If you're considering getting a pet dog or cat then I recommend you consider taking one (or a dozen) of the many homeless animals around. An excellent point of contact would be Emma and Anthony from StreetHearts BG who are based locally in a village just outside Dryanovo. Here's an extract from their Facebook page:

 

"We are an independent Non Government Organisation that works alongside the municipality of Dryanovo, Bulgaria in order to try and reduce the street dog population in the area. Our main aim is to neuter street dogs and work with owners to educate and facilitate neutering their pets. Many dogs have been abandoned on the streets because they are ill, pregnant or the owners simply do not want them anymore. By educating and providing free neutering we aim for this problem to decrease. Some dogs are not fit to be returned to the streets due to illness, injury or simply because they will be harmed by people. We rehabilitate these dogs, train them and look to find them homes. All puppies that we find are kept by us so that they can be rehomed and have a life that all dogs deserve. We have a small annual budget from the municipality for neutering dogs which quickly runs out as we are neutering on average 6 dogs a week.. We rely on fund raising events and public donations to fund neutering, medical care, food and build suitable facilities for the dogs.

We rehome dogs in Bulgaria, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the UK. We use reputable, licensed transporters and all of our dogs travel to other countries under the TRACES scheme as required by EU law."

​

You can contact them via Facebook or their website if you are interested in fostering/adopting an animal, or just generally want to support the great work they do.