ROLDA stands for Romanian League in Defence of Animals.

Transparency is important for us because this is, in our view, the minimal form of respect that a charity should show to its supporters. Please visit this page to get instant access to ROLDA financial report. UK Romania

Like all other charities, ROLDA survives because of its generous supporters. You can make one-time donation for a specific project, goal or for general purposes. Or you can choose to make a monthly gift and sponsor one of our dogs. You can help us plan the future of ROLDA carefully and join our Legacy Society Or you can volunteer your skills to our charity (>>>Link VOLUNTEER page here). Or you can visit us and meet all our dogs. And the best gift of all, you can adopt a dog. Click here to visit the Dogs Website where you can sponsor or adopt our best dogs!.

Each project has an estimated goal. In case the goal is reached, the supporters are announced and any further donation is redirected, with donor’s permission, to a similar goal or for “general purpose”.

ROLDA exists to control efficiently, humanely and responsibly the homeless animals population in Romania, estimated to 2.5 million. Our keys focuses are: rescue, rehabilitation, sheltering, spay/neuter, social programs, education. ROLDA has a strict no-kill policy. Since it was officially founded (2006), ROLDA has helped over 10,000 pets and homeless animals. Read more ROLDA Mission Statement

The Board is formed by three Romanians members (Elena Daniela Costin, Ciprian Tudor and Gabriela Costin) and two international members (Lolita Morena, from Switzerland and Hege Jurs, from Norway)

Since 2001, little has changed. The public shelters administrated by the local authorities continue to be filthy, overpopulated and most don’t respect the minimal standards clearly specified by the European applicable laws. Dogs from public shelters “disappear” mysteriously, are killed with methods which the animal activists can’t verify. Legally, in public shelters, a dog can be euthanised after 14 days. Often, the dogs die of starvation, or eat each other, or die because untreated diseases, wounds, poor hygiene before the 14th day. The only positive change is a law approved in 2013, which declared it to be mandatory that dogs who have a human companion are: sterilised, microchipped and registration with the national database called RECS. The number of street dogs in Romania is extreme high, estimated to 2.5 million. The poorest areas (north, south-east of the country) have the highest number of strays. After ROLDA created the first modern private shelter in Romania, it was encouraging to see that others, mostly foreign citizens, also helped Romanian animals. They often followed us and built, in different communities across the country, a few quality facilities for rescued animals. While the poverty, lack of education and corruption exist, it is difficult to control efficiently, humanely and responsibly the strays’ overpopulation at national level.

Statistics show that people, who adopt dogs from abroad, also actively help the local organisations and have adopted at least once from their local shelter. All homeless dogs deserve a loving, safe home. Our dogs have suffered living on the streets of Romania, where people often treat them as vermin. They have had a difficult, often terrifying and traumatic start to life. Our dogs aren’t for everyone, they need extra commitment to help them heal from the circumstances they have encountered. Whether you choose to adopt a dog from Romania or from the UK, the main thing is that you adopt and help save a dog from life in a kennel.

30% of the total number of Romanians are living at the limit of poverty. The average monthly income of a family in rural Romanian areas is less than 200 EUR per month and usually, the family consists of more than 3 members. People living at countryside/villages are 3 times poorer than people living in towns. 1 of 3 children is living in poverty in Romania. The poorest regions in Romania are the north-east of the country and the south-east, where ROLDA is operating.

The adoption fee for the UK is £90 which covers vaccination, pet passport, microchipping and a crucial health test before transportation. The adoption fee doesn't include the transport costs. Please visit the Adoption page to find out more.

ROLDA promote only sociable, healthy dogs via our website and we only agree to an adoption if we feel the person is ready to accept an ex-street dog. We also ensure that the dog they identify is the right temperament for them. After completing a pre-adoption application, all adopters receive a mandatory home check and they all sign an adoption contract. After receiving the dog, adopters remain in good communication with our trustworthy representatives from ROLDA international branches. These representatives often meet our dogs and their new families during various events that we organise.

Our staff assess in the best possible way the behaviour of a dog behaviour before his / she is promoted for adoption. We use our knowledge, experience and available resources to do this. Because we respect each living creature, we won’t conduct experiments to see if a dog attacks a cat or not. This would be a very stressful situation for everyone, especially for the cat. We can only observe if the dog has killer instincts, or hunting instincts more intense than ‘normal’. Please remember that many strays remain alive on the streets because they were forced to hunt for their meals. Most of the dogs chase smaller animals, so it is important to distinguish if they chase to kill or chase for fun. It is the responsibility of the adopter to supervise how the dog will interact with a cat (or any other smaller pet from inside the house).