An investigation into dangerous animal sales in Romania. Written with Ovidiu Stancu. Published in Scena9. Watch the film here: Summary: Inside a private zoo at the edge of the town of Zaharești, Suceava county, stands a row of big cat enclosures, where dangerous animals live in cramped and muddy conditions, with nothing to occupy their […]
Tag Archives: Romania
I’ve co-directed and written a new documentary on Europe’s failure to manage its bear population: watch and find out more here Europe is failing to manage its bear population. The large mammals are victims of human abuse, and humans are victims of bear conflict. Bear numbers are rising in south Europe, where friction between humans […]
Can a regenerative farm succeed in Romania? A feature published in Scena9 in Romanian and in English At the edge of a village in Dâmbovița county, I leave a 4×4 parked on a strip of land, and walk into a field, fringed by wild grass and tall trees. Lines of parsnip, lettuce and cabbage open […]
I worked for over a month as a volunteer trying to help Ukrainian refugees in Bucharest, and this is what I discovered, published in Scena9 I am talking with a friend of mine. She volunteers in a transit camp in Bucharest’s main railway station, Gara de Nord, for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian attack. I […]
Welcome to the Romanian region that expects its residents to live and work abroad. A feature written with Vlad Odobescu, and published in DoR in Romania and Internazionale in Italy In the center of the northeastern Romanian city of Botoșani is a 1980s housing block, next to an awning for the country’s most popular beer, […]
After a childhood of drug addiction on the streets of Bucharest, a former addict finds an alternative solution for users to recover An English version of a confession published in DoR Interview and editing by Michael Bird, and Ionut Dulamita. Illustrations by Ionut Dulamita It is evening. I am in the room where every Monday […]
Daniela Draghici (65) reveals her three attempts at a backstreet abortion in 1970s Romania, where the Communist dictatorship banned the termination of pregnancy from 1966 until 1989
A young woman is possessed by the spirit of a dead villager. Her neighbours dig up his corpse. The ritual begins A report from Oltenia, south Romania published in The Black Sea with Ovidiu Dunel-Stancu, and a video is here Fog has fallen on the plains. Between them runs an empty road, recently mended at […]
While grand residential projects help regenerate the outer centre of the Spanish capital’s district of Delicias, Romanian beggars build shanty-huts in the dirt – a short report written with Vlad Odobescu for The Black Sea Delicias. In English this means ‘Delights’. A district in outer central Madrid. A warm Wednesday. Huge new apartment complexes of brick […]
We wanted to expose how Romanians are the main nationality of male prostitutes in Rome… and we did not do it An article co-authored with Vlad Odobescu and published in The Black Sea A taxi driver told us where to find boys. His name was Mario. He wasn’t an average taxi driver. He ran an […]
Michael Bird Writer & Journalist 