I'm sorry about the harshness of the pictures I'm going to show you. But....I have no chance because they are real and sometimes the truth is not beautiful. I have to show them to you because they complete the picture.
This is the story of Brad and Angi
Brad and Angi are two strays, that ended up at the Public Shelter in Bacau, Romania. I will tell you more about this horrid place on other occasions.
The shelter is divided into two areas. In one area they have kennels for the recently caught dogs.
The other area is a large open field. In that field there are more than 2000 dogs: all sizes, puppies, alphas, diseased, healthy, doesn't matter. It's a wild wild west where only the strong survive. Volunteers are forbidden to go into the field.
The administration of the shelter doesn't want anyone filming or taking photos of the horrors. Some managed to sneak in and get proof. If you want, I can show you, but they are very hard to watch.
Coco did volunteer work at the Public Shelter for a short period of time, alongside other rescuers. One of the volunteers spotted a dog, with scabies all over his body. He was in the field, but close enough to the surrounding fence. It was Brad.
This is Brad now, saved and happy:
He recovered from this (the photo was taken just before exiting the Shelter's gates):
Right after the volunteers saw the dog, they started searching for foster and treatment. It took 4 or 5 hours. This rarely happens. People from all over saw Brad's photos and rushed to donate. The Shelter's management was pissed AF. The manager considered that the volunteers shared the picture only to make him look bad. Who cares about the dog, right? He invented excuses and on purpose, kept everybody waiting 2 days for Brad's adoption papers.
While waiting for "formalities", someone spotted another dog with scabies, in a worse condition, this time in the kennels. Angie.
It was a desperate situation because they managed to find foster and treatment only for Brad. This is the problem with scabies. You have to find someone who can give the pricy treatment (frequent baths, apply creams, give antibiotics) and special food, has a suitable space with no other pets (scabies is contagious) and has a little bit of experience with traumatized dogs.
There was no plan for Angie. Coco agreed to take them both in until fostering, as long as it takes. The others agreed to find foster and financing for the treatment. They couldn't just leave her there. Coco took Angie under her name, just to speed up the adoption. She wanted them out at the same time.
Everybody pitched in and they managed to raise the sum of money necessary for the treatment. Good news came also from Brad's foster, there was enough room for both.
Brad:
Despite the pain he was in, he was very friendly and wanted to be cuddled as much as possible. Apart from scabies, all his leg joints were infected. He had open wounds all over the body, from scratching.
Angi:
Angi was traumatized. Approaching her was very hard each time. Baths were...a challenge. She avoided contact as much as possible. Scabies ate the tissue surrounding her eyes and her lips.
Because scabies is contagious, I only saw them from behind the glass door. Coco also took safety measures to avoid contamination.
The treatment began as soon as they arrived. Baths, antibiotics, vitamins and tons of love.
Both seemed monsters, but Coco could imagine them with fur and healed. In her eyes, they were beautiful. And I agreed. That's why she named them after the most two beautiful humans she knows: Brad and Angi.
After a week, they were stable and ready to travel to their foster.
The kind lady who accepted them, Ana Radulescu, did wonders!
Brad recovered fully and was adopted. Look at him defending the "'territory"
Angi grew back her fur, she is healthy and living with Ana but she's not adoptable. The extended damage to her face made her very shy and unsociable. The tissue didn't recover, she still looks weird and the other dogs avoid her. She hasn't got lips anymore and her teeth show.
She doesn't want to interact with anyone except Ana, who will keep Angi for the rest of her life because it's where the dog feels safe.
Ana regularly puts her in contact with new friendly dogs, hoping Angi will like someone and eventually make a friend (Angi is the dog on the left)
