Urgent Appeal, November 2005.  Help save our seven lions from starving!

The Lion’s Roar, a project of Laura Simms’ Gaindeh Projects in collaboration with the Mayor of Buhusi and the Ministry of Education in Bacau (and other partners) is tirelessly working to save and restore a zoo in Buhusi, Romania. Now is a key moment in the viability of the project and the renewal of the community.  Please see the list at the end of this update for a breakdown of our funding needs to sustain the animals through the harsh Romanian winter.***

Dear Zoo Friendz,                                                                                       
 
This is a time of unprecedented progress for the zoo in Buhusi.  This summer two volunteer vets (John Wright and Gabrielle Zaugg) came from Mississippi and Switzerland.  With a summer crew of teenagers and kids from the city, we cleaned the entire zoo, expanded cages, and began to feed and water the animals regularly.  We trained the overworked caretakers and greatly improved their conditions, starting with a vital first-aid kit.
 
We were able to assess immediate needs, costs and demands to keep the animals healthy through the winter.  In spring, we will begin renovations to turn the zoo from a deplorable old-style exhibit zoo, plagued with filth and starvation, to an animal refuge and training center where the creatures thrive and their renewal uplifts community.
                                                                                        
The possible good news is that the European Zoo Association, famous for saving zoos in developing cities such as Kabul, has taken an interest in our zoo.  This may mean great help in the not too distant future with planning, advice, volunteer vets and possibly zoo director trainings.  
 
So much happens daily now.  People come, even when they have little, to donate food and toys, to see the progress and enjoy the new clean cages. Every week we have articles in the news about our developments. I have hired two people (Alina and Cozmin Enache), a biologist and a caretaker, to work full time at the zoo on my behalf.  This is all making a huge difference to the animals and the community of Buhusi.

My job now is to keep the momentum going, bring veterinary help to the lions and baboons who are ill, and make sure that the obligations of all parties in Romania are met to insure the safety and health of the animals during the severe winter months.  This caretaking has been having a very strong effect on the small city of Buhusi.  It can become a model in Romania.  
Buhusi, like many cities in Eastern Europe, was once a thriving and beautiful  city.  It was predominantly Romanian, Jewish and German.  There is a magnificent Synagogue, repainted, now empty, with only three elderly Jews to care for it.  Buhusi  is a place of desperation and poverty, the result of wars and post-communist apathy and mismanagement. Yet it is far from hopeless.  It houses a huge population of Roma people who receive benefits from our exceptional partner Ovidiu Rom, but are still often hated. Our project is working with Ovidiu Rom to help children and mothers. Bringing the city back to life and celebrating its ethnic history and its environmental treasures are the keys to sustainable change.
 
Lion's Roar is working on the zoo not only to help the animals, but as a way to bring economic growth and resilience to the city itself. The community has already embraced the zoo, with programs such as Sunday Brunch with the Animals.  School children created a garden to grow vegetables to feed the animals.  The city and the university have partnered with us. Plans for a beautiful education center that will hold classes about nature, culture and tolerance are underway.  We are trying to transform the cages, in bad condition, and a mirror of the entrapment and misery of much of the community, into a mirror of hope and an inspiration for wholesome living.

It is improving little by little, but it is necessary for me to appear again and again to stimulate improvements. Our small enhancements seem remarkable, but what needs to be done is daunting.  My plan is that within four years the zoo will be up to EU standards, the animals will be healthy, and Buhusi itself will have a practical and self-sustaining plan for industry, cultural activities, tolerance, and tourism. We will support one another in our growth.
 
I have partners in the UK who have donated important items which need to be transported to Buhusi.  It is important  to meet with experts in the field to map out the year’s strategy.  We must secure funds to fly two volunteer vet specialists to the zoo for the lions and baboons before it is too cold.  We are working on designs and estimates to expand the cages for the twelve dingoes, wild dogs from Australia who require better care to survive. Heat lamps for the two storks, as both have wing damage and cannot fly away for the winter, must be purchased and electricity made safe.  
 
The success of these initiatives is imperative to the health of the animals and the community, so we can sustain the sense of excitement about transformation and the growing trust that  hope will not be dashed.

       
                                                                                                                                
I am urgently seeking the following funds:                             

Laura Simms

To make a tax deductible donation to the Lion’s Roar, please make out checks to our fiscal sponsor and partner
The Unity Project, inc. (a 501c3 charitable organization). Earmark the check to ZOO and mail it to us at:
Laura Simms, Lion’s Roar
814 Broadway, Third Floor
New York, NY 10003
 
If you would like further information, or to see our total budget, proposal and list of partners,  email buhusizoo@yahoo.com or call 212-674-3479.