Animal Hustlers

An investigation into dangerous animal sales in Romania. Written with Ovidiu Stancu. Published in Scena9. Watch the film here: Summary: Dorin Soimaru is a 62-year-old zoo owner and breeder of large mammals in Suceava, north Romania, who offers to sell dangerous live animals through illegal means, as well as offering ‘over-the-counter’ sales From 5 September, […]

Monkey Hustlers of Montenegro

Exposing animal exploitation on the Adriatic. Written with Ovidiu Dunel-Stancu and Damira Kalač, and published in Vijesti Ulcinj is a sea-side resort in south Montenegro with only 12,000 residents, the majority Albanian-speaking. Yet during the summer these numbers rise by a further 120,000, as the town boasts one of the longest sandy beaches on the […]

Europe’s bear crisis uncovered

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 […]

Bucharest: the city that nurtures success, the city that murders success

A comment piece published in Romanian on Contributors.ro In the Icoanei garden in Bucharest’s 19th century centre, there is a fountain which gushes out water and tumbles into a stream that winds to the other end of the park to meet a large pond. Children play here. They jump over the stream. Sometimes they kick […]