Dogs Help In Road Safety Lessons In Romania

“If they can do it, then everyone can do it — cross on pedestrian crossings!”, says the short TV spot while showing several stray dogs using zebra and pelican crossings.

The dogs were filmed in several Romanian cities.

“They send us an extraordinary message showing that animals can respect important safety rules”, Lucian Dinita, Romania’s traffic police chief, told AFP.

And more:

Some 40,000 homeless canines live in Bucharest alongside a human population of two million, according to authorities and animal rights groups.

Their numbers started proliferating in the 1980s when then communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu had some of Bucharest’s oldest residential districts razed and replaced with apartment blocs, causing many owners to part with their pets.

Despite a massive euthanasia campaign between 2001 and 2007, stray dogs remained part of daily life in Romania.

Many are fed and even vaccinated by animal rights groups and dog lovers.

Last year, Romania’s constitutional court ruled against a bill allowing local authorities to put down stray dogs.