Animal Rescue Sofia, Bulgaria

Fast Facts on Animal Rescue Sofia

Location: Sofia, Bulgaria

Languages Spoken: English (main language), Bulgarian

Species Treated: 90% domestic dogs, 5% cats, 5% other (horses, donkeys and pigs)

Type of Organisation: Registered Charity, self-funded

Aims of Organisation: To reduce over-population of stray dogs in Sofia and the surrounding area (by capture, neuter and release program), and to provide medical treatment and shelter to animals in need with a view to re-homing.

Types of Volunteers Accepted:

Volunteer Fees: There is no fee for volunteers, but donations are gratefully accepted.

Research Links:

The shelter is not currently involved in any veterinary research.

Introduction

Animal Rescue Sofia is the kind of place that you hear well before you see it. After successfully navigating the Bulgarian public transport system on a cold January morning, I’d somehow found myself on the outskirts of the city in a silent industrial estate, wandering through the deep blanket of snow in my non-waterproof sneakers.

It was a Tuesday, and yet there were few signs of any locals around. I was beginning to wonder if I’d jumper off at the right bus stop after all when a chorus of excited barking directed my attention to a maroon fence up ahead. Still seeing no-one, I approached a tall gate marked ‘ENTER’, and cautiously passed through.

Inside the compound, a neat rows of dog pens were lined up beside a long, tidy building. The occupants of the pens, dogs of all colours and sizes, had spotted my subtle entrance and redoubled their friendly barking to greet me. A man appeared at the far end of the row, giving me a smile and wave before swinging open the door of a pen beside him. Half a dozen puppies gleefully tumbled out into the snow, before catching sight of me and bounding forward for pats. The smiling man approached, and directed me to the site office in the next row of buildings before calling the puppies away to the large yards for some much needed exercise.

The manager met me in her cosy office, and offered steaming tea to help me get the circulation back in my fingers. I could see how busy she was, but she happily took time to chat to me about the work of the charity, and to give me a tour around the vet hospital and kennels.

Background of Animal Rescue Sofia

Animal Rescue Sofia was founded in 2009. At first, the charity was run out of the local municipal pound, before moving to their own private, purpose-built premises in 2014. Te shelter was founded on the desire to make a difference in the lives of the forgotten street dogs of Bulgaria. Soon, it had evolved into a much bigger and more ambitious project. Today, the new facilities at “The Farm Shelter” provide much needed space for the animals and volunteers, while the on-site Franziska Veterinary Clinic houses the veterinary facilities.

The organisation is hoping to expand further with more facilities to house farm animals, and has ambitions to create a mobile clinic that can provide animal treatment in the villages further from Sofia.

Facilities

AR Sofia is housed in new kennel facilities, with space to accommodate up to 200 dogs in their roomy indoor-outdoor access pens. In addition, dogs are also given access to large yards once per day, allowing them a chance to exercise and socialise. The dogs are mostly kept in compatible pairs or with litter mates, which provides them with some socialisation. There are also some large animal yards with shelters for the donkeys, horses and pigs, which the charity is hoping to expand over the coming year.

The Franziska Vet clinic is on-site, and is well equipped to deal with common surgeries and medical procedures. There is a large prep room, bordered by a number of spacious kennels, including isolation kennels for infectious animals or unvaccinated puppies. The surgical room has 2 operating tables with equipment, there is also an autoclave and a biochemistry blood machine. The clinic does not have imaging facilities, so animals that require x-rays are transported to neighbouring private clinics at cost, along with those cases requiring orthopaedic or specialist surgery. Volunteers who work here are under the guidance of the head vet in attendance. Traumatic injury as well as infectious diseases are common, so volunteers may gain a broad range of experience with these cases along with more routine procedures. The shelter also has semi-regular visits from volunteer vets from WVS (Worldwide Vet Services), who bring their own vet staff to help with sterilisation drives.

Practical Information on Animal Rescue Sofia

Accommodation

Volunteers may stay in at the nearby volunteer house at no cost. The house has cooking facilities and bedding. Transport to the shelter is via carpool each morning (approx 3 minutes), and the house is also close to the bus route to central Sofia.

If you choose to arrange your own accommodation in the city, the shelter is about one hour away on public transport, or half an hour by car.

Working Hours

Volunteers work full 8hr days, usually starting at 8 or 9am. Volunteers may have weekends off if they choose (individuals can discuss this with the manager), however the shelter operates 7 days a week.

Volunteer Roles

Vets and nurses will work in the vet clinic under the local head vet, assisting with spays and neuters, general medical and emergency treatment. The team see a wide range of cases here and are generally very busy, so its is a good place to gain experience. There may be scope to perform surgery here for those that are suitably qualified.

Non- veterinary volunteers will work directly with the dogs performing husbandry tasks, such as helping to exercise and socialise dogs, maintenance and keeping the shelter clean. There may be other roles available depending on skills and timeframe. Volunteers may also assist with tasks in the vet hospital if desired.

There is no minimum period to stay and no fees for any volunteers. However, it takes time to build trust and experience in a new environment. Students should note that the more time they can commit, the more hands-on experience they are likely to have within the veterinary hospital.

Location: Getting to Animal Rescue Sofia

Location: On the outskirts of Gorni Bogrov Village, East of Sofia

GPS Location: 42.707290, 23.515156

The shelter is located east of Sofia within an industrial estate. There are directions on the AR Sofia website in the ‘Contact Us’ section, but as I had some trouble finding the shelter, I’ll share my own instructions here.

The good news is that AR Sofia is marked on google maps. The pin is in a pretty accurate location just near the intersection of ‘Boulevard Botevgradsko Shose’ (E871) and the turn-off to the village of Gorni Bovorov. The less good news is that google maps and the Rome2Rio app did not have any suggestions of how to get to the shelter unless you were driving.

The closest bus to take you to the shelter is NR90, or suburban bus 90. It costs 1.60 levs and stops just near the industrial estate, however it does not come all the way into the city centre. Instead, I chose to take the no. 1 Trolleycar (also 1.60 lev) from Boulevard General Mihail D. Skobelev to the GK Suhata Reka district, and changed there for the no. 90 bus

I did my research and found the options for me were either to take a bus or a taxi. The distance from Central Sofia is about 23km, so if the taxi was charging accurately it would cost around 16-30 Levs each way. Instead, I chose to take public transport. This was a little challenging, seeing as most information sources were written in Bulgarian (which looks like this: Това изглежда така) but I did manage to find one website really helpful: Easyway.bg. This website is in English, and includes a journey planner as well as route maps and timetables, so I could easily enter my location and let it suggest the best combination of buses, trams and trolley-cars to get me to the shelter.

For buses, trams and trolleycars, you will need to travel with a validated ticket. Tickets can be purchased on board trams and trolleycars by putting 1.6 levs in coins into a small machine behind the driver. On buses, you can buy a ticket from the driver with exact change, or you can buy a ticket from the small kiosk located at many of the larger bus stops (There is no kiosk on the return journey of bus 90 from the shelter, so ensure you have change for the driver). Tickets must then be validated in the small yellow boxes you’ll see attached to the walls inside the bus or tram- insert your ticket and lift the lever to punch holes into the paper. And you’re all set! You can also buy a 1 day ticket from a kiosk for 4.00 lev before you travel, which is a much simpler way to do things!

The NR 90 bus will drop you beside a main road just after it turns the corner towards Gorni Bogrov. AR Sofia recommends taking the back road to the shelter rather than walking along the highway. Unfortunately, this technique did not go so well for me- there was heavy snow and no obvious road to walk down, so I somehow managed to end up trudging for 15 minutes through a deep snow flurry in a muddy field somewhere behind the shelter. I also met a number of very unfriendly guard dogs on this route, so I wouldn’t recommended it.

If I went back again, I would ask a local which back road to take to get straight to the shelter, or just walk beside the highway- at least I would know I was going the right direction! Luckily, you’ll hear the dogs barking as you approach so you can’t get too lost. Look for a long maroon fence, and enter at the door that is simply marked ‘Enter’.

Further Information

If you’d like to know more about Animal Rescue Sofia, visit their website or facebook page.

If you’ve already volunteered with this amazing charity and would like to share your experiences to help future volunteers, please get in touch via email or through the “contact me” page.

Want to read about other amazing veterinary charities that are looking for volunteers in interesting parts of the world? Head for the Volunteer Organisation Profiles page!