The unwanted puppies – direct result of people's indifference

They are everywhere; they come in all sizes and colors, and they all have one thing in common: they are not wanted, not planned and not cared for. But, for us, they are the ones responsible for it.

Right from the start food is never enough for them, there is no warm place for them and there is never a good word for them. They are the proof of our incompetence, our indolence and nobody wants to be reminded constantly about their failure. So, they need to suffer for it!

There are two kind of unwanted puppies, those born on the streets and those thrown on the streets, sometimes before even opening their eyes (under 14 days of age). No matter how they end up on the streets, they are treated as plagues or threats to society. They are sick, dirty, full of fleas, tick or larvae; they are dragging their weak bodies, begging for food, making noise with their desperate cry for help, thus they make us feel disgusted, angry, sickened…but never compassionate.

7 days old puppies, abandoned in the dumpster; they had been crying for almost 20 hours of cold and hunger and nobody cared to help them

 

 

Puppies come into this world not asking for much from the start. They get by with only scraps of leftovers, they wag their tails to everyone that passes along and sometimes they follow people around town, wanting to feel like they belong to someone. They are sometimes so unbelievably hungry or wet and cold or sick, that it is hard to imagine how they go through life in such impossible conditions. Many of us would not make it for a day in their place and would probably make a huge drama of it, but not them. The unwanted puppies are reduced to silence by humans, because they have no right to demand to be treated with respect or decency…they are the UNWANTED. 

Maybe half of them die in their first year of life due to terrible illnesses such as Parvovirus, Distemper or of hunger and cold, run over by cars, tortured and killed by people. The ones who do survive grow into young adults, fully prepared to take on their given blame: they are responsible for making people feeling unsafe on the streets, for the noise and dirt, for the flees in the parks, for the tourists avoiding visiting our country; they are also a tool for Mayors and politicians who use the stray dogs to blame each other, to get ahead and be elected with the solemn promise that they “will put an end to this problem”.

 

Every year people abandon thousands of unwanted puppies from their homes; it’s what they are used to do and don’t feel any remorse about it. They are totally ignorant about the consequences and often complain about their safety on the streets without ever considering they are to blame for it. They are the owners of the dogs who give birth twice a year, but the dogs are totally responsible for everything and should be grateful they, the owners, allow them to share their back yards and, occasionally, some leftovers. 

From an early age, dogs understand they have no right to live on this earth and that they should suffer all their lives for the audacity of being born when nobody asked them to. They learn that they can’t expect much from people, except your every day kick in the head. People are very inventive in showing their contempt towards stray puppies; their size or weakness don’t impress them, only the fact that they can’t react to being tortured…they can’t defend themselves. 

Living on the street might be hard to understand for young puppies at first. Questions such as: “why is there so much food around, but never for us?”, “why do people throw rocks at us, when all we want to do is lick their hands?”, “why doesn’t anyone hear our pain?”, “why does our tummy always makes noises and hurt?”, “ why were we born if nobody needs us?” are never answered for them. After a while, they adjust, they resign themselves to being the underdogs, the forgotten, the oppressed and, if something bad happens, the RESPONSIBLE. 

Left to the authorities, puppies stand no chance to survive. They are the weak link that must perish, so the mighty human can feel good about himself. We lie to ourselves that a hand full (compared to the huge number that is yet to be abandoned by those who refuse to spay/neuter their own animals) of tortured dogs in the public shelters will solve the problems and help us sleep better at night.

                         These photos were taken in the public shelter of Moreni in 2011

People in Romania are so numb and indifferent to everything, they don’t even see the problem anymore, except when a tragedy occurs. Then, it’s time to take out our pitches and forks and kill all that moves. After that, we can go back to sleep and totally ignore everything that goes wrong in this country.

So, what is left for these tormented souls to do? How are they ever to please us, their “friends”, their “companions”, the ones whom love they yarn to conquer, if all they ever do is wrong to us? Stray puppies are convicted right in the second after they were born for the capital crime of not being able to prevent that. But how could they?

Their life is one of torture and pain; every second of it, their life is dedicated to begging for our forgiveness for being born unwanted.