KEEP THE HAPPY BUS RUNNING

Hi All

You will remember seeing our news back in October that we had started our own dogs and cats transport from Romanian to the UK in order to reduce our costs, generate revenues to support our running costs, and create a blueprint for all new entrants in the space when it comes to animal welfare standards in transport and compliance with existing regulations. AT the time we were lucky enough to secure a loan from a generous supporter which allowed us to purchase 2 vans, get them fitted to very high standards and pass with flying colours all the inspections needed to obtain licences needed.

We have established our own transport as the Romanian Rescue Bus, RRB for short. We have transported hundreds of dogs and cats to their adopters and fosters and shared in the joy of seeing these little souls going from limited hope in confined spaces to unlimited happiness in new lovely, comforting and committed new homes. All of our volunteers only do what they do because they want to feel part of something bigger, they want to give hope to these voiceless animals and seeing them coming home makes it all worth it. The sleepless nights, the countless hours, the worry, the tears. It all means so much to us, it makes us.

Unfortunately the last 6 months have not bee as easy as we would have liked, but when are they? Rescue is always a battle after a battle after a battle. We have not been able to carry quite as many animals as we were hoping. The current cost of living crisis has put a strain on everyone’s finances and we have seen a massive decrease in the number of applications for adoption and foster and so have all the other rescues we have been transporting dogs and cats for, which in turn resulted in a much smaller utilisation of the vans and lower revenues being generated. All the excess that comes from transport is spent on paying for food and vets in Romania, none of our UK team are paid and our admin fees are close to 0. In addition, some of the other transporters are continuing to operate in non-compliant and despicable ways cutting corners to save money and cash in on other charities’ donations while undercutting those like us who do everything properly.

We have seen very large dogs of 50kg+ carried in medium size cages with no room to stand. We have seen 70kg dogs lifted as if they were sacks of potatoes. We have seen small scared Chihuahuas taken from the van and carried to adopters in the middle of the road with no leads, harnesses or carriers. We have seen dogs carried across Europe in moveable crates, heavily pregnant dogs give birth on the floor of a moving van, and those operators keep going. They bring dogs and cats across Europe and to the UK in these conditions, and rescues keep using them because they feel there is no alternative: they won’t pay for the actual cost of transport or they don’t know any better. We want to change this. We want to continue to be better and teach these rescues that it an be done.

Why shouldn’t we try to teach these people how to do things properly? Why should they win and we stop operating? Why should all these dogs travel in these conditions under the cheap excuse that “it’s only a couple of days before they get to a better place”? why can these dogs not have it all? Why do they need to suffer more before it gets better? Why?

Now we have to start repaying the loan we took to purchase the vans, get them kitted out and licensed. The total amounts to £21,500 and we are late on the first half of it. The lender has been accommodating as they are a supporter of the charity’s work and our dogs, but they are not in a position to allow us any further extension on the payment terms, so we have to start repayments ASAP and bring the balance at least up to date.

The only alternative we have is to try and sell the vans and exit the transport activity which would set us back and make transporting our own dogs much more expensive in future, as well as put us in a position where we won’t be able to help new operators and be an example for them.

Our whole ethos is to try and become an independent organisation able to function for itself and support smaller rescues to allow rescuing more and more dogs from the streets and public shelters, and we may well have to review the prices and terms we offer them in the near future to ensure continuity of the RRB, but now we need help to get at least up to date with the outstanding amount so that we can live to fight another day.

We think the number of adoptions will increase as governments take action to counteract the cost of living crisis and better compliance is achieved across rescues that import animals from abroad, so at least one of the 2 main causes of the shortfall in the number of dogs traveling on the RRB can be resolved. And we believe our insistence on better standards coupled with the increasing number of sanctions being imposed by APHA on bad transporters will discourage the poor standards and reduce the price pressure which we are under at the moment. What we need is some help until those 2 main issues get resolved and we are able to carry more animals home.

Please, help us continue to provide the best care we can to these animals during their stressful journey to safety and happiness. If you have adopted one of our dogs you got to experience the service we offer and we hope you can spare anything you can to allow us to continue and bring more dogs and cats home safe.

Even £1 helps and we are grateful for anything you can spare please. If you cannot donate, please share, like, comment, help us spread the word.

Donations can also be made by PayPal or bank transfer, details below:

PayPal is [email protected] – please select the Friends or Family option to avoid charges. Mark for “BUS“

Bank transfer:

Account name: Romanian Rescue Appeal

Bank: HSBC

Sort Code : 40-47-31

Account Number: 24613333

Mark for “BUS“

Bank transfer EURO:

Account holder: Romanian Rescue Appeal

BIC: TRWIBEB1XXX

IBAN: BE87 9672 8707 4694

Address: Avenue Louise 54, Room S52 Brussels 1050 Belgium

Donate by SMS text message:

Text LIGHTSFIVE to 70085 to donate 5.

Text LIGHTSTEN to 70085 to donate 10.

Text LIGHTSTWENTY to 70085 to donate 20.

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-us-keep-the-lights-on-for-the-dogs

JustGiving: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/RRA-KEEP-THE-LIGHTS-ON

Teaming Group – Join our team to donate £1 a month – https://www.teaming.net/romanianrescueappeal

Please do gift aid with the donation if you can – RRA4U.COM/GIFTAID It doesn’t cost anything and it allows us to claim 25% more from HMRC