Selected articles from Info Călan’s main sections, published in English.
Boji, the Travelling Dog from Istanbul: How He Rode the Metro, Trams and Ferries on His Own
Boji is a stray dog who became well known in 2021 after Istanbul residents noticed him using public transport on his own. He travelled by metro, tram and ferry, and monitoring by…
Max, the Romanian Army’s Hero Dog: Two Missions in Afghanistan and the Case That Changed the Rules for Military Dogs
Max was a German Shepherd serving with the Romanian Army. Born in 2009 and trained to detect explosives, he took part in two missions in Afghanistan alongside Staff Sergeant Valentin Roșioara. After…
Blondi, Adolf Hitler’s Dog: Her Final Years and Death in the Führerbunker
Blondi was Adolf Hitler’s German Shepherd from 1941 until 1945 and remained with him throughout the final months of the Second World War. In April 1945, as Soviet troops closed in on…
Bobbie the Wonder Dog: How He Found His Way Home After a 2,800-Mile Journey
Bobbie was a dog from Silverton, Oregon, who became famous across the United States after returning to his family on his own in 1924, six months after disappearing during a trip to…
Belka and Strelka, the First Dogs to Orbit Earth and Return Alive
Belka and Strelka were two female dogs from the Soviet space programme who were launched aboard Korabl-Sputnik 2, also known as Sputnik 5, on 19 August 1960. After spending about 24 hours…
Balto, the Dog Who Helped Deliver the Life-Saving Serum to Nome: The Story of an Alaskan Hero
Balto was a sled dog who became famous after leading the final team in the relay that carried diphtheria antitoxin to Nome, Alaska, in February 1925. His role in the final leg…
Laika, the First Animal to Orbit Earth: The Story of the Sputnik 2 Mission
Laika was a stray dog found on the streets of Moscow and selected by Soviet researchers for the space programme. She was about three years old and relatively small, an important advantage…
Hachikō, the Dog Who Became a Symbol of Loyalty in Japan
Hachikō, an Akita Inu, was born on 10 November 1923 in Ōdate, Akita Prefecture, in northern Japan. In January 1924, he was taken in by Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor at Tokyo Imperial…
The Black Dacias: The Legend of Children Abducted in Communist Romania
The legend of the “Black Dacias” circulated in several parts of Romania during the final decades of the communist regime. Children were told that unknown people traveled in black Dacia cars and…
The Black Ambulance: The Legend of Children Abducted for Their Organs
The “Black Ambulance” is one of the urban legends that circulated in Romania after 1989 in numerous versions. The story tells of an ambulance or special-purpose vehicle that supposedly abducts children so…
The Black Volga: The Urban Legend of the Car That Abducted Children in Eastern Europe
The “Black Volga” was one of the most widespread urban legends in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe from the 1960s into the 1980s. The story told of a black Soviet-made…
Dracula and Bran Castle: How the Legend Began and Its Connection to Vlad the Impaler
Bran Castle is internationally known as “Dracula’s Castle,” although Bram Stoker never mentioned it in his novel Dracula, published in 1897, and Vlad the Impaler never used the castle as a residence.…