All the foreigners who visit Romania’s capital are struck by two things in particular: the hellish traffic and the multitude of stray dogs. Bucharest has more than two million inhabitants, and the number of stray dogs has been estimated at around 300,000. On average, one hundred cases of people with dog bites are reported daily. It is said that the capital’s stray dog problem dates from the communist period, when Ceausescu demolished whole districts of old houses. Back then there was at least one dog for every back yard. The people were forced to move into tenement blocks, and the dogs were abandoned to multiply unchecked. Individually, they seem harmless enough and evoke sympathy more than anything else. But when they form packs, they provoke terror. The law does not allow them to be put down. After being neutered and held in shelters for ten days, in the hope of adoption, the hapless stray dogs are sent back onto the streets, where they must survive as best they can.
The Eastern Station
Orchidées St.
Lipscani St.
Victory Plaza
Future St.
Silver Knife St.
Filaret Bus Station
Bassarab Station
River St.
Tributary St.
King Ferdinand Boulevard
Pet shop on Saddlers St.: new master, fresh hope
