Introduction

Bulgaria shouldn’t be in the European Union (EU) at this time, and neither should a number of other countries such as Romania. They were allowed to join before they were compatible with existing EU countries. They were allowed to join too early because the empire-building, bloated bureaucrats who run the EU (Eurocrats) wanted to expand their power base. This horrible mess has resulted in the same ghastly, overpaid bureaucrats playing catch up and trying to force Bulgaria to modernise and change by introducing a million regulations to begin the process of integration into the European Union.

I know that an expansion of the EU is good in the long term but the process has moved too quickly and Europeans are paying a heavy price. There are a lot of problems, one of which is that Bulgarian animal rescue organizations have to totally change their ways otherwise they have to close, by order of Eurocrats who dictate to the Bulgarian government.

What the Eurocrats are saying, in so many words, is that it is better to have no animal rescue rather than animal rescue which does not meet their regulations, which is ridiculous. In a country such as Bulgaria where there is a great need for a lot of work on animal rescue at a grass roots level, such as spaying and neutering dogs and cats, any form of well intentioned help from decent minded people, no matter what the conditions they work under, is better than no help at all.

Rudozem Street Dog Rescue

Having made that painful introduction I’d like to write about Rudozem Street Dog Rescue, who, incidentally, rescue cats as well. This dedicated animal rescue organisation is owned and run by the Rowles family – Diane and Tony Rowles and their 4 children. They decided to leave the UK for a quieter life in Bulgaria in 2007. Very brave.

In a short time, they discovered something about Buglaria that they hadn’t foreseen; the callous abuse of an excess of unwanted street dogs. I can only presume that cats are treated the same way. The opening lines of their story says it all really. Ranger, one of the stray dogs where they live befriended their youngest son Luke. Ranger had previously been shot at by a local man. Need I say more?

Apparently dogs are allowed to breed without hardly any controls at all. This leads to what one would expect: a chaotic situation with respect to street dogs wandering around open to abuse from local people some of whom abuse them rather than take proactive steps to introduce some sort of responsible control over the lives of these companion animals.

The Rowles write:

“The current vet does not know the procedure for spaying female dogs, and only knows how to neuter male dogs….”

It is the usual story of irresponsible pet ownership; let them breed, let them roam and then shoot at them, kick them and throw stones at them because they are a nuisance. A sad indictment of human behavior. I can write this, but the Rowles family have to work with local people so they are naturally more circumspect. It appears that a decent percentage of Bulgarian people don’t understand the philosophy behind animal rescue. However, I will accept that there must be many Bulgarians who are as sympathetic to unwanted companion animals as the Rowles family.

Unfortunately, the Rowles family have been threatened with closure of their rescue facilities unless they meet EU regulations. Having done a ton of sterling work in saving many animals they are no faced with closure unless they can find a lot of money to renovate their buildings.

That is their current story. They need funding. I admire them for the work they do. It must be tricky work because in all honesty there does seem to be a bit of a culture clash.

If you’d to help, even in a small way, please visit their website. They have a PayPal button for donations and of course their full story by themselves and not my old man version.