Fulfilling the "Five Freedoms" on a budget of nothing

                                          writen by Merritt Clifton,March 2010

 

 

REGHIN,  ROMANIA- Snapping photo after photo of the Fundatia Fiducia,  I knew the images would be  for my own documentation only. 
The photos would show only what most people would see:  a seemingly haphazard collection of sheds,  lean-tos,  woodpiles,  and conventional doghouses,  accommodating an equally haphazard collection of Romanian street mutts. 
The photos might show that the dogs were well-fed and happy,  at least on the morning of Sunday,  March 7,  2010,  but only an overview from a helicopter hovering above could reveal the dog-friendly patterns in the apparently random placement of structures that began to impress me just a few minutes into my first of several walk-throughs to verify and further inform my initial impressions.

 

 

Built from salvaged scrap materials,  the Fundatia Fiducia houses dozens of dogs on a budget of less than many Americans spend on just one pet.  The 74-year-old founder lives in a small cottage on the premises that might be described as a shack by someone failing to notice the care the woman puts into cleanliness and maintenance.

 

Recently the Fundatia Fiducia founder was so financially stressed that she appealed to Romanian League in Defense of Animals for help to keep her dogs fed.  ROLDA founder Dana Costin,  with more than 400 dogs in her own care,  and the global financial crisis cutting deeply into ROLDA income,  felt persuaded by the woman's sincerity.  She delivered what help she could,  driving more than seven hours each way on narrow,  winding,  roads often obscured by snowdrifts to get there--and was so impressed by what she saw as to make the same long journey a week later,  in order to show it all to me.

Wandering from shed to woodpile,  checking the care of the dogs,  I appreciated Dana's tremendous leap of faith,  in believing so strongly that I would see what she saw.  Dana had said nothing about why we had to visit the Fundatia Fiducia,  only that we should,  and that making the trip would occupy nearly half of the total time I had to spend making shelter visits in Romania.Dana had informed me that the Fundatia Fiducia founder had been "blackmailed" into allowing the Reghin dog pound to operate on her property,  right next door,  and is responsible for managing it.  From time to time,  Dana said,  the municipal government sends men to kill any impounded dogs whom the founder is unable to take into her shelter.  The founder takes as many dogs as she can,  and finds homes for some.  Though Dana also has care of more dogs than she is able to adopt out,  she has one of the biggest and most successful adoption programs in Romania,  and agreed to help.

 

What Dana and I both saw that was done  uncommonly well at the Fundatia Fiducia was perhaps best illustrated by the contrast between it and the pound.
The pound was easily the neatest,  cleanest of the many municipal pounds I have seen in eastern Europe.  The impounded dogs were housed in compatible pairs.  Every dog had a doghouse and a bowl of water.  Every dog had been fed,  and all of the waste had been removed.
But the U-shaped rows of cages,  neat as they were,  merely repeated the mistakes always made by designers of conventional line kennels.

 
Centuries ago,  the only people who had much occasion to house significant numbers of dogs were  nobility who kept hunting packs and rode to hounds.  For want of any more intelligent ideas about dogkeeping,  the huntsmen kept the dogs in extra horse stalls.  The dogs became undersocialized snapping curs,  but because they were only used to hunt,  nobody noticed that the huntsmen had "invented" inducing kennel-craziness.        

About 150 years ago the founders of the first animal shelters looked for ways to house large numbers of dogs.  Lacking other models to emulate,  they copied the  hunting kennels,  keeping dogs in long,  narrow enclosures that allow them to do very little all day except run madly back and forth and bark.

 

 
Then this already inadequate design was "improved" by replacing the floor with concrete,  so that anxious dogs cannot even dig to relieve their stress -- and the old plank walls were replaced by chain link,  so that every stressed,  nervous dog could be stared at all day by other dogs.  Finally,  tin roofs were put on top of the chain link to amplify the sound of the barking. 
Later,  shelters began "rescuing" cats by stuffing them into cages the size of microwave ovens,  shelved above the dog runs.
A mad scientist could not have devised a swifter or more certain way to drive dogs,  cats,  and their human caretakers completely insane.  Yet this same design that was already inappropriate 1,000 years ago & longer is still the way most alleged animal shelters are built.
Fortunately the founder of the Fundatia Fiducia never had enough money to build rows of line kennels,  or anything uniform.  Instead,  she cobbled together pieces of sheds,  corrals,  and old fences,  propped up against the wind.  No two dog housing units were the same size,  or even continued in straight lines.

 

 

To a devotee of line kennels,  the Fundatia Fiducia looks like chaos.  To former street dogs,  it looks like home.  The secret is that the zigs and zags in the alignment and placement of the buildings divide the Fundatia Fiducia space much as parked cars,  alley mouths,  and garbage cans divide a street.  Lots of corners mean lots of lounging space for compatible groups of dogs.  Because the spaces are of varied size,  sociable dogs can be with lots of friends;  others can choose just one or two companions in a more out-of-the-way place.  Because the habitat is divided by visual barriers,  each group of dogs feels secure.  Yet each dog is also free to wander the grounds,  visiting others along wide "boulevards."

Significantly,  the Fundatia Fiducia dogs almost all had the chance to retreat to the back of the shelter property,  away from the others,  visitors,  and the road -- but did not.  Instead,  they all congregated toward the front,  where their social opportunities are greatest.
Outdoor shelters rarely stink in March,  a cold and windy month.  At first thaw,  however,  a winter's accumulation of frozen feces may sink through the melting snow and ice,  turning the premises into an open cesspool.  For that reason,  I made a point of inspecting the ice for the tell-tale discoloration that hints at turds hidden below.  I found surprisingly few.

 
I looked over the fences,  to see if escapees or dumpees might be living in the brush beyond the shelter and pound.  There was one.  At other shelters in the developing world I have often found dozens -- and the remains of more,  who died from starvation,  the elements,  or being hit by passing cars.  I saw no remains. 
I looked for untreated injuries that might be the legacy of dogfights.  There were none.  A German shepherd,  perhaps the shelter bully,  was chained,  unlike all the other dogs,  and his water bowl was frozen.  But he could still get water by pushing the ice cap aside.
The Fundacia Fiducia is not the perfect animal shelter.  Almost everything about it could be improved,  with a bit of money and more of the devoted attention that the founder already seems to have put into every detail.  But I have seen many shelters that were built and operated on budgets of millions of dollars,  yet accomplish much less toward keeping dogs happy and healthy.

 

Using my 100-point shelter evaluation scale,  which is based on how well a shelter succeeds in affording animals the "Five Freedoms,"  I scored the Fundacia Fiducia at 79.   During the past 20-odd years,  I have scored hundreds of shelters in all parts of the world.  In eastern Europe,  only the original ROLDA shelter has ever scored higher -- and the first ROLDA high score is what earned my endorsement and encouragement of the organization.

 

The "Five Freedoms" are:

1.  Freedom from thirst, hunger and malnutrition,  achieved by providing ready access to fresh, clean water and adequate,  nutritious food to maintain full health and vigor.

2.  Freedom from discomfort,  achieved by providing an environment suitable to the needs of each species,  including adequate protection from the elements and a comfortable resting area.

3.  Freedom from pain, injury and disease,  achieved by prevention, rapid diagnosis,  and treatment.

4.  Freedom to express normal behavior,  achieved by providing sufficient space,  proper facilities and the company of the animal's own kind.

5.  Freedom from fear and distress by ensuring living conditions which avoid mental suffering.

I have no idea whether the founder of the Fundatia Fiducia has ever heard of the "Five Freedoms."   I do know that she understands them.

--Merritt Clifton

Merritttheparrot@yahoo.com

Mobile: 360-969-0450
U.S. trustee
Romanian League in Defense of Animals

 

If you want to help the Fiducia shelter for basic costs: direct cost for dogs food and sterilizations, please use these details:
 
Account name:  Fiducia Foundation
IBAN:   RO 42 BRDE 270 SV1688 046 2700
Bank name: BRD GSG
Bank address: Reghin Romania
 
or ROLDA bank details /PayPal account with specification "for Fiducia shelter"


If you want to send supplies for these dogs, please use this address:
Milutin Doina
Str. G. Cosbuc nr. 9 ap.6
Tg. Mures, jud. Mures
 

As you can imagine, any type of help no matter how small it is, and not necessarily financially is very appreciated, if you have spare dog toys, bowls, dry or canned food, biscuits or vitamins, blankets or dog coats...it would be a HUGE surprise to send to these animals!
 
Thank you in their name, thank you so much for caring!