Constanța dog puppetry, tv clash with the mayor

On 24 September, our president, Sara Turetta, appeared as a guest on the Romanian talk show “Miezul problemei” (TV National) and had a heated exchange with the mayor of Constanța, Vergil Chitac, via telephone link.

Faced with footage filmed by Save the Dogs and other volunteers showing the severe overcrowding at the facility and the appalling hygiene conditions, the mayor claimed that the images were fake and that the campaign was nothing more than an act of revenge by an NGO that “no longer had a contract with the local council”.

Sara, supported in her arguments by the Romanian activist Tudor Tim Ionescu and the legal expert Remus Mindru, highlighted the unacceptable conditions in which the animals are kept and the extremely high costs (1.3 million euros) of the kennel. Furthermore, she invited the mayor to visit Footprints of Joy and to take advantage of Save the Dogs’ offer to train the staff at the Constanța kennel.

The mayor said he was willing to meet with the organisations (including Save the Dogs) that had formally requested a meeting with him a month ago to discuss the situation in his city – a letter to which he had not yet received a reply.