Four stray puppies have been rescued by members of the 4th Regiment Royal Artillery (4 RA) working with the Romanian Police and Romanian Animal Police.
Stray dogs and puppies were prevalent around Camp Hector in Romania.
The stray dogs were problematic for health and safety, but they were incredibly difficult for troops to resist.
Soldiers from 4 RA, attached to 4 SCOTS Battlegroup in conjunction with Romanian Police Services and Romanian Animal Police, captured the stray puppies.
The dogs will be quarantined in Romania and receive all of the vet care and treatments required.
The puppies will transported back to the UK, where they will be adopted by four members of 4RA.
The rescue took place while the soldiers were deployed on Exercise Steadfast Dart in Romania, the largest NATO exercise in 2025.
Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Defty, the Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant for 4 RA, who will be adopting one of the puppies said:
“On arrival to the exercise area it was quite a barren estate, with loads of adult dogs. Once we were established, we noticed there were four small puppies that had been abandoned.
“The temperatures here at night were dropping to an average of minus 10 and myself and a couple of others were fearful that the pups would not make it. So, we took into our own hands to try get them rescued.
“We did not touch them ourselves, but we put plans into place to make sure they could actually survive. At night I put a wind break up for them and built a little shelter. I then contacted the local Romanian Animal Police, a charity organisation.”
The Army takes force health protection seriously, which means serving personnel should not have direct contact with stray animals.
After contacting the Romanian Animal Police the soldiers, along with the Romanian Police, visited the exercise site in Smȃrdan to rescue the pups.
“It was an ordeal catching the pups as they were terrified and hadn’t had much human contact, but we knew they were going to a better home, that home being ourselves.”
WO2 Defty stated:
“It was an ordeal catching the pups as they were terrified and hadn’t had much human contact, but we knew they were going to a better home, that home being ourselves.”
Four members of the Regiment have now made the conscious decision to adopt the puppies and are currently going through the formal process for their transfer to the UK.
This is funded heavily by the charity with personal donations from those adopting the puppies but WO2 Defty believes:
“This is just at a small cost to ourselves, but it is not about the donations or the cost it is about actually giving them a better life.”
The puppies will be quarantined in Romania, receive vet care and the treatment required to bring them to full health. They will then be transported to the UK in early March.
The puppies will be named Luca, Romia, Nala, and Willow and adopted by WO2 Defty, SSgt Curtis, Sgt Tomkinson and Sgt Stewart who are all based in the North East of England.
