at a better life
Your donation
More than 500 dogs have been rescued and are currently being cared for at the Speranța Shelter. They need shelter, food, medical care and a chance for a better future, a loving family to provide them with a stable home.
We make every effort to make the dogs’ stay at Speranța, however short, a pleasant one and then do our best to find them an adoptive family.
Our shelter is constantly being modernised and, as far as funds are available, we do our best to improve the standard of living for our friends on a daily basis. We give them as much love, care and dedication as we are capable of, considering that there are several hundred of them and we are only a handful.
Pluto and all our rescued dogs need you urgently.
Join our mission to change the lives of abandoned dogs.
Only with your donation, we turn Hope into Reality for them every day!
Here at Speranța Shelter, we rely on donations from animal-loving supporters like you to fund our projects focused on the rescue and welfare of dogs.
Pluto's Story
We found Pluto in a deplorable condition
Pluto came to us looking like a horror movie villain, not a dog. In an almost desperate state, forgotten and abandoned somewhere in a field in Maia commune, Ialomita county, he had a skin disease so bad you could hardly tell what animal was hiding under his wounds.
Exhausted and terrified, he didn’t let himself be caught the first time. We left disappointed, didn’t sleep all night, but returned the next day, knowing that although we had the shelter full of eyes, we couldn’t leave him there.
We named it Pluto because it was like the planet: very far away and very lonely, in a field many miles outside Bucharest.
We immediately started a fundraising campaign on Facebook to diagnose and treat him properly. The results were amazing, and the treatment was started just 2 days after we brought him to the Speranța shelter.
Where you put love and attention, treatment can be miraculous
With a lot of commitment from our doctors, but also with a lot of tenderness and care, we treated both his physical and emotional injuries. We took him to the best dermatologists, then followed the treatment strictly and, just as importantly, made him feel safe and loved.
On the one hand, he received local injectable treatment to heal the actual skin disease. On the other, he was massaged daily with various ointments because we wanted to reduce his excruciating itching and generalized stinging.
The next phase of treatment for the very severe dermatitis he came to the shelter with was to clean the scales resulting from the topical treatment, after which we washed him.
Before we cured him, we thought a lot about how it felt to “tighten your skin”, but also about the meaning of the phrase “feeling good in your own skin”. Well, Pluto feels much better in his own skin and he’s grateful to us for that.
From raw meat to silky smooth fur in one month
Pluto’s return was spectacular. In no more than three weeks, a new layer of fur had appeared all over him, in places where before he was a kind of raw flesh. And not just any fur, but silky, thick and soft, as befits a puppy surrounded by love. We think he recovered so quickly because, seeing how much we were involved in his rescue and how much we cared about him in general, we gave him hope and comfort.
Pluto also quickly became a social media sensation, with videos of his rescue and treatment garnering hundreds of thousands of views on Facebook and Tik-Tok.
Soon, looking as if he had just returned from a hair implant in Turkey, he also made his first friend, Alexei, the one who ended up in the shelter with his neck nearly severed by a noose. They were funny and always together, most likely because they both knew what it was like to suffer enormously.
All Pluto needs now is a loving family
Pluto has undergone a miraculous transformation, and you and your donations have been at the heart of it.
Where once there was a body like a living wound, now there is a soft, thick fur. Where it was a scared dog, it had become a brave and trusted friend.
At the end, I also gave him a good bath and now he was a perfect dog for adoption. Because we can handle 90% of the entire dog rescue process. But we’ll never be able to truly, fully rescue them. The real saving of these souls only comes when we manage, all together, to find them a family.
Now, he’s ready for the next stage. Pluto wants to step towards the ultimate miracle: a family that will love him in a way he didn’t know was possible. Give Pluto a share and a cheer! We want to find him a home as soon as possible.
The Speranța Shelter Foundation was founded in 1996 by Florina Tomescu and, since its inception, has contributed decisively to the welfare of animals in Romania, especially abandoned and suffering dogs.
On the night of 18.04.2001, the staff of the Speranța Foundation, together with the Vier Pfoten Romania team, rescued 300 dogs from the city hall shelters, dogs that would otherwise have fallen victim to the new euthanasia law. It was a real act of mass rescue at a terrible time for both animals and animal lovers.
The dogs at Speranța were rescued from the streets or from various life-threatening situations. Our shelter is home to around 500 dogs. Of these, 7 are paraplegics (they receive special care and are moved around with the help of prams) and about 200 are seniors, i.e. over 12 years old. We have a lot of older dogs in the shelter, but we are constantly trying to find families for them.
Speranța Foundation is constantly working to find adopters for the dogs in the shelter, including offering the possibility of distance adoption. Speranța Foundation is constantly organising events to promote adoptions and events to raise awareness of the responsibility we all have towards animals.
Every year, the Speranța Shelter team runs spay/neuter programs for dogs and cats with owners, a pro bono project for those interested.
Speranța Shelter relies entirely on private donations to care for its more than 500 dogs each year and to fund all of its programs. The shelter’s monthly maintenance costs amount to more than €20,000.
In addition to maintenance expenses, we continually need financial support to improve the living conditions of the dogs by providing them with a clean, safe and loving environment. The shelter has been constantly upgraded, the paddocks have been rebuilt to be more comfortable and welcoming for their residents, 4 playgrounds have been created for the dogs, the 2 medical clinics have been equipped with state-of-the-art equipment.
Speranța Shelter is also actively involved in campaigns to promote adoptions and to educate and raise awareness of the responsibility we all have towards animals, in order to prevent abandonment and acts of cruelty towards them.
For more information on the work of the shelter, visit the About Us page
Any contribution, no matter the amount, can make a difference in the lives of many animals. Here are a few reasons why you should consider donating monthly:
Continuous Support:
Monthly donations provide a steady stream of income for the foundation, allowing for long-term planning and implementation for the good of the dogs.
Save time and effort:
Setting up a monthly donation is an efficient way to contribute without having to remember to do it every month.
Personal satisfaction:
Donating regularly gives you the feeling of actively contributing to an important cause and directly impacting the lives of animals.
Activity sustainability:
A steady stream of monthly donations can help the shelter weather tough times and continue to do valuable work.
Pluto is one of our shelter’s many success stories.
Hundreds of dogs with similar stories are cared for every day and depend on your support.
Your donations can save and give abandoned dogs a new chance.
On behalf of the animals at Speranța Shelter
thank you for any contribution!
About us
Speranța Foundation was founded in 1996 and, for more than two decades, we have done everything in our power for the welfare of our silent friends, especially for abandoned and suffering dogs.
Useful links
Contact
Speranța Shelter, Popești Leordeni (entrance from Splaiul Independenței)
+4 0728 899 313
contact@adapostulsperanta.ro
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