been hired in order to help Svjetlana and the dogs to make it more
enjoyable and easier. The former employee was dismissed. The dogs are
doing good, although it is always survival. Jusuf is making it reasonably
well and we hope he feels better in April. We all look forward to April.
The mayor has appointed
a building which we will use for the castration project in April. We are
very curious how many people will come. The people will be informed by
TV and radio to come with their dog or cat. The Dutch medical team consisting
out of SDB veterinarians and veterinarian assistants to castrate / sterilize,
vaccinate, de-worm and de-flea. We hope for a successful project and maybe
a sequel will follow in September.
Sarajevo
Shelter
Many dogs have been brought to the shelter of Goga during the past weeks,
especially puppies. They are dropped in bunches and abandoned at the gates
of the shelter. Goga has to accept them and hope they will survive. We
hope to start improving the living conditions of the animals in the shelter
in Sarajevo this year.
Goodbye to
volunteer Conny
Conny has started her own foundation and will focus on helping Croatia.
SDB will now only be working in Bosnia. Now with Sarajevo starting we
have our hands full. Conny, We wish you all the luck and hope it will
work out for the stray animals in Croatia. Want to know more about this
new foundation, you can soon find more info on www.idemo.com
Conny thanks so much for everything you have done for the SDB!
19-11-08 Power
supply in asylum
Yesterday we finally
got the phone call from Svjetlana we were waiting for, the installation
of the electricity at the shelter is finished. Yesterday was the moment
that they could "hit the button"! And we are all happy and proud.
To see the construction check the movie that Eerhard made when he was,
together with Tanja, at the shelter a few weeks ago. On the reports page
is a report made by Tanja. There is also a file of pictures of the construction
of the electricity on the photo and video page. We can not say it enough
... Dear people who have donated money for the construction of electricity,
you are fantastic! http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=qj-2c16S3kQ
Sterilization
/ castration project April 09
Eerhard and Svjetlana
have had a conversation with the mayor of Orasje and asked for help in
April 09 with the establishment of a castration / sterilization project.
The mayor was very enthusiastic and promised to help and support. This
assistance consists of finding a location where we can work the entire
week and where the animals could recover after surgery. Also, he committed
to arrange consent of the vet inspection.
The mayor had admiration
for our perseverance. He said that he was initially skeptical about the
SDB. "Just another organization that promises to do everything, solves
nothing, and eventually leaves" he thought. Therefore he had not
given the SDB much support and. Now he sees that the SDB is not an organization
of many words and little action, but of many acts, he would gladly give
his cooperation.
The mayor knows that
this is a special project and Orasje will be an example for entire Bosnia.
We will try to help
as much animals as possible in. The medical team will not only perform
castrations / sterilizations but every animal that is brought in will
get a free rabies vaccination and be de-flead and de-wormed.
We will be calling
on people to come by distributing flyers and messages via TV, radio and
newspapers. We all look forward with great excitement.
Various news 04-11-08
Transport
Orasje and Croatia
In the meantime, a truck with trailer full of collected supplies went
to Bosnia. Because we had so many things and there is not enough space
in the shelter of Orasje we donated half a container to the shelter in
Croatia. They were very happy.
The truck stopped
on the route to Zagreb, where the people from the shelter were waiting
to unload the container. Blankets, baskets, food and much more went to
Varazdin.
The container we use
in Moerdijk to store everything went to Bosnia and is now in the shelter.
This container is completely rat / mouse free and all the food is stored
inside. We would like to thank container company Meeberg, SUPER thanks
for this container and all of your help time after time! Dear people in
Moerdijk, thank you so dearly.
Loading truck
Container on the trailer
All people who have
helped collecting, thanks so much for your help every time. The animals
are extremely pleased with all the stuff that you have collected. Without
you the life of the animals would be more difficult.
Bosnian dog
walk There
was a bad weather report but we did not care. And fortunately we have
only had a couple of light showers but most of the time it was dry. It
was a pleasant walk with lots of lovely dogs and very nice owners.. It
is a joy every time. Dogs that we know from Bosnia who now have such a
close bond with their new owners that no one is able to come between them.
Dear people who were present, it was super to have seen you again and
again we look forward to the next walk.
For photos of the
walk you can see in our photo gallery.
Electricity
shelter It
was a huge success, the electricity project. We were all under impressed
and did not dare to dream so many people would donate. Within two months
time, we collected the entire amount.
In the meantime, the
money is transferred and the construction started. Electricity poles have
already almost reached the asylum and it will not be long before it is
all finished. Svjetlana is terribly happy and on its behalf, Jusuf and
the dogs we Thank you again so much!
Health Jusuf At
present it are exciting and emotional times for Svjetlana and Jusuf. One
have detected lung cancer with Jusuf. In the meantime, he had chemo therapy
twice and the reports are that the tumor has not grown, but instead of
that is getting smaller. Time will tell how all this will evolve. We hope
that Jusuf will be a on the side of Svjetlana for many years and we will
try to help them as much as we can.
Trips to the
shelter Tanja
and Eerhard are currently in Orasje. Thursday is an important day because
they will have a conversation with the mayor. We want to organize a castration-project
in April and we need the help and support from the mayor. Hopefully Thursday
is as positive as he always is to us. Tanja wil help Svjetlana with taking
care of the animals and Eerhard and Baan (employee shelter) will do several
other jobs that have to be done. Friday they are back in the Netherlands.
At the end of November,
Suze, Fred, Winanda and Cokkie will go to the shelter to help Svjetlana.
The winter is coming so everything that can be done or made is crucial.
They will help Svjetlana with the care of the animals and try to finish
the kennels, we started making them in September, so they can be used
as soon as possible.
Sarajevo
23-09-08
Eerhard, Rob, Elvira
and I went to Sarajevo to meet some people, talking about everything
that is happening and visiting a shelter. I did not feel enthusiastic.
Going all the way from Orasje to Sarajevo by car. I installed myself
safely in the back of the car, so this way I would not see much from
what was to be seen outside of the car. I had seen dead dogs on the
side of the road for too many times, seeing dogs in the streets or chained.
I am well aware of this image, and it is no need to be confronted with
this all the time. My place was in the back of the car.
After a drive of
4,5 hours we arrived in Sarajevo and went to the location where we had
an appointment with several people. Among others Jelena, she does a
lot of work for the abandoned animals in Sarajevo, and Haris, a young
Bosnian veterinarian. We had so much to talk about that time was by
before we knew it. And we had to visit the shelter in Sarajevo too.
If we did not stop talking and leave for the shelter now, it would be
much too late to return to Orasje.
Together with Jelena,
who is helping the shelter, we went to the shelter, to finally arrive
, after going through really tiny, impossible streets. A wooden fence
was the only thing between us and the noise of barking dogs.
Goga, the manager
of the shelter, came towards us together with a couple of cats. The
cats were apparently living at the shelter. Passing the wooden fence
we got at the terrain. The noise of all the barking dogs was immense
but we did not see a lot of dogs. Two of them were chained and had their
own doghouse. They told us it were mother and son.
When we went on
further on to the terrain, we finally saw where all the barking was
coming from. Three long rows of kennels packed with dogs. Every kennel
was approx two by two meters. There was a big doghouse inside, brand
new and looking very nice, but at the same time it made the space for
the dogs much smaller. The dogs never leave the kennels.. They rarely
come out. And that made it terribly sad.
Where one dog would
long for some attention, the other one even more. The almost squirm
through their cage to get someone touching them. Most of them were big,
beautiful, sweet and touching dogs that I would have gladly taken all
of them. They were all looking fine, nice fur, not skinny. They are
well fed and the medical care is okay. Goga has good contacts with a
vet and the university from Sarajevo where the education of vet is..
But it is so sad
and heartbreaking to be locked up all day as a dog, in a kennel that
is maximum two by two meters, and not being able to get out sometimes.
They are just not enough volunteers to spend time on every dog in the
shelter. Taking care of these animals takes a lot of time, this is being
done by Goga, and one lady that helps in the morning, so there is simply
not enough time to get the dogs out of their cages once in a while.
And there is no space for the dogs to be able to run, dig or play with
each other.
For the past years
over 1500 dogs have been re-homed by the shelter, but most of the time
this are the young ones and pups that will find a home. The older dogs,
as of 1 year and older don't stand a chance.
Goga manages this
shelter for 9 years. A couple of organisations from several countries
take dogs now and then and re-home them in their own country. For these
dogs a donation is given like for example food. There is one organisation
that donates money each month but it is insufficient to pay the costs
made by the shelter, with over 150 dogs. So they need help desperately.
We did a tour around
the shelter and seen and heard a lot. We were all moved. SDB decided
o support this shelter. We will help to improve the environment of the
dogs and maybe help medically wise. (dozens of dogs have to be sterilised/castrated).
So there is plenty of work that we can do to make their life a better
life.
SDB is deliberating
on how we can deal with this the best way and how to start doing this.
If we have more news about this project, we will certainly let you know.
Little Dog
Pusa
During our tour
around the shelter I heard a loud howling a couple of times, and it
dominated all the other sounds. At a certain moment I found the source
of this noise. There were three benches lined up and in one of those
benches there was a small black poodle, crying her heart out to be released.
Inside there was a box with litter, a small basket and some food. The
little one was standing on her back legs in the litter box up against
the side of the bench. Goga opened the bench and got her out.
She was so small
and skinny that I immediately fell in love with her. I felt so sorry
for her. Apparently she was found on the streets some weeks before by
some people. She was dehydrated and emaciated. I decided I had to arrange
something for her and I had to find a way to get her out of there because
this was an awful experience for her. After making some phone calls
arrangements were made. Pusa would be on a plan to Holland next week.
I was able to go to Orasje feeling relieved.
The next day we
got the news that our solution for saving Pusa was cancelled. Now what?
I had to find someone else. Suze offered the solution by fostering Pusa.
Now we had to arrange Pusa being brought from Sarajevo to Orasje, a
4,5 hour drive. The man who found her in the streets was prepared to
take her from Sarajevo to Orasje. The day before our return to Holland
little weak Pusa arrived at the shelter.
Pusa came to Holland
with us and she had a hard time recovering. She was very weak and barely
survived. Fortunately she has the persistence of a pit-bull and with
the excellent care of Suze and Fred she made it and she is now part
of a sweet family in Holland. Pusa is now called Sira and you can find
an update on our page "onze honden".
Educational
project
When the principal
escorted us to the classroom I felt extremely nervous. There would probably
be waiting 5 children that applied voluntarily to listen to our story..
Our story, which is in our opinion THE most important subject. We entered
the room and the children were bored after ten minutes……..
This was the worst
case scenario, the one that scared me when we entered the first school
to start our educational project. But reality was totally different;
The principal gave
us a cordial welcome and after having a small conversation we were brought
to the classroom where approx 40 children were waiting for us. They had
combined some classes to reach more children in one go. Oh my god, I felt
so nervous. Whenever I have to tell something about the foundation it
is never a problem, I never lose any sleep over it. But this time….in
front of a class full of children. How were they going to react? Would
they be interested?
Suze, Elvira and I
made up a list of questions that we were going to ask by turns to stimulate
the interaction with the children. Elvira was going to translate everything
from English to Bosnian, and the other way around. Because of my nerves
I started asking the questions which Suze was supposed to ask and because
of that I became more nervous, and my hands were getting more wet because
of the transpiration. Does anyone here the beating of my heart? I heard
it, pumping in my ears!!
The children reacted
really enthusiastic to the questions and most of them participated. "Who
loves animals?" Suze asked. All hands raised. "Who knows how
to take care of an animal, dog or cat" was my key question to continue
the story about sterilisation/castration. Again a load of hands went up
in the air. These kind of reactions were way beyond my expectations and
I had to control myself to not give them all a big hug to thank them for
helping us by listening and being all enthusiastic.
For every group of
kids we needed about half an hour. When there were more questions from
the kids we stayed a little bit longer. At the end of our visit we handed
out the educational booklets and our flyer, both translated to Bosnian.
The kids were eager to get the booklets and after this we asked them if
they thought it was an interesting session. Every group replied by giving
us a loud "Yeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh".
Every school we visited,
seven in total, gave us a warm welcome and they turned all classes upside
down to get the children together in one room. In one school they even
got the gym involved, because this group was too big to fit in one normal
classroom.
Everywhere we were
the feedback was excellent and time after time I went outside after the
session all numb because of the incredible success and because this made
me feel so happy. We visited schools for two days, and we have spoken
to almost 400 children. One school even wanted to see us a second time
because the principal wanted us to do the same with other classes. It
was really tiring, but worth every bit of energy. A special experience.
Someone told me, when
I went to Bosnia as a volunteer for the first time in 2000 to help people,
that you have to start with one person. My wish is that we have been able
to motivate at least one child, that we have been able to save one dog,
that we have been able to have one family started thinking about what
to do and then take action. That it had made a difference.
Suze and Elvira, thank
you for a wonderful cooperation.
03-10-08 Back
from Bosnia
It has been almost
a week since we came home. Our week in Orasje went by so fast. What did
we do an what has happened?
To put it briefly:
Installed a roof
gutter and rain-pipe at the storage, and fixed the drainage
Sterilised and
castrated, many people from villages around the shelter showed up with
their animals.
Poured concrete,
a square if 6 to 11 meters to build new kennels
Visited 7 schools
with our educational program and we have talked about this with almost
500 children.
Scraping poo
Build a new shelter
against the rain in a puppy kennel
Select suitable
blankets
Made a new cupboard
in the storage for the blankets
Welded kennels
Made a working
area
Installed light
in the storage
Moved all the food
to the container that was brought from Holland recently
Bought new plastic
covers and attached them to the kennels (to protect them from all sorts
of weathers)
Made a new entrance
to the new piece of land
Cuddled a lot with
all the dogs and just enjoying the dogs in the shelter.
You will find a
detailed reports on this special week soon.
04-09-08 Donations
electricity WAUW
!! We received amazing feedback from people that react on the electricity
project. We have received half of the amount we need to install the electricity
in the shelter of Orasje. We could not have imagined this many reactions
in such a short period of time. More and more light bulbs are burning,
there is light at the end of the dark tunnel.
We hope this
positive feedback will go on and that we will soon have the amount of
money we need. We would like to thank everyone that has already contributed,
thank you so much!!
03-09-08 Was
this Dorris ? Sometimes
you receive and email from someone with stories that touch your heart.
We want to share this email with you.
Hey, my name is
Gorica, I was
born in Tuzla, and I regularly visited the city...about 4 times a year.
But I have not been there for two years now.
Every time I was over there I was struck by the situation of abandoned
animals. Cats, and especially dogs.
It has been approx 5 or 6 years ago, when I saw a very young dog around
the building where we had our apartment, I believe I was about 11 years
old. Because of me going 4 times a year to Tuzla I got attached to this
dog. I called her Twister(I don't know why), and every time we met I gave
her some food, and I gave her something against worms(I don't remember
how I got this).
There was a small supermarket
at the entrance of the building. People that worked in this shop told
me that she was waiting for an entire year in the morning in front of
the shop.
When I would walk outside the would follow me. When I went to shops she
would follow me too. We were not able to take her with us, because we
have a big dog at home and we had no idea how his reaction to this dog
would be. The next year I was unable to trace her. I was scared of her
maybe dead, or shot by hunters, because they shoot dogs in the winter,
people with guns are asked to shoot dogs.... and then I checked out your
website and choose the name Sorris, one of the re-homed dogs....she has
so much resemblance... it has been a while, and I can make mistakes, but
if this is the dog I have hugged so many times, I would like to tell the
owners that gave her a new home can look at themselves as the luckiest
people in the world ;)
3-9-08 Petition
against the new law concerning aggressive dogs If
it is up to our Minister Verburg, there is a new law, from 1st of January
2009, that tells us that every dog that shows "unwanted aggressive
behaviour" has to be seized and do a special behavioural test. If
the dog does not succeed, it will be put to sleep, as she states in a
letter to the parliament.
Read more about this ...
An event called
Buitenlandse hondendag(day of foreign dogs) 31 Augustus 2008 For
the first time the forum for foreign dogs held a special event organised
for everyone with or without a dog adopted from countries outside of Holland.
Several foundations got the opportunity to present themselves and the
work they do for the animals in other countries, the help they can use
and to sell their merchandise to raise money for the animals that could
really use all the help they can get.
We were also
present on this sunny day with many of our enthusiastic volunteers.
Dutch games
of fair like a grabble bag and pulling ropes, and the selling of beautiful
items like t-shirts, blankets, dog leashes and collars, toys, it was all
really popular.
Many people
were obviously feeling sorry for the situation of abandoned animals in
Bosnia, and this gave us positive feelings. The benefits of the day was
approx 300 euro, a wonderful amount that will be used in the right way.
We would like
to thank everybody for supporting us by being there and making a contribution.
It was a big success.
Educational
program and permission Behind
the screens of the SDB it is always hectic. For the past few weeks Elvira
and Alisa have been very busy making letters. Letters that have to be
send to the Minister of Education and for the schools in Bosnia.
We want to organise
the educational program the right way, and getting support from the Minister
and his department would be excellent. Evira and Alisa drew up a wonderful
letter, and we have send this from Holland to the department of Education
by fax. The feedback we received is amazing !! You can read this HIER
and HIER
We are extremely
proud of this and we will do our utmost to let this project succeed. By
educating children (and adults) more animals will be saved.
Dogs Trust gave
permission to use their educational booklet, which we have translated
to the Bosnian language, Dogs Trust also sponsored the costs for printing
the first 5000 booklets.
We would like to thank Dogs Trust very much for their help and support
time after time. Dogs Trust is the biggest organisation for animal protection
in England, they have meant a lot for us. You can find Dogs Trust on their
website www.dogstrust.org.uk
Trip September
2008 The
crew is ready to go to Orasje in September. On the 19th of September we
will leave for Orasje to be working for an entire week. Several plans
are made and of course castrations and sterilisations will be performed.
We are going
to visit schools, build a wooden house, making kennels and all other things
that have to be done.
Meanwhile Conny
and Paul went to the shelter in Croatia for a week. You can find the report
on this trip on our page reports.
SDB Walking
the dog on the Rozendaalseveld near Rozendaal (Gld) On
the 26th of October we will have our annual walk, with all the Bosnian
and Croatian dogs and their owners.
14-08-08 All
sorts of news It
has been almost two weeks since they have returned from their trip to
Bosnia.
Suze, Fred,
Cokkie and Winanda went to the shelter in Orasje. They have been busy
with all sorts of things and you can find a report on this trip on the
page of reports. They brought ten dogs to Holland and we will do our best
to find the best homes for these sweet dogs.
SDB is very
happy to have permanent volunteers who are doing so much for the dogs
in Bosnia. The things they do, the trips they make to Bosnia, at their
own expenses!! This makes the volunteers even more special than they are
already.
Suze, Fred,
Cokkie and Winanda thanks so much for going again!
Electricity
in the shelter of Orasje The
previous large project, building the fence around the shelter, is finished,
so it is time to introduce the next project.
The shelter uses an aggregate to get electricity. This aggregate uses
a lot of fuel and is having problems working all the time.
With the winter
coming it is time to have genuine electricity.
We have a proposal
from the electricity company so we could start to install it. The problem
is that the instalment will cost at least € 8000,00, this is a substantial
amount.
SDB has not
asked her supporters for extra donations over the past few years. We are
about to change this because we really need your support this time.
SDB wants to
ask you to buy 1 meter electricity wire.
1 meter will
cost you € 10,00. Of course your name will be mentioned on the website
and in the shelter of Orasje. On top of this all you will receive a certificate
and a surprise gift.
We hope you
will support the SDB financially, so we are soon able to make a start
with the implementation of the electricity.
Trip September
2008 We
have already created our team that will go work in the shelter in September.
We will be accompanied by a veterinarian and of course we will do a lot
of odd jobs. Plans are made already. We have to make new kennels. The
wooden house that is on the shelter has to be assembled, the storage has
to be made into a mouse-free, so it will turn out to be a busy week.
30-07-08 "Ademloos
" by Kim Moelands In
2005 I had an interview for a magazine called Linda, this interview was
performed by Kim Moelands. Talking about the foundation is easy so we
were talking for an hour soon. At a certain moment Kim asked me what the
procedure was when someone wanted to adopt a dog, because she had seen
a cute dog on our website Klempara (Balou). While telling my story I explained
the way we work with adoption and told Kim that Balou was staying with
a foster family in Utrecht. Kim was clear about her thinking that Balou
was a remarkable dog. At the end of the conversation Kim left and would
keep me posted about her maybe visiting Balou. She desperately wanted
a dog, but she thought it was not the right moment. Within one hour Kim
called that she really wanted to see Balou.
Balou quickly
found her home with Kim, it was love at first sight.
By adopting
Balou, Kim and I(SDB) stayed in contact. Kim helped us in any way she
could and became a volunteer with the SDB. Thanks to her dedication and
support the SDB was noticed by Dutchy Puppy and we are now receiving support
from them.
Kim has Cystic
Fibrosis and is trying to get everything out of her life, together with
Balou, in spite of this horrible disease.
Kim has written
a book about her life, even Balou is part of the story. This book is really
worth reading, it will take your breath away!!
You want to
know more? Check out the website www.kimmoelands.nl
Wilma de Joode (chairwoman
SDB)
18-07-08 Bosnian
student in Holland
Nedim is living in Tuzla, he is 16 years old. Nedim is familiar with the
SDB, because his father used to work in the shelter in Tuzla. Nedim helped
us many times when we were working in the shelter of Tuzla. He gave us
the impression he was sincere.
Nedim started
an education program to become a veterinary assistant and is eager to
become a vet himself. Because he is so enthusiastic and wants to see and
learn more than he is learning in Bosnia, he asked us if we could help
him. We were able to let Nedim come to Holland and he had two weeks of
internship in the clinic of Hendrik Ido Ambacht and the animal hospital
in Dordrecht.
Nedim had an awesome
time and did an excellent job. He is learning really fast and very interested
in everything he experiences. We hope that Nedim had two useful weeks
in Holland.
Event: "Dag
van mens en dier" on the 26th of July
For everyone that wants to have a nice day we can recommend the event
"de dag van mens en dier". SDB will be present to sell items
for their own foundation but also for Dutchy Puppy. More info www.dagvanmensendier.nl
15-07-08 New
boradmember SDB
During our last board meeting on the 13th of July we decided to add Rob
Mulder to our board as one of the new members. He will fill in the vacancy
caused by the resignation of Marco Sijstermanns.
Rob Mulder is working as a manager of a car fleet.
The board currently
exists out of :
Wilma de Joode, chairwoman
Henny Bax, Secretary
Eerhard van Vliet, chamberlain
Wille Koppelaar, member
Rob Mulder, member
14-07-08 News
concerning the board of the SDB
Because of a difference of opinion between Marco and the other members
of the board, the decision was made that Marco will resign as a member
of the board and will no longer be an active member working for the foundation.
All members of the
board support this decision. Marco accepts this decision. We do want to
mention the fact that Marco contributed substantially to the SDB, and
we would like to thank him for this.
05-07-08 A
variety of news items
Lovely gesture
of dogs association Walcheren
We received an email of the dogs association called Howa from Vlissingen.
Every new season they collect money for a charity and this time the choose
SDB. This means that they will collect supplies with their members and
others for the dogs in Bosnia. This of course sounds magnificent and we
are pleasantly surprised by this initiative. IF you would like to know
more about HOWA, please check their website www.hondenverenigingwalcheren.nl
Donation of
a freezer unit for the shelter in Croatia
Conny and Paul, who are volunteers with the SDB, went to a shelter close
to Zagreb with a couple of friend. Last February Wilma and Conny visited
this shelter and Conny decided she had to do more for them. SDB is considering
to do something for this shelter, because the hardly get any support and
there are staying more than 250 dogs.
When Conny called
from Croatia and told that they needed a freeze unit desperately because
the meat they stored was crawling with maggots we decided to donate a
deepfreeze. Conny ordered the necessity, with a capacity of 400 litre,
and had arranged that this was delivered at the shelter right away. The
people working at the shelter were very happy with this.
26 July, The
event "Dag van mens en dier"(Day of humans and animals) in Dordrecht
This year it will be the anniversary. The sixtieth "dag van mens
en dier" in the area of the Biesbosch in Dordrecht.
Horses, pony's, parrots and dogs, it will be hard to not miss anything.
Enjoyable shows, booths and fun. The SDB will be there for the third time
and we hope you will be there too. We look forward to it.
31 August,
"Buitenlandse Hondendag"(Foreign dogs day) in Zaandam
Everyone who has a dog from outside of Holland....
Everyone who cares for a stray animal wherever it is.....
Everyone who is interested in helping stray dogs....
Everyone who does not own a dog, pedigree dog or cat.....
Everyone who would like to know more....
So really everyone
is welcome to join us at this event called the Buitenlandse Hondendag
in Zaandam. The SDB will be there too, with their volunteers and a booth.
We hope many people will be there and it will turn out to be a lovely
day.
"Rasloze
dag" (day for dogs with no pedigree)the 6th of September in the Wouwse
Plantage
This year the SDB will be at the lustrum edition of the day that is especially
for dogs without a pedigree. Everyone that owns a dog is welcome to join
us and we hope to contribute a little to this fun day. Website of this
event: www.raslozedag.nl
Click to enlarge.
29-05-08 Adoption
on a distance and the doghouse-project
Thanks to people who
support us through the adoption on a distance and the sponsoring of doghouses
we are able to offer a lot of help to the shelter in Orasje. Tanja, who
is responsible for all the activities around this project, is always keeping
people posted on the latest news on "their" dog in the shelter
and on the houses built thanks to them. The past trip Tanja has spend
a lot of time studying the sponsored dogs and many pictures were taken
during this week. So it will not take long before everyone will receive
an update on their dog(s).
Dear adopters on a distance and donators,
Meanwhile we have
returned from our trip to Bosnia for more than two weeks. It was a special
trip where we have accomplished a lot in the shelter of Orasje. This time
we were a group of 21 volunteers and the last Thursday and Friday we were
joined by Alexander and Alisa, who decided to go to Orasje for a couple
of days.
We had nothing to
complain, especially when it is about the weather, sunny and pleasantly
warm.
DIY team
The DIY team had an extreme challenge this week, which was placing an
entire new fence around the present shelter and their new piece of land.
In total they have been able to put 260 metres of fencing, 2 sliding doors
and 2 entrance doors in place.
Jusuf, Peter, Eerhard,
Marco, Fred, Rob, John, Marino and two Bosnian employees have worked their
buts of to finidh it in time.
They became so fanatic
that every volunteer had to be on the shelter at eight in the morning,
and left not before six in the evening. But they did finish the job, the
only thing that has to be done is making an extra concrete frame so the
dogs cannot dig their ways out. After this they can start to make the
new piece of land suitable for using this to give the dogs much more space
to run around.
There was also a small DIY team in the shelter itself. Maartje, Hilde
and Ronald painted all the beams of the wooden cabin that has to be built.
This wooden cabin was donated by one of our benefactors and was transported
to Bosnia. The paintjob is almost done and Fred is now busy trying to
solve the puzzle of building the cabin in September, because we miss the
building plans. Svjetlana cannot wait until the cabin is ready, because
this will be her new office.
Medical team
The medical team consisting out of Mirjam, Willeke, Inge and Henriet have
sterilised and castrated 60 animals during the week. Next to these they
also performed some other surgery's. This time more people have made their
appearance at the shelter compared to last year. Mainly friends and acquaintances
of Svjetlana and Jusuf, people who visited us last year but for whom the
decision to act was too hard that time. This is a big step, and we hope
they will inform their friends and everyone they know to convince them
to do the same. We did have a calling on the radio to drop by for free,
but only one person showed up.
Assistance for Svjetlana
Lilian, Cokkie and Winanda devoted themselves the entire week to the daily
job of cleaning and caring for the dogs. They have cleaned the pens every
single day, they removed droppings from the shelter terrain, fed the dogs
etc. The intention was to give Svjetlana a week of complete rest, but
it is hard to keep her from working, she is literally in her system to
care for the dogs and we must be fair, her presence is crucial when it
comes to getting the dogs back to their kennels.
You can make an attempt
by putting the door open and calling the dogs, but the chance of getting
a dog in by itself is very small, unless it is Svjetlana who is calling
them.
"Jack-of-all-trades"- team
Wilma, Suze, Veerle and myself (Tanja) have been busy in the entire shelter
this week, where someone would need our help we would come immediately.
Wilma gave several interviews and gave the mayor a tour around the shelter.
It was very special to hear him thanking us for all we have done and all
the supplies that were given by the Dutch people.
Suze made sure there
was plenty of drinks and food every day and made a new facility to put
all the screws and tools.
Car
We had collected money in 2006 to buy a car for the shelter in Tuzla.
Because of all the problems in Tuzla we never did buy a car, so the money
was still waiting on a savings account. And after building such a bond
with Orasje, and the Yugo which is the car Jusuf drove is breaking down,
we bought a second hand Caddy this week.
Queens day
During our national holiday Queens day, we were in Bosnia, but the day
did not go by without something special. In the morning the shelter was
decorated with all kinds of orange festoons and in the evening we went
out for dinner with Svjetlana and Jusuf. Marco and Veerle had ordered
special t-shirts with a print in front: Svjetlana's day. When Svjetlana
arrived at the hotel she was very surprised to see 21 silly Dutch people
wearing orange t-shirts, and some of them even having orange hair or little
flags on their faces.
It became a very special
evening. Dzjana, one of the interpreters of the shelter, joined us in
the restaurant together with her kids dance-group. She convinced the kids
to perform a dance for us. The room was filled with joy and happiness.
To celebrate the anniversary
of 1 year of cooperation with Svjetlana and Jusuf we gave them a photo
book with pictures and stories of the dogs that we brought to Holland
from their shelter, and found their new home in our country.
All these stories
were translated to English by Suze and after that Alisa and Elvira translated
them to Bosnian. It was successful surprise for Svjetlana and Jusuf.
All other things
By this we would like to thank once again all the adopters on a distance
and all the people who support us financially for their contributions,
because without you we would not be able to do the work in Bosnia that
we are doing now!
It was an amazing week for all of us, so much has happened and that we
could write an entire book about all of this, but this is not possible,
so Fred made a special report on our trip. On the page of the reports
you can find a lot of pictures this in the map of 08-04 Orasje.
All the pictures are already exchanged among the volunteers, so we will
write the updates on the dogs on a distance soon!
Kind Regards,
Tanja Lucas
Adoption on a distance SDB
Doghouse-project
We would like to say a special thanks to the people who supported the
SDB, and through that directly also the dogs in Bosnia, by sponsoring
a doghouse.
Suze and Fred made
a beautiful sign with all the names on it from people who donated a doghouse.
Thanks to these contributions we can make a lot of the jobs done in Orasje.
So everyone who supports
the SDB financially as well as with supplies and materials...... THANK
YOU SO MUCH, on behalf of the dogs in Orasje and Bosnia!! We cannot say
this too many times!
23-05-08 All
sorts of news
SDB has been on the Bosnian Television
It has been a couple of weeks already since we returned from our trip.
Several volunteers are planning to go the end of July to Orasje.
You can find all the pictures and reports from this trip on our website.
Fred made a special photo and video report which is published on YouTube.
This “report” gives a really good impression on the entire
week and will take you with us to Orasje. You can find the link on the
page “reports”.
During our week in Orasje a camera crew of the federal television company
came by. We had already returned to Holland when the item made was broadcasted,
so we were not able to see this. Fortunately the medium Internet exists,
and we were after all able to watch it. I am so proud that this was on
the national television, and I am even more proud of all the volunteers
that do make the difference in this world, and it doesn’t matter
how small or big their contribution is!!
Of course the broadcast is in Bosnian, but the images speak for themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZGvDi9UcgI
WSPA Member
After having to fill in loads of question, handing over our annual reports
and all sorts of other information we were finally approved to become
an official member of the WSPA. We are extremely proud of this, because
there are not many organisations which are approved in Holland. We hope
to accomplish many beautiful things with our cooperation with WSPA.
Educational
booklets printed
We have 5000 booklets ready to be distributed among schools in Bosnia.
We are starting to explore the best way to handle this, so we are sure
we reach the schools and their children. The books are meant to be as
an educational material for kids that are around ten years old. It is
full of questions about strays and how to deal with them the right way.
The books have a design that is pleasant for children, with a game in
the centre page and a certificate in the back. We hope, and we will do
our utmost, to make schools, municipalities and people all around enthusiastic
about this booklet.
Annual Report
2007
Soon our annual report of 2007 will be published on our website, and I
can tell you already that we of course are proud to have this also.
Wilma de Joode
06-05-08 Back
from our trip to Orasje
The week started with raining cats and dogs, so we were a bit anxious
because when it would keep going on like this, we would not be able to
do a lot. But the second day the sun showed up, and it stayed with us
for the rest of the week. It took some time before everyone found her/his
spot in the shelter, but after that everything went just fine.
Over 60 dogs and cats
were operated on. From castrations to amputating a leg with a Pekinese.
From sterilisations to an abortion with a dog and a cat. Dogs that live
in the shelter, but fortunately also dogs and cats from people around
Orasje. Most people have no clue about the benefits of castration and
sterilisation. So we provide everyone with a full explanation and the
were all happy and relieved about taking the step to perform the surgery.
We installed 260 meters
of fence. We dug everything by hand. We made all the concrete manually
and placed every stake ourselves. A beautiful entrance gate, galvanised,
2 meter high fence, what does a shelter need more. What a job the handymen
did in Orasje!
Almost the entire
wooden cabin was painted. Day after day some of us painted to get it finished.
It will be quiet a puzzle to figure out the way to put it together. But
I am sure this will work out fine.
Every day we helped
cleaning the kennels. Giving the dogs the necessary attention. Helping
Svjetlana having it a bit less hard. Making the lives of the dogs a little
bit easier. It was clear that dogs that were a bit shy at the beginning
of the week, were more relaxed and approachable at the end of the week.
The dogs that were to afraid to be petted at the beginning of the week,
begged for a hug at the end of the week, sometimes careful. This is a
joyful experience.
The major visited
us again this year, he was very positive about the way the shelter looked,
and thanked us for our support and materials. We of course hope the municipality
will support us by helping with the installation of the electricity to
and in the shelter. Last year they donated the extra ground, so we hope
for a "present" this year.
We are going to see
together with the municipality how to reach the schools with the educational
program. The educational booklets are finished, we are very happy with
this achievement. 5000 booklets have been printed and will be distributed
among the schools in Bosnia. Hopefully this will make a difference in
the life of the animals too.
There were journalists
at the shelter, and we were filmed by a camera-crew of the National Television.
We have bought a car.
We had made a reservation for this and it was about time to buy a car
for the shelter. It ended up to be a VW Caddy.
It was a week where
many things happened. And it is too much to tell you everything. The pictures
will speak for themselves, some of the pictures you can already find in
the gallery. We will add more through out time. We will of course also
have reports made by the people who accompanied us.
Dear all of you that
came along, Thanks so much for all your devotion, warmth, involvement,
hard work and friendliness!!
Wilma de Joode
24-04-08 Trip
Orasje
Tomorrow, 25 April,
we leave together with a group of 21 to help the shelter in Orasje. This
is the biggest group ever.
We are all looking forward to it. And we will do our utmost to complete
as many jobs as possible.
This week will mostly be about castrating and sterilizing, building the
fence, pooring the concrete, picking up the droppings, cleaning and taking
care of all the dogs.
We will of course write an extensive report on our journey when we have
returned to Holland, as you are all used to see.
Because of the fact that almost all our permanent volunteers will join
us this week, no mails will be answered. After the third of may we will
reply your emails.
If you need us urgently please call 06-46198579
We will do our best
!!!!
Allochtone
Viervoeters
Allochtone Viervoeters, is a book with more than 60 stories about
“foreign dogs and cats” that started a new life in Holland,
but also a book filled with tips and tricks for people who want
to adopt a dog or cat, and information about the situation of strays
in the world.
The book will appear in the bookshops in the end of May or the beginning
of June, it will cost € 17,95 (incl 6% taxes, excl charges
for sending by post.) But this can also be ordered through our foundation.
Every copy sold will pay 1 euro to the organisation called Stichting
No Kill Europe and part of the benefits will be shared with
several shelters (e.g. Kosovo and Bulgaria).
The prologue was written by Els Adams, honoured as inhabitant of
the province of Brabant of the year 2007 and founder of the foundation
Dier
en Project.
When you order the book through our foundation, we will receive
3 euro for each copy sold, to support the dogs in Bosnia.
Easter market 24 March
Marco and Veerle will do their utmost to sell as much stuff as possible
at the eater market in Brunssum on Monday the 24th of March. The benefits
will be for the SDB. If you would like more info on the event you can
check www.euregiobazaar.nl
Maybe you will be visitor number 75.000!!
Interview Radio Ridderkerk 25 March
Tuesday 25 March Cokkie and Wilma will be interviewed by a reporter of
Radio Ridderkerk. By this way we hope to reach more people that might
be willing to donate something, or are willing to do something for us.
If you want to listen to the interview, it will be broadcasted from around
10.10 until 10.30 in the morning, you can receive this through www.radioridderkerk.nl
If you are not able to listen on that specific moment, it will be available
through “Uitzending Gemist”.
Article on Betsy the dog in a local newspaper of Bihac
Elvira found a mother dog a couple of months ago. Betsy, who had 4 pups.
The shelter in Orasje was packed, and Elvira was not able to take care
of them because she has a full time job. Luckily Jelena and Agneza were
willing to shelter Betsy and her babies.
Jelena and Agneza are two young girls from Croatia that work hard for
all the stray dogs over there. At their own home there are at least 10
dogs living and just as much cats. Many dogs found a way to their new
homes through these girls by taking them of the streets, fostering them
and re-homing them.
A couple of days before Elvira would bring Betsy and her pups to Croatia,
Betsy was hit by a car. She was hiding for almost two days. Fortunately
Betsy showed up, and she was brought to Jelena and Agneza by Elvira.
Betsy clearly showed agony created by the collision, and she was operated
in Croatia to cure her back leg. Unfortunately two of the pups got sick
soon after all this, it was canine distemper. They tried everything to
cure the little ones, but it didn’t work out. They were both euthanized
because or else they would have had a horrible way of dying. We are happy
that Snjeska and Kelly, the two other remaining pups, were healthy.
At this moment, some time later, Betsy is doing fine, and Snjeska and
Kelly are in Holland. Betsy is still in Croatia with Jelena and Agneza
and had undergone several operations on her beck leg, it seems to be alright
now. Eventually we are hoping to find a home in Holland for Betsy also.
A local newspaper in Bihac(Bosnia) printed an article about Betsy. Elvira
got in contact with them, and made sure they printed the story. This story
shows that stray-dogs are not violent, ferocious or anything else that
people think. This story shows that stray-dogs are special and that there
are still people that care about these animals.
Translation:
Betsy: from stray dog to real home pet
Love towards dogs doesn’t have limits
Instead of Bihac where she used to live as stray crossed-race dog,
Betsy found her future in neighborhood (Croatia).
Some 6 months ago, little crossed-race stray dog Betsy was found by
animal protection volunteers from Bihac on the street. She delivered
4 little puppies nearby local garbage disposal place, just before
she was discovered by her saviors. As every mother, Betsy was fighting
trough the life in order to take care of her little puppies. She was
warming them up with the heat of her own body during cold autumn nights.
Since nobody took care of her, she didn’t have any food. Therefore
in order to find some, she was constantly running over very busy street
Bihac-Sarajevo. Because of this crossing, she almost paid a price
with her own life. Unfortunately, she was hit by car and her leg got
broken. In despite to all efforts of the Bihac vet, they couldn’t
help her because they didn’t have possibility to X-ray broken
leg and see what the status of the damage is.
Translation:
Bihac volunteers for animal protection managed to get in contact
with Croatian animal protection association and all together they
took care of her little puppies which were transported on the safe
nearby Zagreb. Agneza and Jelena opened their home for her. Thanks
to them Betsy was operated and installed fixed medical iron trough
the bone of her broken leg and she is recovering fast thanks to
therapeutic swimming.
Saving angels
of Betsy said that from the stray dog she became real home pet who
likes cuddling a lot! During the nights she sleeps on the bed and
during the days she spends her time beside the stove. Thanks to
those great people, she was saved! Mostly of stray doggies are not
this lucky. Even the ones which are found by people who are willing
to help. In those cases they are using money from their own pockets
trying to solve problem that complete country, government and society
are turning head away in order not to see.
That is why volunteers in Bihac are trying to get their association
for animal protection registered as soon as possible. Their primary
aim will be to forbidden cruel killing of stray dogs and cats, and
what will be defined in the Animal Protection Law-once when it becomes
active part of the Bosnian Law.
Written by J.
Fetahovic
Since
Bihac animal protection organization is still not registered, all
interested in helping them, can get in contact via our main office
(newspaper redaction).
Marco and
Veerle on their trip
Marco and Veerle went to Orasje and came back with 6 dogs. The visit to
Orasje was, again, a big success. You can find their report on that category
of the website. Pictures of their trip are to be find on the website under
pictures. Marca and Veerle……you did a great job!
Linda back after one month of Orasje
Linda is back from her month of working in Orasje. It was the first time
someone was going by herself for a longer period to Bosnia to help out.
It was a bit exciting, as well as for Linda as for the SDB. Thanks to
Linda it was a huge success, Linda, we would like to thank you very much
for your devotion and hard work!!!! You did an excellent job. You can
find her story under our reports.
Visit to Croatia
and Bosnia by Conny and Wilma
Conny (foster parent) and Wilma have paid a visit to Croatia and Bosnia.
It was a short but intense trip. In Croatia they visited Jelena and Agneza.
These two ladies help Elvira(volunteer SDB in Bihac, Bosnia) with fostering
dogs and they assist a shelter in Croatia by re-homing dogs and also for
the shelter they foster. Wilma and Conny have been at that shelter also.
Next to visiting the
shelter they went to Bihac, Bosnia for a day. Elvira organised a get together
with a variety of people that already do something or are willing to do
something for the stray dogs in and around Bihac. Many people showed up,
and all sorts of topics were discussed. We all had a positive feeling
about it.
It was a very special
weekend we had in Croatia and Bosnia. We have seen, talked, and done a
lot and it was worth all our energy. You can find a short report on this
trip made by Conny on our website.
Trip April
We are getting closer. The last week of April we are going to the shelter
of Orasje with a group of volunteers to do the necessary things. The fence
has been ordered, and we hope it is finished in time so we can put the
fence around, hopefully, the entire shelter, including the new piece of
land. There is some deliberation going on about the wooden house and the
tin shed.
Also a medical crew
will join us that will sterilize and castrate the whole week. We hope
that people from Orasje will bring in their animals to get the necessary
medical care.
The group of people
that is going in April is the largest ever. We are going to do our utmost
to make it an excellent week.
18 February
08 Cokkie as an extra at the aftercare team
Because more and more dogs are coming to Holland to find a new home, it
is becoming too much for Willeke to do the aftercare by herself. Cokkie
will start doing this too. All the owners of the dogs that came from Orasje
will stay in contact with Cokkie. She has send her first email to inform
already.
Tuzla articles
in newspaper Bosnia
Today an article was printed where it was stated that there is an excessive
amount of stray dogs and they are planning to shoot the dogs. We will
let the municipality and the newspaper by sending them faxes what we think
of all this. We will try to shake things up. If it will contribute we
don't know, but we cannot accept it and do nothing.
The English translation
of the article:
Article published in Dnevni Avaz (daily news from BiH) on 18.02.2008.
There is no space in Tuzla's animal shelter any more…therefore Municipal
Service for housing and Utilities will start to purchase rifles for performing
of euthanasia…
Stray dogs presents big problem in Tuzla's Municipality. Lot of people
had negative experience with groups of stray dogs attacking on them. Day
by day there are more and more doggies. So far this problem was approached
on two different ways: the first one to place them into the animal shelter
and second one to kill them when there is too many and there is not space
in the animal shelter. Than they hire utility service "Komunalac"
to "take care" of the stray dogs. The big problem is that nobody
wants to do this job anymore (to kill dogs) therefore it's difficult to
find somebody- said by Aid Berbic, deputy of Municipal Department for
Housing and Utilities.
Capacity of animal shelter is 100 animals what is not enough to take care
of all stray dogs. Service for Utilities needs to purchase rifle for euthanasia
so this problem can be solved on the more human way than to kill them
with hunter's rifles. All Municipalities of Tuzla's Canton are facing
the same problem.
Bad experience of Mr. Ilic (citizen of Tuzla)
Mr. Ilic is the one
who was attacked by the group of stray dogs. While going to work wild
group attacked him from behind and he was fortunate to survive this attack
only with some scratches and bites.
Containers
donated
Hilda did it! Twenty big waste containers were donated for Orasje. These
containers are excellent for keeping food, and they will be used a lot.
You did a great job Hilda!!
14 Febr 08
Short report on Elvira's visit to Orasje
Regarding the shelter,
I was surprised with the way it looks now, you can really tell there is
some investment put in there…We saw the storage and it is really
well done. It is big and all the stuff is nicely and neatly stored in
there.
In the little part
there is like a room with a table and chairs and a wooden stow for heating.
The only problem is that there are still some mice that somehow get inside;
they are trying to solve it.
Moreover, I noticed
there are much more threes in the middle area, there are changes in the
protective sheets on the kennels. Looks really colourful because they
are in red and other bright colours.
The storage is full
of blankets and food and it is clean and smells nice, nothing like moist
or anything similar to that. All the kennels are clean and blankets dry
in the dog houses. We had a great time with the dogs.
Jusuf showed us the
place where he wants to construct medical room for surgeries so you guys
don't have to do it outside on a table. Svjetlana got you the approval
that Dutch vets are able to work in Orasje without any problem. She can't
wait for April. Now she realizes what you were saying. Sterilization/castration
is the only solution.
They told us about
the plans for the fence and the gate. They are planning to use the old
fence for dividing areas in the shelter so that the dogs could on fact
spend the whole way outside and they would be sorted in groups. Sounds
really good how they imagined it.
Linda, oh, she is
so nice and modest. We talked to her about everything, she told us about
the work she does as stewardess, how she came here and will be for 3,5
weeks and she likes it very much.
All the best and hope
to see you soon.
Elvira
10 febr 08
News from Linda from Orasje
I will write a quick report on my adventures in Bosnia. I keep trying
to get my pictures on the internet, but unfortunately I did nor succeed
yet and the computer quits every time I try.
I have been here for a week now, and I have to admit I am settling down
quite easy.
It is a totally different
world compared to ours, and it is really strange living with people who
I am not able to understand!!
At the shelter everything is going okay. It is hard work, but the wagging
of dog tails and the slobbery kisses after a hard day of work makes it
all worth it.
Unfortunately I will
bring 10 extra kilos of bodyweight back to Holland……..I am
being stuffed with food, and they don’t understand the meaning of
the word NO.
Yesterday Elvira from Bihac paid a visit, a city approx 5 hours away from
Orasje, and she had a nice way of explaining their habits………
“that’s what we do... we feed people.”
Linda
10 febr ‘08
Get together of Volunteers SDB
Sunday the day had finally arrived, the get together of volunteers.
It was a fun happening, and really nice to see eachother. “New”
and “Old” volunteers, all mixed.
Esther and Tom, we
thank you for your hospitality and the fact you opened up your home for
all of us.
It was partly because of you guys and the superb food a wonderful day,
and worth repeating!
Everyone that was present, thank you for coming!! We will do this again
this summer!
9 Febr ‘08
Elvira brings pups to Orasje
Elvira and some people in and around Bihac are taking care of more and
more dogs. Many time they find pups that were dumped. The past Saturday
Elvira brought three pups to Orasje where they will be looked after. Soon
pictures from her visit to Orasje will follow.
Marco en Veerle
naar Orasje
19 February
Marco and Veerle will travel to Orasje to spend some days working in the
shelter. They will bring back some dogs to Holland also. The report of
their trip and the pictures made will be published on this website after
their return!
All kinds
of news 04-02-08
Linda working
in Orasje the upcoming month
Last year we were
approached by Linda van den Engel, a stewardess. She was eager to work
at the shelter in Bosnia for one month.
After having
a conversation with Linda, and some deliberation with Svjetlana, we decided
to give her the opportunity.
Yesterday Linda
arrived in Bosnia, Orasje, to help Svjetlana and Yusuf with all the work
that has to be done in the shelter, for the entire month of February.
When I spoke
to her this morning she told me that she was impressed with all the dogs
in the shelter(over one hundred at this time) and told me that Svjetlana
and Yusuf did an excellent job organising everything.
Linda will keep us
posted on the latest news for this month.
Linda
Food donated
It happens more and
more that materials are donated to use in e.g. the shelter in Orasje.
Cokkie went
to pick up some special parts for making kennels and some food the past
weekend in Moerkapelle, that was offered by Jet.
Dutchy Puppy received food from the Dutch Animal protection society in
Den Hague. And we got food from several locations ourselves, like Utrecht
and Wijk bij Duurstede.
We are almost ready to have our next transport to Bosnia, because the
containers are getting swamped again.
A big pallet board full of food donated by Dutchy puppy
The container is filling up
Elvira and
helping puppy dogs.
Elvira found some
kindred spirits as it comes to loving animals in and close to Bihac.
So she is no longer by herself.
More and more pups and mature dogs are found on the streets. Elvira even
has one of them at home, as an extension of her ‘family’.
At this moment
there are several pups that are temporarily in home-situations, and there
are lots of pups living on the streets that are taken care after by Elvira
and some other people.
Three of them
will probably brought to the shelter in Orasje this month.
Elvira got in
contact with other people and a couple of dogs and pups are re-homed by
the help of Jelena, a young Bosnian woman, with good contacts in Austria
and Germany.
3 pups that get food from Elvira and other people in Bihac.
New shelter
in Bihac
SDB reviewed the design
for the new shelter in Bihac that is planned to be built.
A lot has to
be changed if this can become a good and efficient shelter, at this moment
it appears to be more something like a vet clinic.
SDB asked Chris
Lawrence for help, he works for Dog’s Trust.
We hope to give
a good advice to the Vet in Bihac that wants to start this shelter, an
advice based on the input from Chris and others.
The municipality
is willing to support the shelter and reserved money for making the plans.
We will try
to monitor this as good as possible and help wherever we can.
The event
“Huisdierendagen” are cancelled
In case you planned
to pay a visit to the event the “Huisdierendagen” in event
centre Rai, this is cancelled. This happened because of lack of applications.
11 jan 08
The beginning of a new year
New owners, thank you so much!!
During the first days of this new year a couple of dogs got a chance for
a new live at the homes of new owners. Re-homing the dogs is going well
and I think it is very special that the new owners and their dogs fit
in that good. In the world of the saving of animals and all the horrible
things we experience, the new owners are salve on our wounds, because
we find a lot of wonderful people. Dear all of you, thank you for given
‘our’ dogs a good and safe live.
Elvira is
lobbying
Elvira is busy trying to gather as many people as possible to start a
shelter in Bihac.
She has already arranged two meetings, and some people have shown up there.
Especially young people are interested to help to solve the problems with
stray dogs.
Some of them seem to be very motivated and Elvira thinks she found a couple
of persons that are seriously willing and able to help in Bihac.
Recently the NoKill
policy started in Bihac. That of course is excellent, but this is not
so great if we don’t have a shelter to give the dogs a safe place
to stay and where we can perform castrations.
Without the shelter and the castrations the dogs will breed, and the problems
will only get bigger.
A lot of work ahead on us in Bihac. The municipality admits there has
to be a shelter, and the veterinarian clinic and municipality asked the
SDB to support this.
We would like to do this, but only when this is all planned properly.
We will be anxious to see what will happen in Bihac.
To be continued
Gathering organised by Elvira
Elvira hands out the information to the people that did attend the meeting
Educational
booklets.
Next to the activities around the shelter, Elvira has been busy with the
educational booklets that are translated to the Bosnian language. We received
the offers to print them, and we will try to find companies or foundation
that will take part in paying the costs, so we can print lots of them.
We will let the booklets print in Bosnia. We are planning to hand out
the first set of booklets in April in a school in Orasje.
But when we come to that point, we will inform you.
Suze in ING
magazines
Our volunteers will do anything to get the SDB in magazines. Every magazine
that is printed in a company will do to tell about the SDB and the work
we do. This time Suze was is two magazines of the ING. Artikel 1 pdf van
Suze Artikel 2 pdf van
Suze
Orasje
We have spoken about the priorities of the shelter in Orasje during the
latest board meeting.
Do we have to fix the fencing first, or is it better to arrange electricity.
A new fence has to be placed around the old and the new piece of land.
The cost will be at least 7000 euro. This will be a fence that will stand
lots of decennia and that will not have to painted over and over again
and collapses after a short period. This kind of amount of money is huge
for such a small foundation.
Also electricity had to put in place, and we have received an pricy offer
for that too. The shelter is situated far from the main road, and therefore
the electricity has to bridge a long distance to reach the shelter. We
are trying to find a cheaper way to do this, because the money we are
talking about is extreme.
We have to make decisions
because we can’t do it all at once. We decided to do the fence first,
because we have the aggregate, and that will do for now. We will try to
put the fence in place before April, this will be done by a Bosnian company.
In April we will be working with a big group of volunteers in Orasje,
and we hope to be able to help getting the fence ready.
But we are talking about Bosnia, so we will be sure of everything after
our week over there.
The new storage is
being used already. The materials and food that was brought in December
are stored in this new building. At this moment the construction work
is inactive because Yusuf had a hernia, he will be operated in January
so we hope he will be better soon, and he will be able to do things he
likes to do.
There is also e new area where the pups stay that have been brought is
the past months. Because small puppy dogs are growing all the time!!!
20 dec 07
Looking back on the happenings in 2007
It was the year where we had our own television documentary.
The year where we had to distance ourselves from Tuzla and the dogs we
all loved/and still love so dearly.
The year where we
gave some Bosnian dogs a new opportunity in Holland.
The year we
were joined by new volunteers, but also had to say goodbye to others.
The year where
we designed and produced our own t-shirts.
The year we started supporting Orasje.
The year of our 5
year anniversary. Our dog walk was amazing!
It was a stormy year
with a lot of emotions. It was the year when it became clear that we form
a solid team and that we can cope with many setbacks, accomplish a lot
together, in spite of the fact we don't always agree upon decisions. So
many things happened during 2007, to many to list them all, 2007 was a
year to remember.
By this I would like
to take the opportunity to thank everyone that is involved with the SDB
for their support and help.
All the volunteers
that are willing to travel to Bosnia time after time again.
All the volunteers
that dedicate their selves for the SDB.
Elvira, Svjetlana
and Jusuf that work so hard in Bosnia.
All the foster families
who are willing to give the dogs their second chance.
All the new owners
of the dogs.
All the companies
and people that donated money or aid supplies, and perform activities
for free like printing folders.
Everybody who supports
dogs on a distance.
All the companies
that collect and store materials for free.
The veterinarians
that support us again and again, and give the dogs the best care possible.
Dutchy Puppy and Wereldasielen
for their support and trust in us.
And everyone I forgot
to mention, thanks for everything!!!
I wish you happiness,
all good things, love, confidence, courage and fun in 2008.
Wilma de Joode
20 dec 07 Wishes for Christmas and the New Year.
We received Christmas
and New Years wishes from several dogs and their owners.
We would like to thank
everyone for sending cards and emails. We are unfortunately not able to
reply them all personally by lack of time.
These are a couple
of the wishes we received:
Thursday 20th of December we are having a party! At that day Baloutje
is living with me for two years. Two years ago she was the best Christmas
present ever, and she still is!
I had never
had one second regret of adopting her.
And neither
has she as you can see on the picture! Balou has brought me so much joy.
Together with
her we wish all the Bosnian dogs and their owners a merry Christmas and
all good things for 2008. Balou says WOEF!
Love Kim and Balou
Hi there!
Just a small message concerning Victor. He recuperated from the surgery
and he is doing great. He is now showing a lot of juvenile behaviour (provoking
Nova and eating everything that is not fixed!!!) but during the puppy
course he behaved like a model dog! He grew up to be beautiful, with long
paws and an amazing sweet face.
We all wish you pleasant holidays and a healthy and happy 2008!
Greetings, Mascha
and a firm paw from Victor!
The transport
arrived
The transport arrived properly in Orasje. Because the materials had to
be unloaded from the truck very quickly, it was getting dark, there are
not many pictures. Everything is now at the storage in the shelter. Svjetlana
has send us this email:
Please allow me to
thank you and all the donors for the goods that arrived in the army truck.
It is all so great and I am so happy as I know that these dogs will never
be hungry again!
Best,
Svjetlana
11 dec 07 update all sorts of news
Transport
to Bosnia
Today a truck, loaded
with all sorts of food and materials, left for Orasje.
The past Thursday the truck first went to Harskamp, to pick up a lot of
materials donated to the SDB. Among other things we got refrigerators,
lights to hang outdoors, heaters and kitchen working tops.
Cees, owner of Bika, and the father of Cees, we would like to thank you
both, it is amazing!!
The past Friday we
loaded the truck, and I can ensure you, there was not a tiny spot left
to be filled. We used the entire space.
For the last
period we received a lot of supplies and food, so much we were not even
able to transport it all this time. The most important goods, in particular
food, is being transported anyway. We hope it all goes well, and that
the truck will be unloaded next Friday in Orasje.
Of course we
will publish pictures when the truck successfully accomplished its job.
We would like
to thank Sonja Deckers for arranging the food.
We would also
like to thank www.greenheart.nl for the three pallets of food we could
pick up for free. This is excellent!! Thank you Ben.
NoKill seminar At
the 1st and 2nd of December we had the seminar organised by NoKill Europe.
You can find
a full report on www.nokill.eu
. It was a remarkable event for Willeke, Anita, Peter and Wilma to attend
this the whole weekend, and to experience it by organising and watching
it this close.
Also the volunteers
who joined us the second day were impressed.
We would like
to do this again some day. We do think it is a shame that so little interest
was shown by all the other foundations that fight for the foreign animal
rights.
Many foundations
state that they support the NoKill principles, and they say that sterilizing
is the only solution, but they do not show up to learn more about this
during these days.
We hope that
there will be more foundations represented the next time!
Short trips
Meanwhile Tanja, Eerhard,
Marco, Veerle, Lilian, Suze and Fred returned from their trips to Bosnia,
and several dogs came along with them back to Holland. These dogs are
now staying with their foster families.
The shelter
in Orasje is packed, because a lot of mama-dogs and their pups and many
pups without a mother are found and brought to the shelter.
Svjetlana and
Yusuf had 19 dogs in their own home at one point in time, because there
was no space in the shelter.
It is wonderful
that the shelter is now getting more name known, but the dark side is
that more dogs are now dumped there. People feel sorry for putting the
pups on the streets, so they bring the dogs close to the shelter, and
it will all end up fine, they think!
Yusuf's health
is not okay at this moment, so most of the work has to be done by Svjetlna,
it is too much to do this all by herself.
In the shelter
there are now approximately 100 dogs.
All the construction
work is stopped now because of the poor health of Yusuf.
We hope that
he will feel better soon, and that they will find people who can help
them with all the work that has to be done on a daily basis.
It is hard to
find employees that are willing to work in the shelter.
We hope this
will change when everything is build properly.
4 dec
This
morning Peter left with a trailer on the way to Lienden.
Suze got in
contact with a company that sold dogfood, and we were allowed to pick
up 3 pallets of food. This is excellent.
The truck will
leave for Bosnia soon, and we are happy to get so much food, because the
truck is able to take it all to Bosnia.
The upcoming
winter the dogs are assured of having enough food.
26
November Marco and Veerle
Veerle and Marco returned on the 25th of November from their trip to Orasje.
You can read
their report of the report-page of our website.
At the 26th
of November another job was waiting for them!
300 kg of dog
food had to be brought from Betticourt to the storage in Moerdijk.
When they arrived
in Betticourt there was a lot more than the agreed 300 kilograms.
It was more
than their car could handle.
So to be sure
they asked Valerie if all the food was really given to the SDB.
They were given
a heartfelt 'yes'.
Fortunately
they were able to use a trailer by Valerie. During loading the trailer
they were counting, and it was a huge amount of 825 kg.
The Bosnian
dogs and the SDB are really happy with this immense gesture.
Monique and
Valerie, again thanks for this enormous load of food.
27 and 28 November, supplies and food are taken to the storage
Cokkie had been very
busy collecting all sorts of materials. Winanda also made a lot of effort
to collect the necessary supplies. Cokkie picked up all the stuff at Winanda’s
place, and she arrived in a fully loaded van at the storage in Moerdijk..
At the 28th of November Rob left early in the morning to pick up three
pallets full of food and other aid supplies at Sonja Deckers.
With a heavenly loaded
trailer Rob arrived at the storage in Moerdijk. Together with Wilma he
drove of to the storage in Dordrecht, to get the supplies out of there
and take them to Moerdijk, so it would be easier to load the truck for
the upcoming transport.
New trip in
April '08 We are making arrangements for our next trip to Orasje in April
2008. We have major plans, constructing as well as castrating and sterilizing.
There is a shed to be build, a wooden log cabin to be assembled and I
am not even thinking of the kennels that have to be build, the concrete
that has to be poured and the dog houses we want to make.
But the biggest challenge is to get people of Orasje motivated to neuter
their cats and dogs by our vets.
Svjetlana already received multiple requests from the locals if we would
be able to neuter their animal, so we will see what we can do in April.
Anyway, we look forward to support Svjetlana and Jusuf in this way, and
we will help in anyway we can.
Educational Booklet Right
now Elvira is getting in contact with printing offices in Bosnia to check
out where we van print the booklets, against the best quality and price.
Dogs trust helped
us getting these booklets. They made these booklets especially for kids
and their teachers in Romania, to educate them about stray dogs and the
problem around stray animals.
Elvira and Alisa
translated the booklet to the Bosnian language and Dogs trust assembled
it with the right layout.
By this way a beautiful book is created. There is an example to use by
kids, and one for their teachers. All sorts of facts are in there, and
the problems are explained in a playful, but serious way. All the things
that are true and not true about stray dogs, and how to deal with these
animals in the bes way.
The teachers
get a book with all sort of tasks which can be given to the children.
We are planning to distribute the booklets among the children at the schools
of Orasje.
We hope we can show the people by this way that the problem with stray
animals can be solved in an acceptable way and that stray dogs are not
horrible creatures.
The children
are our future, do we have to focus on them!
Hilda visiting
a well known lady called Imca Marina
December the 2nd Hilda visited Imca Marina after receiving an invitation
after the election of most attentive person from Groningen.
Hilda ended
second. A small trip was organised for all the contestants, and the trip
was a visit to Imca Marina. During the election Imca stated she supported
the SDB and would become a donator. We of course hope Imca will not forget
the SDB.
21 nov 07
update latest news
Tanja and Eerhard
returned from Orasje
Tanja and Eerhard
arrived safely, together with five dogs. Tanja has written a report on
this trip, you can read this on our report-page.
The dogs that came to Holland have been brought to their foster families,
and they are all doing very well.
Tanja and Eerhard, you did a GREAT job!!!!
Eerhard and Jusuf
Tanja
Trip Marco, Veerle and Lilian to Orasje
These volunteers will
leave for Orasje tomorrow, they will pay a short visit to Orasje and bring
back some dogs.
In the report Tanja made you can read about Mickey, this is one of the
dogs that will be brought to Holland. This is a Pekinese dog that has
been brought to the shelter and that was bitten by another dog. His eye
is badly injured and it will probably be necessary to be removed. We rarely
bring a dog to Holland that has medical problems, but this is an exception,
because it would not be possible to treat this in Bosnia.
Of course pictures and reports will be published when Marco, Veerle and
Lilian return from Bosnia.
WSPA conference
in Sarajevo
Elvira has attended
this conference for three days and has met many different people, from
several countries.
Next to Elvira also Jelena joined the conference. Recently Jelena became
more active in Bosnia for the SDB. Elvira says: “I am glad that
I met with all those people and it was quite interesting to watch them
and read their behaviour/interaction. All in all, I can positively say
that it was useful and interesting.”
Elvira and Jelena hope to be able to achieve more in the future with the
contacts they made during the conference. But one thing is clear, it is
not easy to cooperate in the right way, even though we are working to
reach the same goals.
Elvira at the conference in Sarajevo
12 November
07 All sorts of news
Short report
Animal conference Berlin
There were a lot of
people joining the conference. The participants made the trip to Berlin
from different countries. Italy, Spain, Poland, Romania and many more
countries were represented.
Tanja, Eerhard, Willeke,
Peter and I represented the SDB. Nathalie Klinge and Eelco, her boyfriend,
participated also. Nathalie is working for FPCC in Romania among other
organisations.
Last year we also joined this conference(after we were told about it by
Nathalie) and we enjoyed it very much. There were a lot of organisations,
which were involved in animal welfare in the eastern part of Europe, just
like us, so we decided to visit the conference again.
When we arrived we
immediately saw a lot of familiar faces, and we were given a warm welcome
by the people of Dogs Trust.
When we were handed the program it was clear that it would be some busy
days.
Workshops, a tour around the shelter of Berlin, lectures etc. We would
not be able to get bored these 3 days.
We were reunited with
some of the people we had met last year.
One of them is Urshka. Urshka fights for animal rights in Slovenia.
And also Anita form Kroatia. Anita originally comes from Germany, but
moved to Kroatia years ago and makes out a case for the animals in Kroatia.
Dorothea Friz, a veterinarian,
was there too. Dorothea is a specialist in castrating animals as early
as possible, and has been working in Italy for many years.
We also met “new”
organisations. Sara Turetta from Romania.
Sara is founder of a foundation called Canibucarest.
This foundation is supported financially by Dutchy Puppy.
People from Russia,
China and Japan participated. There were people visiting the conference
from more than 30 countries. We talked and talked until we all had husky
voices, just to get in contact with as many organisations as possible,
and to catch up with the people we already knew.
This time, next to
us, there were also two Dutch veterinarians at the seminar, and through
them we got in contact with Ted Brewer. Ted appeared to have experience
with Bosnia, and he had heard about the SDB. Ted was eager to hear our
story, so we had dinner with him and his friend Beth.
Ted is very enthusiastic about the SDB and is happy to write an article
about us.
Ted is a writer for the Best Friends Animal Society in America.
This is a huge organisation, who manages their own shelter in America
and is trying to fight animal abuse worldwide.
We talked for hours with Ted. And after arriving on Wednesday, we were
surprised to see an article on the Best Friends website the next Friday.
You can read this article on: http://network.bestfriends.org/international/news/
This week Ted promised
us that the SDB would get a donation of $1500 from Best Friends, and of
course we are very happy with this gesture. Who knows what the future
will bring us.
The three days went
really fast. Before we knew it was over.
We did the T-touch workshop that Sarah tought.
We attended the lecture of Analeise Smillie of Animals Asia Foundation.
There were horrible pictures of dogs that are caught and are butchered
alive. We saw positive result and pictures of dogs that were saved by
this foundation and who live now a happy life. We experienced the fact
that this foundation started out small, and now years later, accomplished
so much.
That gives us strength!
We can not mention
all the things we did and see, but we can state that it was a very successful
conference!
We would like to emphasize
that it is important to join this for all the foundations next year.
Not because you are given tools, this is not the way it is working. But
to get in contact with lots of people who manage shelters in countries
where animals have no rights, and are willing to do anything that is necessary
to help these stray-animals.
Elvira at
the conference held by the WSPA in Sarajevo
From 13 until 15 November a conference organised by WSPA is being held
in Sarajevo.
Elvira will be representing the SDB. We hope she will get in contact with
lots of people, and that the outcome of the conference will be positive
for all the stray animals in Bosnia.
A report will follow
when Elvira has returned form the conference.
Design Bosnian
legislation for animal welfare
The Bosnian government is working on a legislation concerning animal welfare.
Organisations working in Bosnia are free to review this design and give
their feedback.
Elvira and Jelena, one of our new volunteers in Bosnia, made 10 pages
full of comments.
The design counted many pages with a huge amount of articles and almost
every article was commented. Elvira and Jelena used the knowledge from
legislation of other countries and by that we came to "our comment".
Meanwhile we have
send the document back to Bosnia. We got an immediate reaction, where
we were thanked for our review, and that they would use this, together
with the feedbacks of all the other parties involved, to eventually get
o a new animal welfare law.
Hopefully the problems
in Bosnia around the government at this moment, because of the resignation
of the president, will be solved soon, so everyone can go on governing
the country and draw up laws.
Short trips
to Orasje in November
This month 7 volunteers, will travel in 3 separate groups, to Bosnia.
New issues will be discussed with Svjetlana and Yusuf.
The main goal of the trip is checking out the shelter, how things are
progressing, and a couple of dogs will come to Holland.
Of course pictures
and reports will be published when everyone returned safely from their
trip.
Transport
of collected aid-supplies to Bosnia
On the 11th of December it will happen again!
A truck will leave for Bosnia to transport all the collected aid-supplies.
We are doing our best to collect as much as possible at the last moment.
So, if you have anything for us that is suitable for Bosnia, please let
us know, we will figure a way out to get this to the storage.
On the 7th of december
we are going to load the truck. We hope this will be packed!
Urgent call
for Pups in distress
A Dutch company which has a furniture factory in Bosnia phoned us recently.
One of the owners spotted seven pups walking along the road, and he could
not leave them to their selves, he knew they would not survive.
He decided to take
them to the factory.
He phoned us to ask of we could do anything to help the pups.
Meanwhile Svjetlana was in contact with the factory and the pups will
be brought to the shelter soon. The shelter is packed at the moment, but
the pups need our help.
Svjetlana is not sure
where the pups will stay, but as always she will find a solution. If necessary
she will take them home. We hope the story will have a happy end, we will
do our utmost to help them.
30 Oktober
2007
Hilda van Dijk is one of the volunteers, she lives in Groningen. She tries
to promote the SDB in her region as much as possible. She is very dedicated
and spends many hours working for the SDB.
She has accomplished
a lot already, she collected so many supplies that one of her rooms and
the garage are completely stuffed. She was in the local newspaper for
three times representing the SDB.
Thanks to Hilda even
a second volunteer in Groningen applied, Maya.
Hilda was nominated for the most attentive person from Groningen. She
came in second!
We would like to congratulate her with this position!
31 okt + 1
en 2 nov 07 Animal Conference Berlin
The annual Animal Conference organised by Dogs Trust is held in Berlin
this year.
Last year we attended this conference in Ljubljana (Slovenia).
Tanja, Eerhard, Willeke, Peter and Wilma will visit this event as representatives
of the SDB.
We hope to meet a lot of interesting people!
Reunion 5th
anniversary of SDB, held Saturday the 6th of October 2007,
Having an afterglow I'm writing a piece about the dogwalk we had yesterday,
happenings past my thoughts, conversations pop up, and happy dogs appear
in my mind.
Where shall I start
writing the story about this successful day.
Pfff, will I tell you about the preparations, the stress in the morning
wondering if everything would go as planned, about the wonderful weather,
about the excellent turnout(aprox 125 people and 100 dogs), about the
start of the walk where we had to find 5 dogs that lost their owners in
the chaos, about the walk itself, about the TTouch workshop, about the
wonderful lunch, about, about, about?
Words are not adequate
to describe the day, it is impossible to picture the way everyone experienced
this day. Wilma and I could not tell each other exactly about how we both
experienced the day, however the volunteers will can agree upon one thing,
it was amazing to see all the dogs we know so well.
Dogs we met in the
shelter in Tuzla or Orasje, dogs that are extra special because of the
things that happened here or in Bosnia, dogs that we transported to Holland
in our own cars, or dogs that we had fostered, it is lovely to see them
with their new owners.
A reunion that had
touched us deeply, it is beautiful to see the dogs being happy.
Many dogs looked at us surprised as we kneeled down, called by there old
names, you could se that they were thinking: "what do you want form
me", no signs shown of recognition.
And that is wonderful,
the way it is supposed to be, Bosnian dogs all settled and used to their
new owners, Bosnia is left far behind.
We could not
get a bigger gift for our 5th anniversary, a present formed by all the
happy Bosnian dogs present together with their owners, thank you all for
this!!!
We hope that
the participants all enjoyed the walk, time was lacking to talk to everyone.
We would like to organise more walks with all of you and the owners that
could not make it this time.
Hugs and love to all
the sweet, happy dogs.
Regards Tanja
New short
trips to Bosnia
In the month of November
Tanja, Eerhard, Suze, Fred, Marco, Veerle and Lilian will pay a visit
to Orasje. This will take place in three separate groups. Several dogs
will be brought to Holland.
You will be able to
read about the trips when they have returned.
15 okt 07
Construction of new buildings in Orasje They
are working really hard in Orasje, because the winter is coming and before
that the new storage must be finished. This storage is used for keeping
all the supplies, that are imported from Holland, and there will be a
small space for doing some carpentry.
When they have
to do some small jobs like doing carpentry, sawing or anything else, it
had always to be done out in the open air, because there are no facilities
shelter. This is now changing, Jusuf is busy building and it is going
rapidly.
Soon a start
will be made placing new fences around the new piece of land. This will
be done by a specialised company. Thanks to the donation made by Dutchy
Puppy we are able to realise this.
There are also
some new members in the shelter, including these two….
Bosnian Dogwalk,
5 year anniversary of the SDB
What a wonderful, warm, relaxed, and fulfilling day it was yesterday.
A Bosnian Dogwalk because of the 5 year anniversary of the SDB!! (official
date of establishment was 24 okt '07 5). We will add pictures and movies
as soon as possible so everyone can see that I am not making up these
stories. It was an awesome walk!
I personally experienced
it in some kind of mist. The one moment we drive in our car toward the
walk, and the next moment we are driving home.
The day goes by in
my head. So many dogs and people I wanted to cuddle and talk to.
To do it right it had to take at least two days.
The dogs all behaved so well. The owners that are all very sweet and caring
people, and make a perfect match with their dog(s).
I cannot explain it,
express myself in words, how it feels to experience all this.
I could never have imagined this when I decided to stand up for the dogs
in Bosnia.
I could never have dreamt of meeting all these special animals.
I could never have thought of meeting so many wonderful people.
I could never have fantasized this was going to be this good for me.
But on the other hand,
I could never have imagined the kind of things that enter into the situation.
I could never have dreamt of going this deep.
I could never have thought of people being this horrible, backstabbing,
deceitful and hypocrite, in the way that they show off with saving animals.
I could never have
fantasized this was going to have an enormous impact on my live like it
is having now!
But in the end it
is something I just have to do.
This is where my heart belongs, this is my goal. I took the responsibility
when I started the foundation and I have to take the consequences, one
way or another. Although this is often really hard and sometimes I would
like to hand over all this responsibility.
To see these special
dogs, there the most beautiful, dearest, wonderful and amazing, provides
me with the necessary energy to go on!
The happiness I see
in the eyes of the animals and the people involved makes it all worth
and gives the power to keep fighting.
I would like to thank
everyone that joined us accompanied by there dogs. It was a pleasure to
see all of you, it was amazing to have you there.
I would like to mention
some special thanks to a couple of people!
Tanja and Josien, thanks for organising this wonderful walk. You have
done an amazing job and it could not have gone any better. Thanks a lot!
Esther, Tom and Sanne
thanks for making us a really excellent lunch.
Everyone was extremely enthusiastic about their lunch. Having that kind
of a luxurious lunch when you are walking the dogs is something really
special. Thanks a million!!
Jorien, thanks for
all your support with getting us coffee and tea, and guiding us through
the moor land.The landscape was wonderful and we all enjoyed it. Thanks
!!
Miriam Beckers thanks
for giving us the T-Touch workshop.
It was very interesting and I am sure that you made people think about
this and possibly made them working with their animals. Thank you!!
Marian, thank you
very much for the hand painted plate. It is beautiful.
Willeke, Marco and
Veerle, thank you for making and creating of the book full of photo's
en the canvas picture. It is awesome!!!
Everybody that made
their contribution to making the book and the canvas, it is really touching
and beautiful, thanks so much for this gesture.
All the people I did
not mention, but who were involved in organising the lovely day, thank
you!!
The weather was fine,
the sun was high in the sky, it was perfect…..but we all deserved
it!!
My dear friends, again
thanks for everything. Thanks to you all it was a superb event!!
Love,
Wilma
5 oktober
07 Press releases
The things a couple of dogs from Bosnia and their new owners can do.
Goran and Lobke(ala Max and Bebce) were at the same foster family. The
new owners of these two dogs arrived at the home of the foster family
at the same time. They got in contact and still are.
It is always nice
to know how the relatives are doing.
The owner of Goran is a journalist and the owner of Lobke had a story
to tell.
This Wednesday a wonderful article was placed in a newspaper called the
Algemeen Dagblad.
You can find the article here: http://www.ad.nl/familie_en_relaties/article1710437.ece
KRO Magazine(Dutch
tv-guide)
In the KRO Magazine of last week, an article was placed about Wilma and
the SDB.
"Hondenmanieren"
(Dutch magazine about dogs)
The theme of the next issue of "Hondenmanieren" will be dedicated
completely to the dogs and foundations that work outside of Holland. SDB
will also have an article in this magazine.
All sorts
of happenings 3 oktober '07
Cokkie at
the fair in Rotterdam
Saturday 29 September, Cokkie attended a fair together with a friend,
to sell t-shirts in favour of SDB.
Unfortunately not much has been sold. We don't understand because we think
the new t-shirts are really really really nice.
Dierzdag in
Lelystad
Sunday it was the first time for the "dierzdag"-event in Lelystad.
Martin Gaus(a famous dogtrainer in Holland) and his family opened their
private property for this special event.
DutchyPuppy attended
the happening, and Willeke and Wilma assisted Bryan Maasland at the stand.
It was a nice day, lots of activities were organised. There were lessons
in doggydancing, a track for the dogs with all sorts of playful games,
more stands and much more things to do.
This event was organised
by www.dierz.nl. Dierz
is a digital meeting point for all keepers of pets.
We think it is worth checking out this website.
You will also find pictures and information about the event.
DogBlog campaign
The past month there has been a campaign at www.dogblog.nl
to raise money for the SDB.
There was a request to donate money so that dogs could be adopted on a
distance. This campaign has now been ended and the wonderful results are
now made public. They raised 216 euros.
This means that six
dogs can be adopted for a whole year. This is excellent.
I would like to thank all the dogbloggers that donated money, thanks for
your support!
And Bart, thanks for promoting the SDB.
Especially
for all the people that perhaps haven't noticed it yet, there are pictures
of the last trip we made to Orasje in the folder Photo's and Video's.
23rd of September
2007 Trip to Orasje
We all returned safely, accompanied by with eleven dogs. It was a special
kind of trip. Special people, special animals, special moments, special
meetings, special situations and many emotions. Soon you can read our
reports and look at the gallery for all the pictures made of this trip.
I want thank everyone who went along to Bosnia.
Tanja, Marco, Veerle, Willeke, Suze, Fred, Lilian, Cokkie and Iris....
Thanks!! You are all the best.....
6th of October
“walking our Bosnian dogs”
Just a couple of days and it will finally happen! There are already more
than 75 dogs and just as many people who will join us, and the number
will probably increase. The Bosnian dog walk is organised because the
foundation exists 5 years already this year in October. It will be a special
“walk and talk” meeting. Everyone who wants walk along is
welcome, also people with dogs which do not come from Bosnia. All information
will be provided on our website this week.
10th of September
2007 Tanja, Veerle and Marco in Bosnia
At this moment Tanja, Veerle and Marco are in Orasje. Today also Suze
and Fred will arrive, and they will return together with the last group
of volunteers that will leave Bosnia on Thursday the 21st of September.
They painted, visited Tuzla, and more activities are planned, like e.g.
emptying the storage in Tuzla and bringing everything to Orasje.
The visit they paid to Tuzla was a special one. Katica(the lady that cares
for cats) was visited. We support this old lady in one way or another.
We cannot distance ourselves entirely from this lady, who shelters cats
and a couple of dogs in her own way.
We will buy her a stove, because the one she has is broken. And the winter
is coming, so they will need some warmth.
We will also try to control the medical care for the cats that live with
Katica. And on top of that we give her food by Svjetlana in Orasje.
After the visit to Tuzla also a number of new occupants has recovered
in the asylum in Orasje!! We are happy to have them and care for them,
give them a happy safe live.
Next group
of volunteers to Bosnia
Thursday the 13th of September the next group of volunteers will leave
for Orasje, Willeke, Cokkie, Lilian, Iris and Wilma. This group will return
on the 21st of September to Holland. Marco, Veerle and Tanja will return
from their trip on Monday the 17th of September.
Drvar pups
Elvira will check upon the pups every day and they are doing okay.
They have been vaccinated and de-wormed and will be transported to Orasje
this Saturday. They are not as anxious as they were in the beginning,
and they can now be caressed carefully. The male dog is the least scared.
The two dogs play with each other a lot. They eat properly, so we expect
them to turn out as two happy and healthy dogs.
We are all very curious about these two dogs which we will finally see
Saturday in Orasje.
New request
for help shelter some dogs
This weekend a request for help reached Elvira. A lady rang about her
dog and 8 pups the dog had. The lady herself already placed 5 pups but
the 3 remaining puppies and their mother could not stay with her. They
had already 2 dogs and that was hard enough.
We asked Svjetlana if it was possible to bring the mother and its pups
to Orasje. So actions are taken in place to make room for them, because
the shelter is packed.
But of the dogs are of course welcome in Orasje. Soon therefore this mother
and its 3 pups will become new occupants of the shelter in Orasje.
One of the puppies.
The mother dog
No Kill seminar
1 and 2 December 2007
SDB have been set
up for the stray dogs in Bosnia. People in Bosnia try to remove these
animals in dreadful manners. We know that killing is no way to solve the
problem. The ONLY solution is castration/sterilisation.
To bring this under the attention in a country where veterinary surgeons
do not know how a dog or cat works physically and how a sterilisation
must be done properly.
It is worldwide a problem and the more people speak their minds and devote
themselves to the stray animals the louder our voices will become.
Because SDB is against killing stray dogs we support the No Kill foundation.
This foundation organises a seminar on 1 and 2 December 2007 where one
of the topics will be the early castration and sterilisation dogs and
cats.
Timing
is essential when it comes to castration/sterilisation.
That sterilising and castrating animals is a more effective and friendly
way to prevent animal suffering (killing healthy animals by euthanizing,
poisoning, shooting or even more terrible activities...), we do not need
to tel you. That’s why we don’t.
On the other hand,
we do ask you to pay attention to a relatively unknown method: Castration
at a young age, also known as early castration!
This 2 days seminar organised by the No Kill organisation in December
this year concerns "early castration", castration of pups and
kittens as from approximately 8 weeks, and therefore an important step.
SDB invites you to check out their website to look at further information:
http://www.nokill.eu/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=70&Itemid=128
SDB has been involved in an active way organising this seminar and we
hope of course that this will open a lot of eyes in the Netherlands and
possibly even outside.
2nd of September
2007
Yesterday the second
puppy arrived at the pension in Bihac. The owner and his wife were getting
ready to leave and were all dressed up, but immediately stood by to reunite
the little one with her brother.
Arrival, sick of
travelling
Getting her out of
the car
Finally together
Renew the acquaintance
Safe
Elvira with the pups
in the kennel
Elvira Text messaged me yesterday that they were playing all the time,
and they are doing very well. The female dog allowed Elvira to touch her.
These two will turn out all right! We will do everything to give them
a golden future!
1st of September
07 brother and sister re-united
Last Wednesday Elvira went to check upon the small female dog that was
still hiding in the sewer pipe. She brought some sleeping pills and lots
of food as part of the plan to catch her.
The puppy ate the
pills and became a bit sleepy but did not really fall a sleep.
If there was any movement towards her she pulled back. Elvira stayed until
the evening dropped in but without success.
Water and food were left behind, close to the place she sleeps at night,
so she would be comfortable.
More sleeping pills and cans of Tuna were handed over to Remko and his
colleagues, they would give it a try a couple days later. And this attempt
succeeded. Here is Remko’s story.
1-9-07
Hi Wilma,
This morning we finally did it, we got the female dog!
We decided to try it today instead of yesterday, because she was pretty
sick of the pills we gave her and Thursday morning she was still out cold
in the sewer pipe and also in the evening. And also because of our busy
day we decided to postpone it.
When we arrived she
was sitting outside the sewer, so we were able to dig in front of the
sewer and shut the pipe so she could not go in there again.
We gave het eight
pills and a can of tuna, and waited in the car parked at a safe distance
After an hour fighting
against the sleep, she was not willing to give up, and made an attempt
to go into the forest. So we got out of the car with more food and draw
a lot of attention, and because of her curiosity she approached us again.
She was still scared
from the former attempts of catching her, and because we did seize her
brother.
She hurried to get into the sewer, and when she got in we followed her,
and there was no way out. We were able to get her without her trying to
bite us.
But when we put her
in our car she peed and pooped all over us, but that is were washing machines
come in!
The ride was not very pleasant for her, we had to stop one time, because
she was vomiting.
I think it is combined because of stress, pills, driving the curved roads
and fear. After driving 1 ½ hour she was reunited with her brother.
At this moment they
are together in a kennel, and I am convinced it will lead to a happy ending.
The brown dog is less scared, and likes being petted by the owner of the
pension.
Only when there are too many people around them they are still frightened.
Well, regards, we
will definitely visit them before leaving for Orasje.
We would like to thank the foundation for all the time and effort spend
to mean something for these precious dogs.
I will make a donation and ask the others to do that also.
Regards Remko and
Dick
Remko and Dick brought
the female dog to Bihac and reunited her with her brother.
In the beginning they
had to get used to each other again, but yesterday evening Elvira text
messaged me that the were playing.
They will be treated
against worms, and in a couple of days they will be vaccinated.
Elvira is checking them every day, and these two dogs will be transferred
to the shelter in Orasje. Elvira will take pictures and when we receive
this we will place them on the website.
This will be soon!
Remko, Dick, Elvira
en her boyfriend and all the others that assisted, thank you very much!
25th of August
2007
Lilian, Veerle and
Marco at the flee market in Heerlen
4 months ago a folder appeared that announced a flee market in Heerlen
that would take place.
Marco and Veerle saw the opportunities and asked the volunteers for help.
Lilian was willing to help them out.
About 1,5 week before it started the municipality granted them to sell
t-shirts for the SDB because it was for a good cause, with the restriction
that it would not be to eye-catching. Their report on the happening:
A few days before the market we went to Wilma to pick up some t-shirts.
This was a trip well spent because we had a car full of materials for
the shelter in Bosnia and its dogs.
We did not have a
t-shirt yet, except for Lilian, so we had to try on some models, because
we wanted to show them while selling them.
At the day of the
happening we agreed on meeting Lilian at the promenade in Heerlen.
It was the first time that Lilian visited Heerlen, so Albert and Lilian
had to search a little bit.
At that moment the cell phone is a wonderful gadget, it was the perfect
way to get her there in time.
Setting up our booth and blowing up the mannequins without head or limps
until you get dizzy, pfffff.
At nine o’clock the market started and three minutes later we sold
7 books, a new record!
These books didn’t sell the last time we were in Overpelt, and now
they go quickly.
During the day we
sold over 30 books, so don’t worry when you don’t sell anything,
it can happen at a different spot.
It was going tob e a warm summer-day so we had on our summergear, but
it turned out to be chilly. So the ladies got cold and went shopping.
First there was Lilian, because we were situated just across her favourite
shop “Miss Etam”. After some time we started worrying because
it took so long. But after an hour she showed up with a really large shopping
bag of
“Miss Etam”
Lilian also kept her trip to Bosnia in September in mind, and later that
day she proceeded her shopping and went back! A girl can never have enough
clothes.
The fact that Lilian
finished her first shopping-round made it possible for Veerle to look
at “Britain” for a sweat shirt. Because when it is predicted
to get 27 degrees Celsius Veerle doesn’t think of bringing one.
They were able to
do some shopping because the morning was very quiet. It is Saturday and
most people get up later.
After one o’clock
it all speeded up and it was very busy.
A lady gave us 1,50 just because we did a good job saving dogs, and some
couple told us they were interested fostering. That couple came back after
1,5 hour, bought a t-shirt and told us they would phone Wilma to talk
about the fostering.
There was a lady that
had no interest in bying a t-shirt but did want a blow-up-mannequin!!
We had to disappoint her.
Later that day Maza and Rosa dropped by, their owner Myriam came along
too. Myriam bought a t-shirt and then there were four people standing
behind the market stall.
We sold lots of different
stuff and a lot of people were enthusiastic about our work.
Many people cared for our foundation, had some conversations and were
interested.
That day we made a profit of 310 euros and maybe a new foster family.
We are satisfied and had a very nice day.
In the evening Maza,
Rosa, Parkin and Sivka visited Lola, Zelja and Nina.
All the two legged ‘animals’ had a lovely BBQ at Lilians and
Alberts place.
Again it was a fun
day that made 310 euros for the dogs in Bosnia.
Love, Veerle, Lilian
and Marco
28th of August
2007 Rescue operations of two puppies in Drvar
I got an email through Els Adams, of the foundation “Dier en project”,
this email was from a Dutch soldier. This Soldier, Remko, was stationed
in Bosnia and asked us for help. Amongst other thing he wrote:
“At
this moment I am stationed for six months in Bosnia. When I arrived
here five weeks ago, my predecessor took me to a spot where he took
care of two small dogs. These dogs started with three of them, and
where only three weeks old while being dumped out there, their eyes
just opened according to my colleague.
Fortunately
my colleague was able to save them from dying by giving them milk
and bread, and slowly switching to thinned canned food and in water
soaked dry food.
In spite of
his attempts one of the puppies did not make it. There are two left.
They were dumped
along the road, and now live in a sewer just under that road.
We adapt our daily patrol to visit the dogs on a daily basis to
feed them.
We are happy to tell that they are growing quickly and they are
well fed. Also their teeth look very healthy as far as I can see.
We are now able
to pet them when we give them the food, but they are still scared
when sudden moves are made and they will move back.
But when we
arrive at the spot, they recognize the sound of our car, they appear
barking, and wagging their tails being happy to see us.
Because the
dogs being dumped in the middle of nowhere, they would be left to
their own device. And they are growing fast and that makes me nervous
because they will not fit in the sewer and will have to find a new
space to use as a shelter. And they could become a prey to the wolves
in that area.
I tried to take
the dogs to the location where we stay during the six months, but
this is not possible.
Also I asked
some local contacts if it is possible that people living close by
would be interested in adopting the dogs, but sadly most of the
people treat pets differently compared to Holland.
T put it shortly,
there is nobody gives anything about these animals around here.
When we leave in about five months, nobody will care for them.
I will give some information on the dogs:
They are a male and a female dog.
The male looks
a littlebit like a shepard dog. He has as robust kind of posture,
a mix of short light and dark brown hairs.
The female dog
looks a bit like a border collie. She has more of a slim figure
and a pointed black face, white feet and a white chest.
They are both
very happy dogs, the female dog is less scared. I think they are
now something like 8 to 10 weeks old.
Friends told
u s that you could maybe help us or give us some tips how to handle
a situation like this. ”
SDB immediately contacted Remco and we were looking for a solution to
help them.
Elvira, one of our permanent volunteers in Bosnia, lives a bit more then
an hour away from Drvar, the place Remko is working.
Elvira wanted to help
catch the dogs, but there was no place to put them temporarily.
It was not possible to put them with Remko, and Elvira already had three
dogs running around her house. The shelter in Orasje was more then three
hours of driving.
In September Elvira
was coming to Orasje, but until then we had to place the dogs somewhere.
When Elvira was buying
a bench in Bihac and asked some things, the owner of the shop told her
that there was a small pension for dogs in Bihac.
Elviracould not believe
this so she asked the phone number to call them immediately.
She made an appointment to visit the pension and went to check it out.
The people who run
the pension is a couple, they have some dog kennels behind their home.
It was all looking very nice and tidy, and the are working on putting
a fence around the property. It looked fine, so they agreed on placing
the dogs over there if it was possible to catch them.
We needed to get the
dogs out of their spot as soon as possible. And it became even more necessary
when Remko emailed us telling that the male dog was gone for a couple
of days.
When he returned after
a few days he was almost not able to walk. Maybe he was hit by a car?
Or bit by a snake? Kicked by someone? Fortunately the little guy recuperated.
But because of this
incident the pressure was on to catch these dogs and put them somewhere
safe. Contacts were made and an they planned their moves.
The past Sunday
Elvira, Remko and another colleague went to look for the dogs and tried
to catch them. Unfortunately they were able to catch the male dog only.
The female dog was to scared, especially after the male dog was gone the
days before we told about.
She crawled into the
sewer pipe and there was a risk of she being stuck.
So they did not want to take more risks.
They decided to leave
her there and take the male dog and leave her behind.
Remko and his colleagues will try to win her over so they will be able
to catch her and bring her to a safe environment. That moment Elvira will
pick her up to bring her to the pension also. It is clear that we all
hope this will soon happen.
The male dog is doing
okay. He is now vaccinated and de-wormed by the vet, and Elvira visits
the little fellow every day to play with him and cuddle him. In September
he will be brought to the shelter in Orasje where he will stay to be taken
care after.
You can see some pictures
of the little dogs and the pension.
When we have more
news on the female dog we will of course write an update on our website.
We hope they will be together soon.
22nd of August
2007
Johan Pot deceased
Johan Pot called me a couple of months ago because he heard of the foundation
through Arnold, the veterinarian. He offered to help us because he thought
we were doing a good job.
Johan has/had is own company were t-shirts are printed amongst other things.
He offered us to print t-shirts at reduced charges.
We did not have to pay until the t-shirts were sold, and we did not have
to put a large order.
This was of course a wonderful offer, and it was clear that Johan wanted
to help us.
Thanks to Johan we started making our own t-shirts!
Unfortunately Johan suffered from cancer and in the end it became fatal.
The 30th of July Johan deceased.
The company will be taken over by his daughter Marscha.
Through this we would like to wish his family and friends all the best
and a lot of strength during this period of grief.
August 2007
In Orasje they are trying to find out what the expenses will be to place
fences around the new piece of land, of more than 2000 m2, and make it
suitable for facilitating the care for more dogs.
The first proposals arrived and if we want to do it properly, the cost
will soon run up to 5.000 euros to put a fence around the entire land.
This fence will be made of material which is low on maintenance.
We will do our best to collect the money for the fence, because winter
is coming soon and it would be great if this job is done before the winter
starts, and we will be able to host more dogs.
The dogs in Orasje are doing really well and there is plenty of food in
the storage because the truck brought in a load of dog food in July. So
we do not have to worry about the dogs being hungry.
After our trip in September more dogs will be available on the list of
dogs you can adopt on a distance. During that trip a lot of pictures will
be taken and time will be spent with the dogs so we can inform you about
them.
Trip September
The second and third week of September volunteers of the SDB will be working
in Bosnia again. Plans and preparations are made.
Marco, Veerle and Tanja will be in Orasje the second week of September.
Tanja and Veerle will be occupied collecting information about the dogs.
Marco will help Yusuf with all the jobs that have to be done on the shelter.
The storage in Tuzla will be emptied, to take all the goods to Orasje.
Marco, Veerle and Tanja will also pay a visit to the shelter in Tuzla.
At the end of the second week Suze and Fred will arrive in Orasje to help
emptying the rest of the storage and do some jobs in the shelter of Orasje
The third week of September Willeke, Peter, Iris, Cokkie, Lilian and Wilma
will leave for Orasje.
This week we will be all about getting the shelter ready for more dogs
and the winter.
This trip there no veterinarian is coming along because almost all the
dogs are sterilized and there is not enough work to be done for the vet.
Next year in April there we will be joined by a medical team again.
We also planned to visit the town of Breza in the third week. More and
more people in Bosnia tend to contact us. And very recently an email was
sent to us about the situation of stray dogs in Breza. Breza is a town
situated about 20 km form Sarajevo.
This email was
horrible, and the pictures were even worse.
The story tells about collecting dogs on the 27th of July 2007 helped
by police officers.
In front of local people and children the dogs were shot and caught. Dogs
were thrown in a truck (as seen on the pictures) dead or alive and taken
away.
The fact that
police officers are involved in this is absolutely unacceptable. They
should never abuse their power and their weapons.
The writer of the letter told us that children ended up traumatised and
that this should not happen in front of people. That there should be another
solution.
He asked us for help and offered us to build a shelter on his land.
After hearing
this SDB sent faxes to the mayor, police and OHR in Sarajevo and Breza.
The OHR (Office of the High Representatives) received and read the fax.
We will try to put pressure on everybody to ensure the police officers
that assisted on this happening are being punished. .
During our week
in Orasje in September we will also pay a visit to the people that wrote
us in Breza. Who knows what will happen in the future!
Booths On
the 28th of August it was time to assist Dutchy Puppy on an event called
VTM Live in Gent(Belgium). Tanja, Willeke, Cokkie and Wilma left early
in the morning.
There would bes ome performances of artists, like Marco Borsato, he would
be playing his fabulous songs!
During day time all sorts of artists performed and it was a fun day. But
unfortunately the profits on the selling of t-shirts were not that great.
But some people did find the stand.
On the 25th of august Marco, Veerle and Lilian will spend their day on
a market in Heerlen. They will try to sell as much stuff as possible,
new and second handed.
The entire profit will of course go to SDB.
We hope the weather is going to be nice and a lot of things will be sold.
The 9th of September the event Dierenpret 2007 in Zwolle is planned. SDB
will attend this happening for the first time this year. We hope to meet
a lot of people who love animals and of course we also hope to sell a
some items. Are you in the neighbourhood? Please pay us a visit.
Dogs that are adopted
The Bosnian
dogs that came to Holland are so Lucky being with their new families over
here.
Most of the dogs found a new home and are doing more than okay.
All the puppies
that came to Holland found perfect new owners and we hope it will stay
this way.
But……
For Mishka and Francesca we are still looking for a new place to stay
and we do not understand why these two adorable sweet ladies are still
waiting.
We soon hope
to find them wonderful homes too.
Thanks to the entire crew of volunteers that dedicate their selves it
is possible to keep SDB running.
Thanks to all the sweet people that care for the SDB we can reach our
goals.
Dear all of
you, thanks so much for all your help, support and dedication.
I hope we will all meet at the 6th of October.
Wilma de Joode
28th of July
Dear Bosnian-dog owners, people that adopted on a distance and everyone
else that have warm feelings for our foundation.
On the 24th of October
2007 the Stichting Dierenopvang Bosnië celebrates its 5th year anniversary.
Several plans were considered, but in the end we thought it would be the
best thing to gather and have a walk together with all the Bosnian dogs,
their owners and everyone that has an interest in our organisation.
We would like you
to note Saturday the 6th of October in your diary.
Further details will be brought to you as soon as possible,
Regard,
The entire team of volunteers
20th of July
2007
Hi dear doglovers,
A little while ago I met Wilma de Joode at the conference “huisdierendagen”
in rai.
She asked me if it was possible to dedicate myself to the SDB.
I have no intention being stuck-up, but these kind of requests are frequently
asked, if it is possible to represent a good cause.
So before I decide anything, I always think about the request very carefully,
what I can contribute to a foundation.
I think it is best if you are able to support something for the full 1000%
and not because it is an ego-boost!!!! Wilma
gave me some information about the SDB and told me to check out the website.
I came across a movie, an impression of the stray dogs in Bosnia, Tuzla.
I was shocked, touched and cried.
I cannot believe the fact so many dogs have no place to stay, and on top
of that people are cruel to these innocent animals, this has to stop NOW!!!!That
is why I didn’t have to think much longer about devoting my heart
to this project. I gladly commit myself to the dogs in Bosnia.I will try
to help in anyway I can, and I hereby ask anyone that did not adopt a
dog on distance yet, or did not help in anyway, to please start this now.
We desperately need your help, because the possibility of giving these
dogs a second chance is in your hands!
With YOUR help we can reach far more goals!
Help us, join us and support the SDB!!!!
Thanks!
Love Ellemieke Vermolen
(Ellemieke Vermolen
is one of Hollands celebrities, she is a TV personality and loves animals!)
18th of July
07
Since today a new movie is shown on the website of www.nokill.eu,
it is an interview with Nathan J. Winograd, the founder of the No Kill
method in the United States.
During this interview
he tells about the period when he was a student and all the cats that
lived on the university grounds. The animal-protection societies strongly
protested against the suggestion to control the population of cats by
castrating and sterilizing the animals.
That was the moment to start up the No Kill method like they use it now
a days in the United States.
He explaines that the only sollution is killing the stray animals to control
the numbers is just a fairy tale and also about the alternatives. He illustrates
what is No Kill and how to use it to reach the goals of reducing the stray
animals.
In a nutshell it is an interview that gives us hope of getting an animal
friendly future.
It is something all animal lovers should see.
SDB on Hyves
Because we have to keep up with all the trends where it comes to the internet,
we developed an account on hyves. For everyone that never heard of hyves,
on www.hyves.nl everybody
can make their own page(even out prime-minister has one). Texts, pictures
and video’s, everything is possible. Someone with its own hyve-page
is called a hyver.
It is a space where many people meet and of course we hope that people
will find our page and get acquainted with the SDB.
News from
Orasje
A couple of weeks ago an email came from Svjetlana that her freezer broke
down and she did not know what to do, because all the food and fresh meat
for the dogs was stored in there. Several butchers and meat-processing
companies donate their offal for feeding the dogs.
Of course it is very
important to keep this meat in a cool storage to keep it fresh. That is
why this freezer is essential. SDB transferred money, also thanks to a
donation made by Astrid, to buy a new freezer and some materials.
The materials were needed for proceeding the activities to improve the
shelter.
The toilet has tob e finished, and the aggregate that we brought to Orasje
needs to be covered.
They are working hard
in Orasje, you can see the prove of that on the pictures they send.
There even is a pool the dogs use to cool down during the warm days in
Bosnia.
The new freezer is
bought and the toilet is nearly done. Our help is used in the best way
in Orasje and we love to see this every time.
Wilma de Joode
13th of July
2007
Leaving Tuzla
It looks like we are definitely going to leave Tuzla.
After trying everything through the lawyer and he municipality, the result
is that we will not be able to start a new shelter in Tuzla. It was our
biggest dream, and still is, because we all fell in love with those dogs,
but we cannot find a way to reach our goals over there.
To spend more time and money is useless.
We are all devastated and cried our eyes out knowing all this, because
we all know the dogs personally and we took care of them for a considerable
amount of years.
We could have never thought that this wouldn’t work out because
we didn’t want to believe that someone could continue mistreating
the dogs.
Unfortunately it turns out to be end way.
The more dishonest you are, the better the results.
We have to accept our painful loss and we will focus all our attention
on all the other animals and people that need our help.
We hope that you will all understand this decision and that you will maintain
your support like you always did.
We will keep an eye on the shelter in Tuzla.
Transport
of materials Meanwhile
we keep doing the things we have done for the past years.
Collecting materials that is necessary for helping the animals in Bosnia
is one of those activities.
Finally a transport
left again on Monday the 9th of July.
The truck was loaded with all the collected stuff like food, blankets,
leashes, a Romney shed, a washing-up kitchen and lots of other materials.
At half past ten the
truck arrived in Hardinxveld, where the shed and the kitchen were ready
to be collected, when they were loaded we left for Moerdijk were we stored
the rest of the stuff. Tanja, Cokkie, Carin and Marina waited in Moerdijk
to help us load it all.
We thought it would
not fit, but because of the excellent arrangement made by Peter a lot
of materials got in the truck. The whole space was used and the truck
left overloaded.
Tuesday morning Arjen and Lotte started their trip to Bosnia. They arrived
Thursday evening in Orasje where Svjetlana and Jusuf were stand by with
a couple of people to unload the truck. They were very happy to see all
these materials.
By this way we would
like to thank everybody for donating all this.!!!
Without all your support this would not have been possible.
Wilma de Joode (voorzitter)
Unloading
the truck 13th of July 07
Dear Wilma,
Please find few photos made with my mobile at the unloading of the truck
yesterday. Svjetlana sends her regards, thanks and she will send you more
photos made by her camera in following days.
Best,
Milana
Short trip
Marco and Suze
It was a tough trip with a lot of complications, but fortunately also
a lot of positive things.
Their report on this short but difficult trip will soon be available on
this website.
Marco and Suze went to Bosnia to pick up Mama dog and her pups. These
seven babies have arrived safe and sound in Holland and will stay at foster
families for some time.
We will keep
you posted on the news of this special family.
And of course
you can find pictures of the visit to Orasje and Tuzla soon.
11th of June Dogblog of the month
Recently we started our own Dogblog.
This blog shows all our news and updates about e.g. the dogs that are
ready for adoption, but also all things that happen around SDB. Bart,
from the DogBlog organisation, started some sort of campaign to emphasize
the necessity of adoption on a distance.
We think this
is awesome, and we thank Bart for doing this. We of course hope that it
will draw a lot of attention and people who end up adopting dogs. U can
get an update by checking http://www.dogblog.nl/SDBactie.html
Huisdierendagen
Rai Amsterdam
During the whitweekend there was a huge event with the theme "pets".
Many stands were to be visited and you could attend all sorts of activities.
The volunteers
of the SDB attended the stand of Dutchypuppy for three days. It was a
very busy weekend, and a lot of people came to buy t-shirts.
Thanks to this
sale DP can support the SDB financially, and that is what we do it for.
Those three
days were fun and pleasant. Bridget dropped in every day, and even Elemieke
Vermolen paid a visit. Ellemieke opened the event together with Martin
Gaus.
It definitely
was worth it, and we hope to be there again next year.
Podenco-day,
Amersfoort Every
year Judy Kleinbongardt organises podenco-day in Amersfoort. This year
the SDB joined the party with a small stand. It was a bit exciting because
we were about to sell out t-shirts for the first time.
It was a big
success because the shirts sold very well and we got a lot of positive
reactions.
It turned out
te be a fun, lovely and enjoyable day. We were able to catch up and a
lot of nice dogs came by. Even Vili and her owner visited. A good day
in the end.
New
T-shirts
We have been busy and awaiting for the new SDB t-shirts.
Of course it
are not just the standard t-shirts with the information of the SDB, but
really supercool, awesome, especially made for dog-lovers, beautiful t-shirts.
These shirts
soon will be available in our shop. Be ware, you cannot miss this!
Marco and
Suze on their journey to Orasje Tuesday
the 12th of June Marco en Suze left for a short visit to Orasje. They
will also pay a visit to Tuzla. The reason of this short trip is mainly
for the mother dog and her puppies we brought from Bihac to Orasje, and
we now are bringing to Holland.
We usually don't
bring a mother and her babies to Holland but this is different and I will
tell you why.
Elvira is a
Bosnian young woman that takes care of dogs her whole liefe.
She was the
one that found the mother dog, emaciated and wounded, and she started
taking care for her in her garden. Mama got pregnant and delivered some
puppies. Because Elvira was not able to care for the puppies she started
sending emails to everyone to get help. That is when we got in contact
with each other, and from that day she is our help and stay in Bosnia.
Elvira brought
the pups to the shelter in Tuzla, at the time we were still the keepers.
When Suze, Fred
and Willeke visited the shelter in Tuzla in January this year, Willeke
unfortunately had to put some of the puppies to sleep because of an infection.
The other ones were okay and stayed in the shelter. But because of the
hostile takeover by Nevenka we don't know what happened to the puppies.
Probably they
are all dead by now, because when Marco and Veerle visited the shelter
some time later, the shed were the puppies stayed was completely empty.
But Elvira
still had Mama dog, and she got pregnant again. Elvira tried to get her
neutered, but the vets around Bihac cannot perform this surgery. Some
of them would not do it because it was the wrong time of the year??!!
Elvira was scared
that Mama dog would not survive if the "butchers" in her town
would perform this. That is why mama got pregnant and delivered some babies
again.
Elvira begged
for help, so Suze and Fred picked them all up in April and brought them
to Orasje. This time we promised to take care of them very well, and that
we would find a nice home for all of them. Unfortunately one of the puppies
died in Orasje. But the rest made it and are vaccinated. The pups stayed
at Svetlanas because somebody stole the white puppy. Some people saw who
did it and told Svetlana and her husband. They immediately went to these
people and reclaimed the puppy. So they were scared of people steeling
them and kept them at their home.
Mama is a very
wonderful and sweet dog with a rough history. She deserves to find the
best place possible. Elvira told about mama: the mama suffered a lot,
she was injured when we met her the first time, she had cuts around her
neck and she was so skinny so she could barely walk
I (and I think
with me the rest of our group) feel very responsible for these animals
and Elvira. She experienced the war, and it shows. This young woman is
a interpreter at the EU police and does anything to help the animals in
her country and us.
I feel "obliged"
to save this small family of dogs, and with that Elvira.
Marco and Suze
will arrive in Holland on the 15th of June. The puppies and there mother
will be placed in temporarily homes and when the time is right we will
put them up for adoption.
Romny-shed
and washing-up kitchen picked up
We are always looking for materials we can use in Bosnia. Especially Peter
is always keeping his eyes and ears open. Months ago he saw a romny-shed
for sale on the internet and bought it. When the shed was demolished he
could pick it up, and so it happened. A big truck left to Drachten, were
the shed was. Peter arranged a truck through Hartog en Bikker and asked
a friend that is a truck driver to help him, so at 8.30 am they started
their trip.
Along the way
they also had to pick up a washing-up kitchen, with some cabinets. Grada
Rutte arranged these materials and we were allowed to pick them up for
free.
At 7.30 pm Ton
and Peter came back home bringing the kitchen and shed.
This will be
put on the next transport we aim to have in July.
Ton and Peter,
you are the best!
23rd
of May 2007 Guest
speaker Wereldasielen at the ROC Prinsentuin
College
When I received an email of Saskia, from a foundation called Wereldasielen(World-shelters),
where she asked me if I could join her at her visit to a school called
the ROC, and give a special lecture, it was no need to think about this
for, of course!
These things are really
special, it is fun to do, and the best way to reach a lot of people.
It's not just about
promoting the SDB, but more to get people started changing something.
Start helping, anywhere in the world.
Most op the people say "why would you light a candle in the sun",
but if all the volunteers working all over the world would stop lighting
the candles, the world would look much worse.
So anyone that
I can turn in a positive way, is a victory. The more people light a candle
the better I think.
Yvon Joosten, teacher
at the ROC, a horticultural college, had organized, together with her
students, a fund-raising. They choose Bosnia. And because of this choice
Stichting Wereldasielen and the SDB were invited to tell about our work,
and receive the aid supplies.
Saskia started
the lecture by telling something about Werelasielen, and after that there
was 45 minutes left to tell about our work. Images say more than words,
so I showed the documentary made by Llink.
Each time I
look at the documentary, I still get watering eyes and I feel a lot of
pride about the SDB. But this aside, after showing the dvd, there was
an opportunity to ask questions, and so they did.
When all the
questions were answered Saskia had to say something.
This was a big surprise, because on behalf of Stichting Wereldasielen
the SDB received a cheque with a value of 500 euros. This is awesome,
so thanks a lot everybody that works for Wereldasielen!!
Soon I will return
to the ROC in Breda to collect more supplies, because the fund-raising
is still going on. Hopefully a lot of stuff is being raised and I hope
we at least got one student's interest to get involved in any charity
there is.
Everybody at
the ROC, from the class of Yvonne Joosten, thanks for listening and thanks
for making an effort for the dogs in Bosnia!
11th
of May 2007
Animal Event at the Beekse Bergen
This year it was the first time that the Animal Event took place in a
safari park called Beekse Bergen. This event about animals lasted three
days.
The volunteers of the SDB represented Dutchy Puppy at a stand for these
three days.
At the event a couple
of celebrities were present, like Martin Gaus(a guy who really knows how
to deal with dogs especially), Anky van Grunsven(one of the best horsewoman
ever), Tannetje Koning(holistic vet) and Bridget Maasland(Dutchy Puppy).
There was something
to do for everybody.
Friday it started with “school-day”. So a lot of children
were able to visit the event.
Unfortunately it rained almost all day, but of course this did not spoil
our fun.
Bridget visited the stand after performing the “horse whispering”
with Emiel Voest and gave her autograph to all the people joining at the
stand.
She also gave an interview to a shownieuws, this is a big show in Holland
on SBS6.
Saturday and Sunday
the weather was much better. A lot of people visited the stand and bought
shirts, caps, books and shawls, because it is about the merchandise. By
selling them Dutchy Puppy is supported and by that DP can support other
projects, like our foundation.
The days were diversified
with a lot of good things. Some of us were invited to drive through the
park in the special VIP bus.
In that bus the vet from the safari Park as well as Martin Gaus told all
kind of interesting information about the animals in the park. These are
rare occasions you really enjoy.
The three days passed
quickly and we sold a lot of stuff. It was a great experience and we hope
to join the Animal event at the Beekse Bergen again next year.
During the Whitweekend
you can find us again at the RAI-Huisdierendagen in Amsterdam, at the
stand of Dutchy Puppy. We hope to see you all over there!
Special Offer We
received an email from Bianca van der Veeke. The mail stated: “I
am a free lance model and I love dogs. I have a jack Russell myself, a
real darling. I had the plan to make calendars with the best pictures
I have and sell them to raise money for your foundation. I just started
selling and I hope it will go fast. I love what you are doing and hope
you persist in reaching your goals, Respect!”
I was curious who this lady was and checked out her website. Bianca turns
out to be a beautiful model, and I am really proud that she decided to
support us in this way.
When you are interested in the calendar you can send an email to Bianca.
Her address you can find on www.biancav.nl
Bianca, thanks a lot for this great gesture.
SDB Dogblog
We cannot stay behind on all the possibilities with Internet. So now we
have our own weblog.
All our volunteers can tell their stories and people can give their response
on the stories.
News about the dogs, temporary places the dog stay, the dogs that found
a new home, about everything we do.
Sometimes just the pictures, and another time a story that needs to be
told.
We do our utmost to keep it up-to-date, next to our normal website.
You can find our weblog on: http://stichtingdierenopvangbosnie.dogblog.nl
8th of may 2007, our trip to Orasje
It is alreeds two weeks ago that we returned from our big trip to Orasje.
Soon there will be placed ten dogs for adoption on a distance from this
particular shelter. All the benefits from these adoptions will go to the
shelter in Orasje. We hope many people will support these dogs.
A couple of the dogs we took to Holland from Orasje already found a new
home.
We of course are eager to find homes for all the other dogs that came
along.
You can find some reports on our site and the pictures of this trip.
We also work on getting some movies on our website.
We all have a very good feeling on our last trip. We are really happy
to see that there are people that care for the wellbeing of the dogs.
Developments
around the shelter in Tuzla
In Tuzla we still work together with the municipality on getting a piece
of land. For us it is all going to slow(much to slow), but according to
the Bosnian ways of working things are speeding up!
Many meetings were held in the city-council and even the major has stated
that there is an urgency to solve this.
We are deliberating with our lawyer what we can and what we cannot reach.
Because we are able to buy a piece of land, but we have to be sure we
are allowed to start a shelter at that location. And the municipality
can give us all the approvals we need, but what if the people that live
close to this location don’t want a shelter next to them.
So it is not as easy as it seems, we have to take a lot in consideration,
because we don’t want to buy a useless piece of land were we cannot
build our shelter.
We hope to have it all clear soon!
Upcoming events
Meanwhile we are preparing for a couple of events that we will attend
soon.
The animal event in a safari park, national pet-days in Amsterdam, day
of the “Podenco-dogs” in Amerfoort.
We will be there with our own booth, or we will support the booth of Dutchy
puppy a couple of times. We hope a lot of people will visit these events.
T-shirts
Our shop soon will be expanded with t-shirts. These t-shirts are presently
fabricated and I can ensure you they will be awesome. So keep an eye on
our shop!
Fostering parents? We need you!
We are still looking for more families that would like to foster our dogs.
The foster parents have a big role in our organisation, because without
these people we are not able to give the dogs a second chance. So do you
have plenty of time, love and experience with dogs please contact us by
email or by calling +31 6-46198579.
Report
of the visit to Bosnia in April 2007
Made by Wilma
Friday
the 13th
At 6 o’clock in the morning we left Hardinxveld Giessendam. We were
told that the weather would be nice and we were all anxious to go.
Suze and Fred already left Zaandam early and Marco and Veerle were going
tonight.
We decided to make an early start, so that we could avoid all the traffic,
and we would arrive in time in Orasje(Bosnia)
There were two cars, Eerhard and Tanja were accompanied by Willeke and
Peter and I had Carin and Marine on our back seat.
The journey went smoothly, no traffic jams. Not even in Germany, in the
area of Frankfurt.
I received a very positive text message from Maja, she wrote that the
municipality of Tuzla had selected two pieces of land to visit next week
and check out the suitability for building the shelter.
The locations were approved by the local authorities, so it was very promising.
I immediately started fantasizing about the promising land and all the
possibilities. And that in the end of the week we would leave with the
best news of having a future with a new shelter location. Till then it
is still dreaming, and keeping in mind that it might end in nothing at
the end of this journey.
After 600 kilometres
Peter told that the temperature increased and the indicator was almost
entering the red part! We pulled over at a gas station and it became clear
that we had a big problem. Eventually we arrived at a garage that could
help us solve this problem.
But unfortunately the problem could not be solved quickly, and therefore
we were forced to look for an other solution. The lease-company could
not do anything because we were outside of Holland. So I called the ANWB,
the Dutch road service, and the instantly helped us. After 6 hours of
waiting we had a bus that replaced our own car, and we transferred all
our belongings to the bus. These materials could easily be hidden in Peter’s
car, but now everything was out in the open, and we were a bit worried
about the aggregate and the way the custom officers would handle this.
Eerhard, Tanja and
Willeke continued their trip earlier, because it was no use waiting with
all seven of us.
We were very happy with the new car, but there was only room for 3 people
and not for the four of us.
Fortunately Marco and Veerle would leave at the end of the day, so after
some calls we agreed to meet somewhere to arrange that Carin and Marina
could join them in their car.
Finally after a total of 10 hours of waiting on the parking lot of the
garage, and after that at a restaurant, we could proceed our journey to
Orasje.
With two cars we left
Wurzburg at 22.30 and had a safe trip. We crossed the borders without
problems and questions, but ofcourse at the Bosnian border the made a
circus as we are used to.
But after a phonecall our translator Milana came and explaned it all.
We could enter Bosnia, but with a warning that next time it would not
be this easy. We were happy that the aggregate draw all the attention,
and not the medicine we had for all the operations we had planned to do.
Soon Svjetlana and her husband came to the border and welcomed us. We
were brought to the hotel by Milana and joined all the other Dutch volunteers.
In the meantime it was Saturday, April the 14th, and it was 10.30.
It is wonderful to see everyone, and finally to be together again. Marco,
Veerle, Carin, Marina, Peter and I went for a sleep. We all were tired
of the lack of sleep and the dozing off.
The rest of the team,
Eerhard, Tanja, Willeke, Suze and Fred went to the shelter in Orasje tob
ring all the materials and goods, and after that they were off to Tuzla.
In Tuzla all the necessary tools were picked up for doing the operations
this week. Also Henny, the vet, was coming to Tuzla.
Some of them wanted to check the shelter in Tuzla, but when they approached,
they saw the little welknown blue car coming down the hill. Nevenka was
driving. She turned the car and drove directly to the shelter, with the
phone stuck to her ears!
When she passed the Dutch cars the second time, she was waved at! Who
she called we do not know, but it is probably the police.
To avoid more problems, the team left, and skipped the visit to the shelter.
One thing was very clear now:
The Dutchies are back in Bosnia, and not everyone is pleased to know this!
At 5 o’clock in the afternoon we all got together, and went for
a drink and some food. It was a pleasant evening and we are all ready
for a week full of hard work.
Sunday, April
the 15th 2007
At 8 in the morning, everyone joined for breakfast and at 9 we were at
the shelter.
First we needed to get used and find their responsibility. The medical
team was ready to start their job, but it took a while before the first
dog was brought in. Suddenly it was clear that Svjetlana was not enthousiastic
about the castrating, although she sounded happy to have us working at
first.
At that moment I had to bite my tongue, and try my best not to be angry
and frustrated.
How can someone tell not to do all the dogs?
To understand this odd request I had to look at the culture and the mindset
of this country.
The process of castrating and sterilising dogs is not something the people
are used to over here. It is not accepted you are doing this to your dog,
and even if you would like it to let it be done, then the vet can refuse
to do it because it is not healthy, or it is not the right time of the
year, anyway…. The vets that do perform the operations often have
no clue what they are doing, and most of the time the wound is extremely
big and the dog needs at least a week to recover.
It became more clear when the Bosnian vet came to visit our team in the
afternoon. But more later about that special visit.
Svjetlana obviously felt a lot of fear trusting the medical team with
her dogs, so we decided to take it slow and win her over. We thought when
she would experience how we did our job, and she could see how short it
would take for the dogs to recover, she would trust us in the end.
Because in Bosnia, these kind of things are new, in Holland we cannot
imagine this, so again, it emphasizes the different world over here.
The building team
started making a construction for the concrete floor. There will be places
6 large doghouses on this floor. We hope to make another 6 at the end
of the week. But first the concrete shall be brought in tomorrow.
Marco, Veerle, Carin
and Marina went to Tuzla in the afternoon. The came back with two dogs?
And the reported that the dogs looked much better compared to the last
time.
In the afternoon a
woman came to the shelter, she told that she was a vet. She offered to
help henny.
I had a bad feeling about her, because of my experiences over the years.
But henny wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.
The first time she looked how henny did his job, she nearly fainted and
had to sit down for a moment to catch her breath. The second time she
offered to do some stitching. But when henny saw her skipping some layers,
he called it a day. It is unbelievable that this lady is a vet and she
is supposed to work in a vet clinic.
This is exactly why people have no clue about sterilizing, because their
vets don’t even know what they are doing. It is really sad when
you think about this.
The bus we have as
a replacement for our broken car comes in handy, it is a perfect recovery
for the dogs.
The benches are in the bus and it works out fine. Today 14 dogs were neutered.
7 pm we went back
to the hotel. We grabbed a bite with the entire team and had a fun evening.
It was a very successful day.
Tomorrow Suze and
Fred will go the Bihac. A mother and 8 pups, and another frightened dog
are waiting to be picked up by them. Elvira, a girl who helps the foundation
a lot, takes care of these dog, but it is to much and she asked our help.
Bihac is more than 360 kilometres away, and with the lacking of highways
it will take all day for them.
Hopefully we will
hear from Maja, our translator and the chairwoman of SDB Tuzla, when we
will have an appointment with the municipality to check out the land they
selected for us.
Tuesday, the
17th of April 2007 Because
we stay in Orasje, we had to leave at 6.30 in the morning to be in Tuzla
on time.
We had an appointment at half past eight with Maja, to catch up and check
all the paperwork.
I really hate the road to Tuzla. First of all the road is awful, and second
it is all driving through villages and it is really slow, third and most
of all, there are an extreme amount of dogs. Regularly you see them along
the road, hit by a car, or you see packs of dogs and I immediately start
worrying about the next victim.
It takes 90 minutes, although it is only 70 kilometres. Al the time, I
just sit or I am lying down in the backseat, my eyes closed always, so
I will not be confronted with all the things I hate so much. Not a pleasant
trip at all.
We were in Tuzla before
we had the meeting. While drinking a cup of coffee, Maja showed us the
drawings of the land. It were two pieces, not far away from one another.
The text told us that both pieces were more than 1 hectare. The pictures
didn’t give us useful information. I was really anxious. One of
the nicest things was to see “Stichting Dierenopvang Bosnië”
between all the Bosnian text. It was finally getting closer.
After a quick introduction
we got in the car and followed the car from the official.
The first land was excellent, a big piece of flat land, next to a road,
no houses nearby. It turned our heads, what if…….and what
if we would…..and isn’t it wonderfull when……..
This piece was owned by the mining company, but wasn’t actually
being used at the moment. So this was the best place to start a new shelter.
The second piece of
land looked pretty. But we were not very relaxed, because it was an old
fuel depot of the army. But that is not the problem, the real challenge
was the small path on the other side. There was a sign that warned us,
because of mines!!! There were ribbons to state not to come there.
Maja told us she spoke to an former Major, of the particular army, and
he told there were no mines. It was just to keep away people. The old
depot wasn’t used for more than 10 years, not even during the last
war.
And there had been no actual battle at that spot, so it was not possible
that there were mines at that place.
We accepted the explanation, but it was scary anyway.
The piece of land was divided in small fields, the birds whistled as hard
as they did on the first land.
There were differences in height and therefore not easy to overlook.
The difference in height was mainly because of 3 bunkers, we could clearly
see them. When I approached one of the bunkers to get on top, Eerhard
shouted: “Wilma, stick to the path”. It was very special and
strange to walk there. But our minds were not spinning with this piece
of land, so we would focus on the first piece.
Maja called Slavko
to make an appointment so that we could talk about the first piece of
land. He had no time that day, so we would meet on Thursday at 9 o’clock
in his office.
After checking the
land, we drank something and ordered a pizza. We spoke more than an our
with a reporter of a newspaper. She loves animals, has a dog herself,
and she tries to bring the problem with the stray dogs under the attention.
The problem is that she is not allowed to write everything, because the
head-editor doesn’t let her.
When there is written something negative about the problem, the major
will be offended, and the municipality will not let this happen. So there
is a lot of censure, and now she tries to make an article with all sides
of the story.
We talked about a lot of things, and it becomes more clear each time that
many people have no clue of what is happening in their own town.
The reporter told me about her own experiences with the animals she loves
so dearly. A dog of one of her friends got hit by a car, and his leg was
broken. The vet practice in Tuzla euthanized the dog, because they had
no idea what to do. We can not imagine these things. It makes me furious.
She even was afraid to take her own dog to the vet, because she has absolutely
no faith at all in these people.
But what if something happened and she really had to go to the vet?
Let’s just hope there is a good vet somewhere in Bosnia, and this
vet crosses our path!
After the meeting with the reporter, Maja told us somebody called her
about selling a piece of land with a house. At first we thought it would
be nothing, but we made an appointment just to be sure.
We met this man at a gas station, and he told us about the land and the
house, and it became clear that this was much to expensive. This would
cost us a lot more than the 10.000 euro we had in mind.
We thanked him for his offer and left.
At the end of the afternoon we were back in Orasje.
Suze and Fred left
early in the morning for Bihac, to pick up the mom and the 8 pups, and
some other dog.
Suze would call when they were close to Orasje, so that Willeke, Peter
and I could go to the shelter to welcome them. Also Svjetlana and Jana(our
translator) would be there. During the day a kennel was prepared for these
new arrivals. We already knew that only the mom and her babies would come,
they didn’t succeed in catching the other dog. I was very nervous,
don’t ask me why!
Suze called at 18.45 pm to tell they would be there in 15 minutes. We
rushed to the shelter, and after 5 minutes Suze and Fred arrived.
How adorable! And what a lovely momma dog!
You can read all about them in the report of Suze and Fred.
But we can tell you that the past few days it was clear that these mother
and her pups are wonderful, and we are planning to pick them up in about
a month, they will get an excellent new life. The mother dog experienced
to much already in her short life and she deserves to lead a happy life
in the future.
After putting the dogs in their new kennel, with some food and water,
we went for dinner. The rest of the team was already in the restaurant.
Tired but satisfied we hit the sack.
Wednesday,
the 18th of April 2007 A beautiful
new day, sweet dogs, lots of cuddling and making pictures.
Daily around 15 dogs are being sterilized. Untill now without complications
and the dogs recover very quick.
The medical team was extended with one more member, Sandra, a young Bosnian
vet.
I was in contact with her before and she came to the shelter in Tuzla.
Sandra really aims to start her own practice in Banja Luka and she is
eager to fight against the problems with stray dogs.
Sandra is not able to do this by her self, so she asked us for help. To
know if she is a good vet, I asked her to come to Orasje and work with
our medical team.
The impression is okay, the operations went well, she knows what to do
and how to do it. She didn’t faint so that is a bonus!!! Sandra
will work with us the rest of the week.
Peter has been welding
all day, Marco helped with finishing the kennels.
Suze, Fred and Eerhard started making doghouses and finished 3 of them
today.
Marina and Carin do what’s necessary. Carin cleans the sets for
operating, and keeps an eye on the dogs in the recovery. Marina helps
Svjetlana cleaning, and occasionally helps the medical team.
After a couple of days, it becomes clear that in contrary to Tuzla, there
is no real hard work in Orasje.
Today we were treated, a couple of acquaintances of Svjetlana made us
fish soup. This was freshly prepared especially for us. We didn’t
fancy the way they made the soup at first, everything that is on the fish
is thrown in the kettle. Heads, fins, eggs and all the rest is part of
the soup.
Most of us ate the soup, and I have to admit, it was really nice.
Thursday,
the 19th of April 2007
Today we, Eerhard,
Marco and I, had to leave for Tuzla. We had an appointment at 9 o’clock
with Slavko, the deputy major and chief of the department city development.
We wanted to talk about the pieces of land that we visited last Tuesday.
Buy and start would be the ultimate, but of course it was not that easy.
They told us Tuesday that the land supposed to be owned by the mining
company, but now they said they were not so sure anymore.
So they had to find out who was the owner, and because of lacking of administration
done with a computer, you can imagine this would take longer than 5 minutes.
We can do nothing before we know who the real owner is, and is very frustrating
to experience these kind of things, it doesn’t seem to come to an
end.
Because we do not
give up easy, we tried to talk to the mining company. Maybe they could
tell us something more. First we went to Faruk, our lawyer, and he immediately
arranged an appointment with the mining company, within half an hour we
were talking to a guy from the mining company.
Unfortunately he could not tell us either. He called for someone and gave
an order to find out.
Maja gave her telephone number and this gentlemen would call her if he
knew more about the ownership.
It was a bit of a disappointment that we did not make progress.
After a quick bite we went back to Orasje. We would have liked to talk
some more to our lawyer but because of an unexpected visit he was not
able to.
Tonight we were all
invited to have dinner with Svjetlana and her husband Joesoef. In the
beginning of the evening we all signed the contracts for our cooperation
with the shelter in Orasje. Soon we will be placing some of the dogs for
adopting on a distance. Also we made a contract for placing some dogs
in Holland, the contracts are to avoid problems in the future. After signing
the papers we could all relax.
It was a very pleasant evening, and we were stuffed with food and drinks
the entire evening.
henny, Joesoef and Svjetlana made some speeches and here and there some
tears dropped.
In the end, everybody went to bed tired and more than satisfied.
Friday, the
20th of April 2007 The
last day.
We arrived earlier this morning, because we knew the major was coming
to the shelter.
Only two dogs had to be neutered, and Svetlana brought her own dogs. Also
a cat would be brought to the shelter, there was something with its leg.
The major arrived in time, we walked around the shelter and Svjetlana
told him what was done and what still had to be done in time. The major
told that he couldn’t do much(they all say the same). I told him
that this small shelter in Orasje was something to very proud of, because
I would say it was one of the best I had ever seen in Bosnia. He appreciated
this and was happy to hear this.
When he was ready to leave I showed him the puppies form Bihac, because
they are so adorable. He loved them and couldn’t refuse to pet one
of them. He told he had two dogs himself.
Also Svjetlana and I had to tell our story in front of the camera. Later
in the afternoon Sandra told us that her mother called and told her that
there was an article in a newspaper in Banja Luka about the work of the
Dutch volunteers in Orasje, and there would go dogs back to Holland with
them.
Hopefully the major is planning to do something for the stray-animals
in Orasje, and for the little shelter that is a great asset for his town.
After the last sterilisations, the gentlemen that brought in his dog the
day before, to sterilize, brought in the cat I told you about before.
The poor thing stepped in acid with its paw, and not much was left.
The remaining was not more than some flesh, all read. It looked horrible,
and henny said that the cat had to be in agony. henny decided to amputate
the leg. After one hour the cat was waking up in the bench. We hope he
will recover quickly, and will have no pain anymore.
Meanwhile Willeke
and Suze sorted out all the medical equipment. It is better to know what
we need the next time we will visit Tuzla. All the medical stuff will
be stored with Svjetlana. A lot of things are used the past week, although
it wasn’t as busy as it always is in Tuzla.
Over 60 dogs are neutered, even the dogs Svjetlana refused to do in the
beginning. But as the days past, she got more faith in the “doctor”.
This was her first experience and it is a giant step for her to let us
do all this with her dogs.
The building team worked till one o’clock in the afternoon and cleared
up everything. I talked over some things with Svjetlana and took some
pictures, and then Peter and I left for the hotel also.
We were planning to leave early, because we had to get the bus back to
Wurzburg and change it for another car.
If we would leave some hours before the rest, we hoped to join the others
in the end.
12 dogs could come to Holland. All week it was eleven, but in the end
Marina decided to take the small puppy that stayed at Svjetlana’s
house. There were three cars, and the dogs were equally spread over the
cars.
They would pick up the dogs around 10 pm.
I was hoping to be
at the arrival, but we were not sure of that was possible. At 7.30 pm
Peter and I left for Wurzburg.
Saturday, the 21st of April 2007 At
half past 5 in the morning we arrived at Wurzburg. It was much to early,
but I was afraid the stop along the road and sleep because I would not
be sure to be in time.
The car that replaced the bus was brought in at 8 o’clock exactly,
and soon we were back on the road again.
The rest of the team had a lead more than an hour and a half and because
I was eager to be at the arrival, I asked them to slow down so that we
could catch up.
We arrived 5 minutes after them. The dogs behaved very well in the cars.
And within a short time there was a crowd, all people picking up their
dogs. It is still very special coming home with all these new dogs.
It was a very special
week. You can not compare this to a week in Tuzla, were we are used to
chaos, drama and bizarre situations. In Orasje no puppies or dogs had
to be euthanized because of illness.
There were no abortions, because there were no dogs that were pregnant.
There have been 65 dogs castrated and one cat had an operation where its
leg was amputated.
No complications, all went smoothly.
Kennels and houses are build for the dogs.
It had been a week without difficult, crazy or tough decisions.
For us this was a relieve and the proof there are people in Bosnia that
care about the animals in the streets.
People that spend all their time and give their love to these animals.
We are very proud being part of this, and we will continue helping Orasje.
This trip a lot is done, also thanks to Dutchy Puppy. This organisation
donated 2250 euro to use in Orasje.
1500 euro is donated to the shelter to buy materials. This resulted in
the concrete that was brought in, and the sand, roofs and all the materials
needed for the new kennels was bought.
In the next few weeks the kennels will be finished and more dogs will
have their own safe place.
The remaining 750 euro was used to buy the medical equipment to perform
the operations in the shelter.
Dutchy Puppy, again,
thank you very much for your support, on behalf of all the dogs in Orasje!!
Thanks to the donation
of a welder, Peter was able to weld the whole week and with that he could
make a lot of new kennels. Paul Valster, thanks for this huge gesture!
And finally I would
like to thank everybody that came along and gave their 100%, Henny, Willeke,
Marco and Veerle, Tanja and Eerhard, Suze and Fred, Carin and Marina and
of course Peter.
Without these people the SDB would not be what it is today!
Love,
Wilma de Joode (chairwoman)
9th of April 2007, Market in a small town called Drunen On the second day of easter, the SDB had a market stall at the
easter-event in Drunen. At 9 o’clock we had to be there, because
otherwise we could not get the car in the right place to unload. So it
was an early morning.
Right in time we arrived, and at half past 9 the stall was fully set up,
waiting for the action to happen from 11 o’clock!
Our neighbours for the day were very pleasant, the local office of our
animal protection society, Waalwijk, en next to them there was a rodent-shelter.
All animal-lovers together.
It turned out to be a lovely day, and there were a lot of visitors. We
had a portfolio with pictures, available for anyone interested, and together
with the collecting-box it draw a lot of attention.
In our shop we had toys, leads, gift sets and bones for sale.
At 17 o ‘clock we were at the end of a busy and succesfull day.
We can be proud to mention the profit was 170 euro for all our sweet dogs
in Bosnia.
Greetings,
Carin
6th
of april 2007: For
starters, unfortunately we were not able to translate for some time. But
we will do our utmost to keep you posted. We cannot translate everything,
but we will pick the most important recent news, just to get you informed.
4th
of April, all sorts of news A
short Visit to Bosnie, Eerhard, Tanja and Wilma
This visit was very positive and finally left with a good feeling about
everything that happened those days.
Our quest seems to be paying of finally. We have a complete report, but
it is in Dutch for now.
In short, the municipality is enthusiastic and is interested in helping
us eventually. But we have to be patient. That is the hard part.
They are planning to prosecute Mrs. Sabic and they have no intention working
with her.
They want her to understand that she cannot go on like this, thinking
they will put up with her behaviour.
Coming trip
in April
The 13th of april a Group of 14 volunteers will be leaving for Bosnia.
They will roll up their sleeves and work a whole week to get things done
that should be done.
We are going to help in Orasje, because we are not allowed to go to the
shelter in Tuzla.
If we are allowed in the shelter at the last moment, then we will work
in Tuzla as much as possible. We will be needed by then, because the dogs
are neglected.
In Orasje 63 dogs need to be neutered. The shelter needs to be expanded,
and a lot of kennelsneed to be build.
So there will be no boredom!
Off course there will be a full report of our trip with pictures and everything
after we are back.
Donation Dutchy
Puppy
The request for help from SDB to get some help from a Dutch foundation
calles Dutchy Puppy, paid off.
They donated an amount of 1.500,- euro to help the shelter in Orasje.
With that money we can achieve a lot.
Off course we are very thankful for that gift.
After our trip we will report to Dutchy Puppy, in that way they can see
where the money went.
Dog needs
home!
A couple of dogs go home with us, to start a new life. Most of the dogs
will find a new home very quickly. But unfortunately two dogs, Louis and
Kai, are still waiting for a place to live. The deserve a new prosperous
live. How is it possible they are still waiting? Okay, they need a bit
of raising, and you have to have some patience, but all considered, they
are really amazing sweet dogs. We do hope they will find their “golden
basket” soon.
5 year anniversary
In oktober 2007, the SDB will excist 5 years, and we would like to celebrate
this. But it must be a special celebration.
I hereby ask anyone, to come up with ideas for celebrating our foundation.
Please mail your tips, plans and ideas to: infohondenopvang@gmail.com
Fortunately,
it is “calm” at the shelter, but the situation can easily
change on the daily bases. We have had some problems with the workers.
Unfortunately, we still occasionally have some problems with that, but
luckily it has been resolved. It is winter and the water in the reservoir
has frozen, but as long as that is the only problem, we must not complain.
The dogs are doing well, and there are 3 heated areas for the puppies
and older dogs.
At
the moment, there is one lady, Virginia from Australia, who helps out
at the shelter 3 times a week. We do not know for how long she will
stay there, but we are hoping that when we come in April, we will have
a chance to meet her. In the meantime, we are continuing with our preparations
because, if the weather permits it, we have to continue with the construction,
and for that we need material and money. Again, we are very busy collecting
contributions and we are trying to get as much media attention as it
is possible. The preparations for our visit in April of 2006 are also
ongoing. It seems as if we will be going with a big group. We are going
with a medical team once again, and there will be few more people who
will help with the constructions at the shelter. We also hope that we
will be able to bring some more dogs to be adopted in Holland.
29-12-2005
Reactions to our letters
We
received a lot of reactions to our letter, which we have mailed to over
1400 addresses. The majority of them were positive and it is nice to
see that some people share our enthusiasm. Luckily, some extra money
has been donated, which we can use once more to improve the life of
the dogs at the shelter. At this moment, the construction has been put
to halt since it is too cold in Tuzla. Everything is covered with snow
most of the time and it takes a lot of energy to make it easier for
the go to go through the winter.
Different areas, the containers and the new “house“, are
heated with a stove, so that the puppies and the weaker ones have a
warm home. Otherwise, they would not survive. It takes a lot of wood
and coal to keep everything heated and we have to occasionally buy new
supplies.
Last
week, we have received some good news. It looks like we are going to
get help from Army transport. That would mean that we can again start
gathering dog food. We hope that Nicole will be able to drive with the
full truck to Tuzla in April of 2006. It is of vital importance, both
to us and the dogs, that there are people who are willing to help us
out in situations like these.
01-11-2005
The big gift!!
This
week, a donation of $500,00 has arrived from America. The lady that
has made this donation is Lesley Israel. Lesley used to work in Tuzla
after the war and she has adopted one puppy. This is a story about a
dog named Tuzla.
She
was born in front of my building in Tuzla in July of 1996. At that time,
there were many dogs that used to have homes in Bosnia, but their owners
either got exiled or killed, leaving their dogs behind. All they wanted
was love and a new home. It was a custom then to execute most of those
dogs, and my heart would be breaking because of those small victims
of war, the one they did not have anything to do with. Tuzla’s
mother had 8 puppies. The children from the neighborhood made them a
“house” out of a cardboard box which they have found, and
I used to bring food for the mother and her puppies. I decided to adopt
as many of them as I could, but the airplane company informed me that
I can only take one puppy with me. At that time, there was enough thrash
for the older dogs to survive, but it was impossible for the puppies.
The children from the neighborhood and their parents barely had for
themselves, let alone for a dog. Those children were magnificent, playing
with the dogs, really trying hard, but none of them were able to adopt
any of the dogs. I somehow managed to find a vet to give them anti-rabies
vaccines so that I can take at least one of them with me to America.
I also got papers from Bosnian health Department saying that my dog
did not have rabies. So, she managed to come with me to America and
since then she became my greatest love. I try not to think about her
mother and other puppies. It is impossible that they have survived the
winter.
07-09-2005
Bill wins a cup
Bill
is one of the dogs that come from Tuzla and he has been adopted by Huissoon
family. Bill was at the shelter for a couple of years until Jaap Huissoon
came one time to help with the construction at the shelter. He saw Bill,
and Bill had won him over right away. Jaap decided to take Bill with
him and give him a chance. And that has definitely worked. Bill is a
top-talent and he has won the first prize at a competition. We are all
so proud of Bill and Jaap.
15-08-2005
Volunteer’s report
Marnick,
Edward, Christiaan and Vincent have spent a week in Tuzla, helping at
the shelter. This group of guys has done a fantastic work and they have
helped us out a lot. I would like to take this opportunity to THANK
THEM PROFOUNDLY!! This is their story.
16-07-2005
There and back
This
is and remains a trip that I cannot get over. As far as that is concerned,
I am very honest. In the past 5 years, I have gone to Bosnia many times
but I cannot seem to get used to it. It seams to me that it gets harder
and harder every time, the feelings are running high during and after
such a trip. It starts at the border, with their customs officials.
They get me nervous and my hands constantly get sweaty as we are approaching
the border. Plus, we have to go across 5 of such borders. Even the fact
that I am aware that I do not have anything that is illegal with me,
and that if we are taking some dogs, we have all the proper papers for
them, I still get nervous.
And
then the country that I am going to. Bosnia, the forgotten country.
It is a totally different world and I never know what I am going to
find there. It is not only the animals that move me. It is also the
people who live and work there. On every stoplight a child or a mother
with a baby in her hand comes up to you, begging for some money. Those
are the Gypsies from Bosnia, who are trying to survive like that. It
breaks my heart when I see some 4-year-old child, approaching the car,
with his widely open hand to beg for the money. Her mother is sitting
not too far away and giving her signals with her head to continue with
begging and the little girl turns around and continues to the next car.
How do those kids feel? This little girl thought it was horrible and
I could see that. I wish I could give those children enough money that
they do not have to go out on the streets for at least a week. But I
know that it would not change anything. If I give her the money, she
would have to give it to her mother right away and after that, she would
have to go out on the streets again. Or give it to a mother with a baby
that I saw a few weeks ago, holding it in her arms as the sun grew hot,
on the stoplight, begging for money. Often I cannot help myself and
I give them some money, hoping that it would change something. I know
better, but I do not stop hoping…
The
forgotten country and its refugees, still full of them. The war ended
ten years ago, but the situation is still the same. There are still
thousands of people who live like refugees and live in camps. You cannot
hear about those people and their “homes” on the news anymore.
There are a lot of women with children whose husbands and sons got killed
in that horrific war. These people do not have anything anymore and
they cannot go anywhere else. Bosnia, a country with so many different
faces.
Terraces
of the cafés are filled with young people socializing. A bit
further are the camps with refugees, who live in poverty. A family with
children living in a house that is nothing more than a shed. That is
way beyond my understanding and feelings. That is why it is always hard
for me to go back to Bosnia. It is not easy for me to face such helplessness.
But I still go there because I know that we can change the situation.
Each dog that we manage to find a home for means another one. Somebody
once told me that you have to start from one!!! The men who work for
us at the shelter are able to help their families. In the meantime,
we have 4 men who are helping us at the shelter.
Because
this time we came with only one car and there we two of us girls, it
was much “easier” to cross the borders. On our way to Bosnia,
we slept in Austria because we had to be fresh for the ride back home.
We planned to go directly to home, 1700 km.
We
arrive at the shelter on Sunday afternoon. It looked much different
than the last time in April. The dogs were now separated in more groups.
The land is also separated. Mustafa has done an amazing job. I have
seen some pictures that they have sent us, but it is completely different
when you see it for yourself. There we so many dogs. It was hard for
me to look at all those dogs, “my” dogs, there. Each one
of them would want to play; each one of them would want to be petted.
There are a lot of puppies, which are brought in groups up to the shelter.
The fact that we get new dogs up at the shelter all the time is due
to the fact that the number of people who have heard of the shelter
is growing daily. That is a good sign, of course, but it is also a bit
inconvenient because people don’t hesitate anymore to bring female
dogs with their litter. Majority of the dogs, which have been at the
shelter for a longer period of time, have been castrated. The offspring
at the shelter does not belong to them. But what is to be your policy
at the shelter when so many dogs are brought in? Who is to decide what
we are to do with all the puppies? Some say putting them to sleep, and
sometimes I also start to think that it might be the best solution.
Others say to give them a chance, and once you see their little heads,
there is nothing else left to do but give them a chance!!!
We
made a tour of the shelter so that we can see what needs to be done
the next day. We did not have much time since we had to be on our way
back around 4 or 5. The dogs we have planned to take with us were examined
so that we can see that everything is ok. Nevenka also showed us what
has changed since our last visit, what was new and what still needed
to be finished. They placed dogs everywhere it was possible just so
they can continue taking them in. In spite the situation, the majority
of the dogs looks very well. The men (Ljubo, Vlado, Senad and Mustafa)
and Nevenka are working very hard so that those dogs could get the care
they need.
Monday
morning we arrive at the shelter. Senad does not want to take one dog,
which is lying open, to the vet. Because there are too many dogs at
the shelter, it is unavoidable that some fights occur. The situation
is the same everywhere, we can try to hide the facts but the reality
is different. Sometimes it is very awful when the dog does not survive.
Mostly there are only wounds which can be treated. This dog was still
alive, but he was so wounded that he did not feel anything anymore and
he was in a state of shock. Luckily, we had all of our equipment with
us and the medicine, so Jolanda feed him of his misery. It was awful
that this had happened, but luckily we were there. I cannot imagine
what would have happened if that dog was taken to a vet. I felt horrible,
but we continued with our work because what else could we do?
Jolanda,
together with Mustafa, continued to check the puppies we planned to
take to Holland with us. I have finished all that needed to be done
with Nevenka, including the paperwork. Before we went on our way back,
we also had to put to sleep one German shepherd. This beautiful dog
had some problems with his brain and he was making uncontrolled twitches
constantly. He could barely eat. He was tied up since he was unable
to walk when he is off the leash. What kind of life is this? In moments
like that I fell like abandoning everything and to have nothing more
to do with the shelter. The dog is peacefully put to sleep…
At
3 o’clock, Jolanda and I started preparing for the way back. When
we got back to the shelter, the dogs we planned to take with us were
prepared. We had a bit of a problem putting 6 dogs in a Clio, but we
managed at the end. The way back was much more interesting than our
trip to Bosnia. I knew that all the papers were in order, but I was
still wondering whether the people at the border knew what exactly was
needed. We crossed all the borders. At some borders, they would ask
for the papers for the dogs, but by the time I reached out to get them,
they would be gone. At Austrian border there was a customs officer that,
in my opinion, was hired only because he was rude. The dogs were sleeping
peacefully at the moment when we were giving our passports. He looked
at the passports and then into the car. He saw the dogs at the backseat
and started “barking” at them. The dogs were lying calmly
and did not pay attention to him. He “barked” one more time
a bit stronger since it looked as if he was trying to provoke them.
Again, they ignored him. I asked him to stop because they were so calm.
He gave me a rude look and let us pass. We always feel such a relief
once we go over Austrian border. Then we know that we have crossed all
the borders and are on our way home.
It
took us 17 hours to get back. The dogs behaved amazingly. They did not
bark nor did they relieve themselves in the car. I phoned the people
that were supposed to pick them up to let them know that we have arrived.
In just a few hours, the dogs were taken by their new parents. I could
cuddle up with my dogs once again and go to sleep.