On the contrary, this problem grew to such proportions precisely because Romanians were not heartless. They saw stray dogs, petted them, fed them. The dogs reproduced, Romanians didnt have the stone cold hearts to kill the puppies. They fed them. Puppies grew, reproduced, and so on... How exactly do you think 10s of thousands of dogs would get to live in the cities if the population was cruel and heartless? It was the failure of the authorities to do something about it, combined with the Romanians not being cruel that led to this. So now ironically Romanians have to take what could be called a cruel decision, but on a far bigger scale.