Anca at Speranta Shelter
Meet The Internationally-renowned Female Vet Leading Change For Romania's Strays
3 weeks ago 
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When Anca Tomescu was a child, she had no plans to work with animals. Her mother had rescued 300 dogs who were set to be euthanised when a public shelter in Bucharest closed in 2001. It meant the family, who lived in a seventh floor flat, had little money as all their funds went to helping the dogs.
Fast-forward 30 years, and Anca is the lead vet and manager at the sanctuary her mother, Florina Tomescu, founded when she rescued those 300 dogs.
Speranta Shelter, which translates to ‘Hope Shelter’, provides rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming to almost 500 former stray dogs at its base in Romania’s capital. Anca and her team of five vets also use their mobile clinic to carry out regular sterilisation events in local villages, along with international rescue work which has spanned from India to Lebanon.
The mum-of-one has launched various projects, focusing on sterilisation and education, and is dedicated to helping to change the course of animal welfare in Romania. Her work lobbying central authorities was even recently recognised with an invite to parliament and the Presidential Palace.
Anca said: “When I was younger, we always had animals. We were the only family in our apartment block to have a dog, which was completely unheard of. Neighbours would stop my parents and ask how we could live with such a dangerous animal in our home.
“At that time, I didn’t like that we were the outsiders, but my mum, a bookkeeper, would always advocate for animals and that inspired me.
“When I left school I pursued a degree in law, but in my spare time I would help at private vet clinics several times a week. It wasn’t long though before I realised my true calling was working with animals’ full time, and I re-trained as a vet.”
To date, Anca and her team have sterilised more than 200,000 animals and have seen more than 10,000 come through Speranta Shelter. Thousands of dogs have been rehomed in Romania, and long-term dogs, many who are elderly or disabled, can be supported through distance adoptions.
At home, Anca lives with her husband Cristi and their daughter Sara, along with their eight cats and five dogs. An extra dog will soon join the household, who Anca rescued during a recent trip carrying out volunteer veterinary work in Chennai, India.
The shelter in Bucharest is very much a family affair, with Anca’s husband, a carpenter, carrying out repairs and building work, while her daughter helps with social media and rehoming dogs.
They are just part of the team which Anca relies on to help change the future of animals across Romania.
She said: “Speranta Shelter is not just me, it’s a team, working together to help animals in need. Together we rehabilitate and rehome dogs coming through our shelter, while also trying to improve the lives of strays living across Romania.
“We are working to change the mentality of local and national leaders, to show them this is the solution. So many have euthanised dogs to try and control the population, but this doesn’t work.
“We believe at tackling the stray dog problem at its source through sterilisation and education, while rehoming dogs in this country.
“Last year, UK rescuers adopted more than 10,000 dogs from Romania, which is fantastic for those dogs who are rescued, but still leaves hundreds and thousands of their brothers and sisters on the streets. While UK shelters are full, simply moving dogs from one overburdened system to another isn’t the long-term answer.”
Anca says since she was young there has been a shift in the way dogs are treated, particularly in the capital, but she says there is still a long way to go.
Anca added: “I grew up during part of the Ceausescu period, a 24-year dictatorship when life was a struggle for all.
“Rescuing an animal at that time was virtually impossible – there were hardly any vets in Romania but thousands and thousands of stray dogs living on the streets. The early years of capitalism in the 1990s were deeply chaotic and stray dogs were often ignored or even worse, euthanised. Every day there was another impossible case.
“Now, 30 years later, things have started to change. You see more families with dogs, and former strays who have been taken in or adopted. People are starting to understand the importance of sterilisation to stop more dogs and cats being born into this vicious cycle.
“But there is still a very long way to go. Many parents continue to raise their children to dislike or be afraid of animals, and there are still hundreds of thousands of dogs living a hard life on the streets.
“I am proud to advocate for these dogs, and along with my team help improve their lives and work for overall change for animals in Romania.”
Speranța’s model is built on core pillars that resonate with current UK challenges, including a strict no-euthanasia policy, with its on-site veterinary hospital able to provide lifelong care, from complex surgeries to behavioural rehabilitation.
Its rehoming programme, which includes Messengers of Hope to rehabilitate traumatised dogs so they can find loving homes, has helped Speranta realise an almost 100 per cent increase in physical adoptions within Romania over the last year.
Speranta’s pioneering remote adoption programme also allows UK dog-lovers to ethically adopt from a distance. A remote adoption with Speranta means ensuring a life-long sanctuary for a dog in Romania without adding to the strain on British rescue centres.
For more information on Speranța Shelter, its remote adoption programme or to pledge a lifesaving donation, visit www.sperantashelter.org.
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