Perception: Roma people have no regard for animal welfare, often abusing and exploiting animals either for monetary gain or personal entertainment.

Reality: Roma populations form relationships with animals in the same way non-Roma do. From beloved family pets to valued farm animals, animals have a variety of important roles in Roma communities. As tends to be the case in non-Roma societies, instances of abuse are individual and not the result of a community-wide moral deficiency.

Fata Musić (58),
Housewife, Women’s Rights Activist, and Animal Lover

“I am a housewife. I have never worked for a company, but I have been engaged in and have volunteered at various associations that deal with women’s rights. Since I was a child, I’ve always loved animals. My father had several dogs and cats. I grew up in a loving environment with my parents and our animals. I also tried to convey to other people from the village this emotion and explain to them that animals are our friends; that they are loyal and full of love. I have a lot of dogs, but my favorite is Miki. He’s been with me for over 10 years now. Miki lives in the house with my husband and me. We didn’t have children, so he is like our child. We take care of him and feed him. Miki is a good dog. He loves us and we love him. Our other dogs live outside because we don’t have much space inside of our house and it would make it difficult to maintain and keep it clean, but we always keep all of our dogs well-nourished and clean. It just isn’t true that Roma people don’t have a love for animals. There have been many times when I’ve heard people say that we torture and mistreat animals and that we let them go hungry. This just simply isn’t true. We would give the last bite of food to our pets. If you look at the streets in the big cities there are a large number of abandoned dogs and other animals, so if all people felt the way about animals that the Roma people do, I believe this world would be a better place for both the people and for the animals. My dog Miki is clear evidence of this. We love him a lot and we hope he’ll live with us for many more years to come.”