Dear Supporters and Friends,

Can you believe that another year is almost upon us? With just weeks before we cross over to 2009, we can reflect upon this past year. In 2008 we broadened animal rescue efforts to new parts of Romania with your compassion and generosity:

• We visited Best Friends Animal Society's sanctuary in Utah. There, we learned the ins and outs of starting an animal sanctuary. As a result, Cristina Peterson and Dr. Valentine in Buzau began developing one in Romania.
• We requested $1500 to spay/neuter dogs owned by an elderly lady outside Braila. You responded with $2500, providing a $1000 balance which we used to spay/neuter animals in Braila.
• Dr. Bachman traveled to Romania in May. During his trip, he trained 22 vets and students in the cities of Bucharest, Braila, Buzau, and Sibiu. These trainees returned to their practices to continue with these new procedures on local animals. While in Romania, Dr. Bachman performed over 80 spay/neuter procedures, and treated more animals for parasites and injuries.
• Dr. Stefan Aurelian began working with us to perform modern spay/neuter procedures on stray animals. We purchased a caravan so that Dr. Aurelian could take his skills where it is needed. Most recently, he and Ada endured the cold of Giurgiu to perform 50 spay/neuter procedures, among them patrol dogs that guard Romania's southern border with Bulgaria.
• We furnished "Little Girl" with wheels to support her paralyzed hind legs. Thanks to Eddie's Wheels, the people of Braila can see the compassion of animal welfare in the help for Little Girl.
• The vice mayor of Braila has agreed to spare stray spayed/neutered dogs, marked with an ear tag. Support of animal welfare is needed in all areas of Romanian society. When the city's leaders pledge their assistance, it makes reaching the citizens that much more effective

Hallo Kirsten,

Für die Braila—Welpen würde ich gerne eine Spende machen für die Tierarztkosten die in Rumänien angefallen sind.

Obwohl sie so eine lange Reise nach Deutschland hatten sind sie fit und munter angekommen. Anbei ein Foto von den zwei Welpen aus Rumänien die sich noch bei mir befinden und meiner behinderten Pflegehündin Luisa aus Spanien. Vielen Dank für Eure Tierschutzarbeit in Rumänien.

Wenn alles gut läuft (es wird noch eine Platzkontrolle bei den Interessenten gemacht) verlassen die letzten zwei Welpen am kommenden Wochenende mein Pflegenest. Es war eine sehr schöne Zeit, auch wenn es teilweise sehr anstrengend war mit den Zwergen. Unzählige Pfützchen und Häufchen mussten beseitigt werden und so mancher Gegenstand ist den Kleinen zum Opfer gefallen. Mein Ehemann wird zu Weihnachten neue Hausschuhe bekommen. ;-)

Anbei noch ein paar Bilder!

Hello Kirsten,

For the Braila puppies, I will gladly make a donation for the veterinary costs in Romania.

Although the journey to Germany was long, the puppies arrived fit and lively. Enclosed is a photo of the two puppies from Romania still with me and my handicapped care dog, Luisa, from Spain. Thank you for your animal protection work in Romania.

If everything goes well (still another reservation is made with prospective customers) the last two puppies will leave my nest next weekend. It was a very beautiful time, even when it was quite arduous with the little ones. Innumerable trials and tribulations were eliminated, and so some items pleased the small ones to our sacrifice. My husband will get new slippers this Christmas. ;-)

Enclosed are a few pictures!

Dear Nancy,

To keep you updated, today I had another female spayed. It might be the last one this year, because of money and cold weather outside.

Her pup was spayed last week. They are street dogs, in the care of an elerly woman, aged 82. The mother whom I just left in the care of the elderly woman had been poisoned and saved 3 times prior. This woman saved the dog by giving it salty water. The dog has only 1 eye, and a face injury. I visited the other dog after her spay procedure, The old woman kept her in her bed. She loves these dogs a lot!

Dear Nancy,

Yesterday I did spay and neuter in Giurgiu again and it went great: 24 animals that were living on the streets were neutered (actually there were only females) and what was extraordinary about it is that we even spayed 5 dogs from the border police in Giurgiu. This is very good PR because those dogs were exactly at the border point. They arranged nice kennels from wood flooring and the dogs were very comfortable and warm.

Ada and I were not that warm. Outside was no more than 10 degrees or so and inside the caravan was approximately the same temperature.

For the caravan, apart from the spay packs, we also need a second operating table. We also need some very long cables to bring electricity from the area where we are in order to work because now it gets dark very soon.

I did a contract for safe sharps and needles disposal. The clinic's garbage is now ecologically disposed.

The crates have not arrived yet. I will call the people from Helping Hands to see if they know anything about it. The anesthesia machine arrived and it is working.