Successful animal welfare mission in June 2019

From early in the morning until late at night, a 9-person SUST animal welfare team from Switzerland worked together with a 10-person Romanian SUST team in Galati, Romania, for one week under the direction of Susy Utzinger in the SUST Animal Orphan Hospital and in the new SUST Animal Home.

The results of this mission are impressive:
- 282 dogs and cats were neutered
- Many feral street dogs were caught with the anesthetic rifle and castrated
- Surgical techniques were discussed and much expertise was shared
- 6 palettes full of animal utensils from the SUST material warehouse were delivered and employed
- A case of Animal Hoarding was repaired (more than 30 dogs were caught with the anaesthesia rifle, transported, neutered and treated - the puppies were taken over by us) 
- Countless emergencies were dealt with, including
o 2 amputations
o A horse treatment
o Several dogs and cats hit by cars
o Multiple eye injuries
o Various abandoned animals
- The new kitten station (made possible by crowdfunding) was completed and the first young cats could move in
- Many puppies were socialized
- 6 new trees were planted on the animal shelter site
- All shelter dogs were treated against endo- and ectoparasites
- The SUST team took over the dog care during this time and so two related animal keepers could finally start their long-awaited family holidays
- Workflows were reorganized and optimized
- Maintenance work was carried out
- The animal shelters donkeys were treated against parasites

We would like to thank all animal welfare volunteers and employees very much for their great and valuable support in this mission: Despite the absence of a team member and an additional team vehicle and despite many unforeseen emergencies and enormously long days of service, we were able to enjoy a great team cohesion and thus always perform professional animal welfare work.

Our heartfelt thanks go to:

- Kathrin Steiner
- Melanie Dietschi
- Stefanie Duss-Massera
- Thomas Korsch
- Maya Karrer
- Sharon Merki
- Marc Schmid
- Milena Ambühl
- Laura Noto