Strada Principala 451 H, 137075 Butimanu, Dambovita, Romania +40 729 806 983
Welcome
To Semper Fidelis Domus
Shelter
Our Story…………..
The story begins around ten years ago, when a kind lady
bought a small piece of land in Dambovita County and built
a cottage as a weekend retreat for herself, her family and
her dogs. She rented out part of her land to another lady
who was looking to build a sanctuary for two hundred dogs
she had rescued from the streets. Mrs Bogza helped the
lady to fence off the land for her shelter.
The problem was that Mrs Bogza could not leave strays and
abandoned dogs to fend for themselves and she picked up
the strays she saw on the side of the road during her
journey from Bucharest to her retreat in Butimanu. Soon
her own land was also a sanctuary and she build over a
hundred pens with shelter for several dogs in each. Very
quickly the numbers escalated At that time the government
in Romania began the barbaric killing of strays, whose only
crime was that they had been abandoned on the streets by
humans! Mrs Bogza began a campaign to save every dog
and cat she found abandoned and within two years the
number of animals in her shelter topped four hundred.
Mrs Bogza atttempted to rehome some of the dogs, but the
first two that were adopted went to a Romanian family who
were unable to care for them and they were returned. Mrs
Bogza had heard horror stories about dogs sent abroad,
being told that they would be “killed and would become
gloves”. For some years she was afraid to rehome them - no
dogs left the shelter and the numbers kept on increasing.
For almost eight years, Mrs Bogza cared for over four
hundred dogs entirely at her own expense. Her family
savings were used to pay workers to look after the dogs
from this shelter and another smaller one she had in
Bucharest. With no help at all she paid all the food and vets’
bills, registering, spaying, neutering and vaccinating all at
her own expense. She created Semper Fidelis Domus
Shelter, a non profit organisation.
Last year Mrs Bogza suffered several setbacks - a relative
tried to make a claim on the estate left to her by her
husband on his death. She suffered ill health and the court
blocked her access to her husband’s estate until a final
decision. She has only a small pension on which to survive
and she lives in a tiny apartment, barely able to pay her own
way.
There are still over three hundred dogs in the Shelter, all
of whom need to be fed and have medical care where
necessary. Staff need to be paid as there are no volunteers
at the Shelter. A Facebook Page and a Fundraising Page
have been set up and a small number of kind folk have
pledged monthly sponsorship amounts to help. Much more
needs to be raised to keep these dogs safe. Forever homes
need to be found for as many as possible to reduce the
monthly bills.
IF ADEQUATE FUNDS CANNOT BE RAISED. IF HOMES
CANNOT BE FOUND. IF OTHER PRIVATE SHELTERS
CANNOT TAKE SOME OF THE DOGS. IF NOTHING ELSE
CAN BE DONE THE DOGS WILL GO TO THE PUBLIC
SHELTER AND SEMPER FIDELIS DOMUS WILL BE CLOSED
DOWN FOR EVER. DOGS IN THE PUBLIC SHELTER HAVE
FIFTEEN DAYS GRACE BEFORE INHUMANE EUTHANASIA
TAKES PLACE.
Mrs Bogza is breaking her heart. She has given all her
money, all her body and all her soul to these poor dogs -
can you really allow them to end up dead?
Please have a good look at this website, as well as the
Facebook Pages, and do whatever you can to help. Also,
please involve everyone you know that might be in a
position to adopt, foster, sponsor, donate, spread the word.
THANK YOU FOR READING THIS