Dutch woman walks 2,000 km for stray dogs in Romania

Monique Dubbeldam, a former policewoman from the Netherlands, took her two dogs on a 2,000-km walk to attract attention to the problems of stray dogs in Romania. The two dogs that accompanied the Dutch woman on her long walk were adopted from Romania. “Monique Dubbeldam left Utrecht, the Netherlands, on August 26, 2017, in a march of about 2,017 km, hoping that her effort will improve the situation of stray dogs in Romania. A former policewoman, Monique was very impressed with the fate of dogs living on the streets of our country and wanted to do something to help them, and to sensitize the authorities to get more involved in solving this problem. Her aim is to raise a few tens of thousands of euros that would be donated to animal sterilization associations,” reads a press release cited by local Agerpres. Monique Dubbeldam believes that a serious sterilization campaign would considerably reduce the number of animals living on the streets. The Dutch woman and her two dogs, Indy and Faye, crossed seven countries during their long walk, namely the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, and Romania. Here in Romania, she will meet with some of the associations that are most involved in protecting animals, and which carry out sterilization programs. She is documenting her trip on the Walk for Dogs 2017 Facebook page. Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Walk for Dogs 2017 on Facebook)