A dog peers from an enclosure at a shelter in Hunedoara, Romania, on Jan. 14. (Vier Pfoten/Four Paws via AP)

BUCHAREST, Romania — In a steel-mesh pen at a compound in eastern Romania, a dog licks icy water from a metal drinking bucket while another chews listlessly on dried feces scattered on the hard ground.

The scenes, captured on video, are among the findings from an undercover investigation into conditions in Romania’s publicly funded shelters for stray dogs, carried out by the international animal welfare organization Vier Pfoten, known as Four Paws.

Between Jan. 8-18, the animal welfare group sent investigators to nine shelters in different parts of the country, documenting what it describes as “high death rates and disturbing conditions” amounting to “systemic neglect.”

The welfare group found overcrowded kennels, dogs suffering from untreated open wounds, and many living in kennels exposed to freezing winter temperatures.

Romania has an estimated 500,000 stray dogs, one of the largest populations in the European Union. Many thousands of strays are kept in shelters, from where they can be adopted, or, in some cases, euthanized.

Manuela Rowlings, a stray animal specialist at Four Paws, told The Associated Press that the investigation shows the cases are not isolated and a “systems change” is needed.

“Public shelters are horrible places in Romania,” she said. “It’s simply places where dogs are locked up and where they wait to die, and they do not even receive the minimum care or minimum standards.”

“Enclosures were frequently soiled with feces and overcrowded, leading to aggression and fighting among the dogs,” the Four Paws report states. “One dog even appeared to have bitten off parts of his own tail due to the highly stressful environment.”

At a public shelter in western Arad County, one of the better shelters visited, Four Paws found concrete floors, no bedding or heating, and no stimulation or toys for the dogs. The group praised the staff for their efforts in trying to improve conditions and increase adoption rates.

The report criticized many of the shelters for their reluctance to facilitate adoptions, and said freedom of information requests revealed a lack of transparency on funding, intake of stray dogs, and euthanasia figures.

Romania’s National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority, which oversees animal welfare and the management of shelters, didn’t immediately reply to the AP’s requests for comment.

In 2024, 134 of the 644 dogs admitted to a shelter in northeastern Galati County were adopted, 28 were legally euthanized, and 412 died of “other causes,” according to data obtained by the welfare group.

“There is nothing that can be reported to the authorities, because it is not illegal to keep dogs in very, very poor conditions in the shelters,” Rowlings said.

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McGrath reported from Leamington Spa, England.