"AWABosnia is a small and dedicated group of people from outside of Bosnia-Herzegovina who gathered to assist the strays. They live in the U.S.A., Australia, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden and elsewhere. They call themselves Animal Welfare Advocates for Bosnia Herzegovina."
This is their page:
http://inmemoryofvucko.org/awab/
I am glad to hear that someone is helping the strays in Bosnia. After a war, the animals continue to suffer because the people have so few recourses to help them.
This group can really make a difference. Are they finding homes for animals in Bosnia or are they bringing them out?
I think they are finding homes everywhere...(?) It seems there are a number of volunteers all doing different things, but connected to the main group -AWABosnia. There is one lovely young Bosnian woman who rescues cats too. She has a house full apparently. According to the blog page where her story is mentioned, the house and all the cats are clean and looked after.
But what a task! They do it for love, so that makes any task easier, I guess. But they are really working against many odds, with few resources available.
There is apparently a history of animal abuse and 'not caring' in that location. Many local people dislike the dogs particularly. In my view, humans created the problem. What right have they to turn about and start to hate the poor creatures who wouldn't be in that sorry position if it weren't for them in the first place? Those people need to wake up!
I won't mention specific cases of animal abuse here. But there are some horrible stories. Concerning Vucko -who was rescued by people but his injuries caused by a gang of drunken teenagers, were so horrendous that he had to be put to sleep.) The blog-webpage is set up in his memory.
There are other cases of dreadful abuse. These volunteers give all they have to help.
The main issue now is the state of the dog shelter (I think that is in Sarajevo) The first snow has come, and the shelter is in a bad state. 150 to 200 dogs are "rescued" there. The volunteers know that they would be actually better off on the streets, but for the prevalence of animal abuse.
There are also apparently many many dogs who cannot be fitted into the shelter, whom the volunteers give food to outside.
This sounds like Dante's Hell for dogs.....
Thank goodness that there are some caring people there. I will return to look at their website later.
I have been looking at the before and after pictures and it is hard to believe they are the same animals. They are so changed in their whole demeanor. Ears that were dropping are now up and alert. Before the eyes were desperate and later I see love and peace.
They are doing great things.
I also noticed that many of the animals ended up in the Essex area.
Conditions in Bosnia are so bad that rescue means evacuation. I hope they can raise enough funds to continue this wonderful work.
On Saturday I was so upset about the animals especially the dogs in the Gladno Polje shelter.
Then I got an idea. So I am going to do a fundraising in my local supermarket foyer. (A small table with pictures, written info. and a collection bucket.) emailed AWABosnia, and they liked the idea very much. But they are so swamped with work, and to save them precious resources and time, I said I would sort it all out myself.
So now I must get photos printed, and a small banner, and something for the collection bucket, and get printed text 'blown up' more so it is readable for people standing at the stall. And first I must contact the store manager. My local Tesco's allows charity collections in their foyer regularly. Let's hope they have a space for the dogs of Bosnia!
If anyone has experience doing this kind of fundraiser, please post here!
That sounds like a great idea. You could set up a fund raiser table and send them the money. I am sure they would love having people out there raising money for them.
Here in Toronto kids regularly do little fund raisers for the Toronto Humane Society. In the city you can go door to door, but in the country setting up at a big store would give you the best number of people.
I think you would need information about the charity. Pictures and maybe a small flyer with the website info on it. Some people would give money directly to you. Others could be encouraged to donate online. Would you be able to have your computer there with the web site up so they can see the work being done.
Good luck and keep us posted. If I think of anything that would help I will let you know.
I went to see the store manager who is in charge of charity collections. She liked the idea, and had already seen the AWABosnia situation online. Green light, and then the bad news...I have to wait until 10th January to do it, because they are fully booked up until then.
I then went to another store. That lady needs me to submit the proposal in writing, which I will do. But no guarantee of a quick result.
I think I will ask at the vet's but they probably will say no. I have never seen charity collections there. I will speak to the head vet. I know him very well.
It is now snowing in Sarajevo.
Snow already, that is bad. Definitely you should keep the January date, but you need something else before then.
Is there a public place you can visit or an event. Are your street corners busy enough for you to connect with lots of people?
Have you thought of writing/ Emailing Ellen DeGeneres. She has a Facebook page. She has a talk show in the USA. She is very charitable. If you made her aware of the needs of the Bosnian dogs she might make a donation. It is worth a try. If I can find a link to her page I will send it to you.
If you haven't seen her show you can get old ones on YouTube.
Good luck with the collection, Tobi. To protect your confidentiality I won't state full town names, but I assume you mean the Tesco's in Gla.....
Would the Tesco's in S...M... be too far? Is Aldi too small? Perhaps they would permit a collection table in the car park? Just a few ideas - but of course I don't know your area that well, I only Googled about a certain festival and nearest supermarkets, LOL!