The girl with the dogs

A veterinarian hospital, built in Romania

Eugen Nasta, 04.12.2024, 14:00

She was known as the Girl with the dogs in the university years. In 2010, she pursued a programme of study with the National School of Political and Administrative Studies in Bucharest. Her name is Laura Fincu and when she ran into Sache, it was in dismal circumstances. Thrown off the window from the room of a student’s hostel, Sache, a puppy, back then, was severely wounded.

The puppy had to be put in plaster for a good number of months. All that time, the puppy was very well taken care of by Laura and some of her colleagues. Fifteen years on, Laura Fincu recalls:
ʺI took him to the hostel and Sache became the emblem of the hostel. Then everybody looked after the puppy and, of course, he even had more friends. Then we tried to change the reality we had to face and leave that hostel in a different way than we had found it. And we did it!

In the beginning, that’s how we started, we didn’t have that much knowledge in the field, I read Communications and Public Relations, my life took a different course back then and didn’t know exactly what to do with the little stray animals and I began by looking after them, by keeping them alive, feeding them and then sterilizing them.

And, in the long run, when I left the hostel, I found adoption for 15 puppies and when I left, I made sure the hostel was completely free of stray puppies. “

Yet there was more to it than that! For Laura Fincu, Sache changed the course of her own life for good. After graduation, Laura and a colleague opted for opening a veterinary’s office; being in their twentysomething they believed they would be able to solve the problem of Romania’s stray dogs. What followed…that exceeded their expectations.

In 2016, an association came into being and was developed…We’re speaking about Sache Vet, an association that, to this day, bears Sache’s name.

ʺMore often than not he always meant more than just a puppy. We are very rational beings; we are a medical team connected to reality, yet Sache generated a lot of magic around him and I think that literally the most beautiful moment is the one when it dawned upon me that he brought together, around him, a huge team of people who dedicated their entire lives and skills to the service of the good. Yet there’s more to it than that! He saved several tens of thousands of animals.

All things considered, he is a memory or a symbol, prompting us to wake up in the morning full of motivation. From one single veterinarian in the beginning, here we are, there’s six of us, we have a medical staff of 16 people, 100,000 little animals sterilized in 8 years, thousands of animals undergoing treatment each year and now we’re speaking about the construction of a social hospital. “

80% of Romania’s families with pets cannot afford the provision, for their animals, of adequate veterinarian care. For that, the costs are high, even for average-income people. As for the stray animals, a lot fewer of them are the lucky ones because they were taken by rescuers, with most of the daily dramas remaining unknown.

Yet the Sache Vet Association offers treatment for any animal, free-of-charge, or from a vulnerable family. Sache Vet goes at all lengths to expand its capacity to help the four-legged animals in need, building Romania’s first social veterinary hospital.

Located in the commune of Tartasesti, Dambovita County, the Sache Veterinary hospital for major emergencies, will offer free-of-charge assistance for stray animals, but also for those that come from underprivileged families. For the rest of our clients, it will offer services for social fees, in a bid to support the programme, free-of-charge: more than 90 % of the profit will be invested back in the cause, while the rest of the profit will go to improvements.

ʺThere also is a category of people who are capable of much violence against animals, and it’s for those animals we exist, for the mist vulnerable ones, for those that need us so they can live one more day. After three years of fighting, yes, it is almost ready, works for 90% of the hospital have been completed, we’re in the stage of working the interiors, where the job is extremely minute, yet our satisfaction is growing as we see it has taken shape and it does exist, and, literally, it is a dream come true.

We’re that close to getting it started, and start doing what we’re been doing already, yet in an enhanced manner, 90% of our work relies on surgery, we perform free-of-charge sterilizations for eight years now, we heavily rely on prevention, and it is crucial for us to reduce the number of stray little animals. Apart from surgery, the hospital will have a laboratory, X ray, and suchlike, as well as a training center for veterinarians and for students, since it is of utmost importance for us to share what we know. “

The demand is very high, so the concept of social veterinary medicine is more than necessary. With details on that, here is Laura Fincu once again:

ʺWe’re also a social enterprise, we’re also an NGO, it was very important for us to bring this concept into veterinary medicine. That is absolutely necessary, the demand is huge. A growing number of veterinarians should try to function like that, as it is incredibly satisfying and we assure them many more people than they can ever imagine will join them in their efforts. “

All things considered, such stories are not only about animals, but also, and perhaps over and above anything else, they are about people, about pity, compassion, empathy, about responsibility, humanness…Imagine what it’s like to be all alone, not being able to speak, with no one to tell what ails you! Imagine what it’s like to love but you cannot provide any help, whenever you witness suffering! It is Sache Vet’s urge.