'ANIMALS SHARE WITH US THE PRIVILEGE OF HAVING A SOUL' ~ Pythagoras

'THE GREATNESS OF A NATION AND ITS MORAL PROGRESS CAN BE JUDGED BY THE WAY ITS ANIMALS ARE TREATED' ~ Mahatma Gandhi

I left the UK and came to live in this beautiful part of Greece with two cats in 2005. Never did I think that animal welfare/rescuing would take over all other planned activities. The plight of these helpless innocent souls is heartbreaking.

28 February 2012

Sad story of Michael - Angelo




These 2 tiny puppies were found in a large metal bin by a passer-by, who was totally shocked.  But sadly this is normal practice here in Greece. If it is not poisoning, then it is dumping helpless creatures into bins.  This cruelty has to stop, but when?  Some are lucky and might get a chance to survive if found by kind people, sadly others are not so fortunate.  They were very small and would not have survived much longer, especially as they had injuries, so the passer by took them home and didn't really know what to do with them.  She rang round to see if anyone could help.  Like usual, the answer was NO and this included the local charity.  My opinions are that everyone is too preoccupied with their own needs, that sometimes they forget that others need immediate help too.  Someone could have helped short term, until a longer term solution was found.  But the reality was there wasn't anyone.  Even the person who found them, didn't have the means to help them.  So it was decided to euthanize them.  The local vet wouldn't euthanize, so they were taken approximately 100 kms to another vet, who again said the same. Finally it was a third vet who euthanized Michael & Angelo.  They did not deserve to die, they deserved to live!!!!!!  What was going through their little minds being passed from one vet to another.  The reality is that many people just do not want to pay out of their own pockets for the welfare of GreekSTRAYS.  I promised that something like this will never happen, but I need money to allow me to continue in the welfare of strays and get a shelter, so that stray puppies found, can be given a chance.  Will you support me and consider making a donation?

27 February 2012

Lucy - the gentle giant

A trip to Germany was planned for the beginning of March, but sadly Lucy has missed the opportunity for re-homing again!!!!  Promises, promises and more promises have been made for her, but nothing ever develops.  Promises were made for Sheba and her 4 puppies.  Sadly these promises never developed.  As a result, Sheba and her puppies have since disappeared.  Promises were made for Lara, and she was sterilized, but again nothing developed.  Lara has disappeared too.  Will this happen to Lucy?  She is so lovely, so affectionate and the protector or our Greek strays in the field.  She loves company, loves other animals and will make a super companion to anyone.  I will hate to see her go, but here in Greece, being a stray and living in a field, the day may come when we never see her again and we will never know the reasons why.    She has been sterilized, but if someone was interested, I am being honest, I would appreciate some support in terms of costs. Please consider helping Lucy.  I don't have land and that is why it is so important for me to raise money to execute our dream of a sanctuary and make a safe haven for the plight of GreekSTRAYS.  Your help is vital.  Please do consider supporting me.

http://www.ermioni.info/things-to-know/greek-strays-helpdonations
http://www.ermioni.info/content/animal-welfare
https://www.facebook.com/Greekstrays 
https://www.facebook.com/Greekstrays/app_362564237108797

24 February 2012

Iria Cats

Arthur - Archie - Arnie
This rescue story is about an SOS from some German holiday makers, who had holidayed at Iria camping beach, very close to Nafplio, Greece.  After their holiday, they were very sad that they were leaving many cats behind, that they had befriended.   In November of that same year, they came back and had 7 neutered and took them back to Germany to be re-homed, but why they didn't neuter all the others is just beyond me. However, word got round as to how upset they were and they wanted to get the remaining cats neutered and re-homed.  But there was no-one who was interested, as it was too far away.  We couldn't turn our backs on this plea, so we traveled over 100 kms (one way) to try and locate these cats.  But each time, there were no cats to be found. Then at the start of the season last year, we sighted some.  It was difficult to catch the cats, but with a trap we managed to trap them and take them to the local vet, for neutering.   We noticed running in and out of the filthy toilets were 3 little kittens.  No way would they come anywhere near us.  Luckily for us on one particular visit, they were huddled in a soiled toilet bucket, which made it easier for us to snatch and grab them.  We took them back to Ermioni, to be together with all our other furry little pussy cats, and they have turned out to be the most lovable cats ever.  They deserve a home, but this will never happen, so at least they are safe with us..............for now.

https://www.facebook.com/Greekstrays 
http://www.ermioni.info/things-to-know/greek-strays-helpdonations
http://www.ermioni.info/content/animal-welfare
https://www.facebook.com/Greekstrays/app_362564237108797

21 February 2012

The story of Scooby Doo

Scooby on his journey to a new home
I thought I would share this lovely story with you.  What a fine young man Scooby Doo has turned out to be.  He turned up down a narrow lane in the old village, which was bad news.  He barked at the Greek neighbours and children.  But what did they expect?  They threw stones at him and harmed him.  With us, he was different.  With all the Greek strays that we fed close by, he was their protector.  However, one particular night, there was a disturbance.  The neighbours were planning on removing him and there was nothing we could do.   I was seen on the balcony and everything stopped, but I felt totally sick with pain and worry.  Scooby still didn't trust us, but we had to get close to him to take him away.  The neighbours also told us not to feed the dog, but that was not our nature, to the annoyance of them.  As time went by, we were able to get a collar on him and move him away to foster parents, until a permanent home could be found.  Months later, the exchange of emails changed everything. Scooby was going to start a new journey to a new permanent home.  We had to get him to Aegina, but Scooby had never been in a car, let alone on a boat.   It was a very scary journey, but he was a good boy and behaved really well.  His full story can be read by following this link:  
http://www.ermioni.info/things-to-know/story-scooby-doo Why did we call him Scooby Doo?  He had big paws, floppy ears and ran just like Scooby Doo.


05 February 2012

Junior


Little Junior was brought to a cat neutering session that I had organised, together with many others, who were so tiny.  He had a little brother or sister that had to be taken back too, also because they were so feral, it was difficult to handle them.   Little Junior was different though.  He just wailed in his basket and wanted to come out.  I took my chances and took him out of his box, loved him and knew he would never go back to where he came from. He is now happily playing with many other GreekSTRAYS, but has a cold at the moment.


04 February 2012

Bin Puppies

This morning feeding cats by a large metal bin, there was a noise that was coming from inside.  Oh God, what were we going to find?  Upon further investigations, there was a large brown cardboard box, a tied up plastic bag and 5 tiny puppies inside the plastic bag. The day before we had just finished neutering 57 cats and still had many cats to return back to the fields, and this was heartbreaking, as the chances of survival for these tiny puppies was slim.  How can local Greek people be so cruel?  This is Greece and these are normal practices.  It gets to a point that one dares not walk past any bins because of what might be found.  As soon as the box was placed on the grass, one puppy was already dead and the others didn't look too good either.  Then out of nowhere, a female dog appeared and started to growl at us and was sniffing and licking the puppies.  Luckily we managed to save 2 of the puppies, but 2 vanished in the time we went to collect a box.  We think  and hope that the female dog took them.  Sadly animal welfare in Greece is going to get worse for Greek strays, as there is new legislation which doesn’t protect or give any rights for strays.  Therefore it is so important for us to raise funds, so that we can give shelter, TLC and safety to innocent helpless stays.  Practices like these have to stop!

https://www.facebook.com/Greekstrays 
https://www.facebook.com/Greekstrays/app_362564237108797
http://www.ermioni.info/content/animal-welfare
http://www.ermioni.info/things-to-know/greek-strays-helpdonations

03 February 2012

Bouboulina


On  the day of neutering, this particular bin cat just walked by and brushed past our legs.  'It' was one that we had seen periodically before, but we could never touch 'it'.  This time it was easier to put into a cage and take her to be neutered.  However, she was skin and bone and so dehydrated.  It meant that she could not be neutered.  However, she need a home for recovery, but there was no-one who volunteered, so we took her home, but her chances of surviving the night were slim. We nursed her and hoped she would make a good recovery.  Thankfully each day for a week or so, it was touch and go, but she made it.

http://www.ermioni.info/content/greek-animal-welfare
https://www.facebook.com/Greekstrays 
https://www.facebook.com/Greekstrays/app_362564237108797
http://www.ermioni.info/things-to-know/greek-strays-neutering
http://www.ermioni.info/things-to-know/greekstrays-donations

02 February 2012

Cat Neutering

The first 2 days of this month, I arranged a pretty hectic cat neutering program, which  proved successful, as we managed to CAPTURE-NEUTER-RELEASE a total of 57 cats.  This was only accomplished by careful planning, organization and patience. Feral cats can be very clever in terms of going into trap cages, eating the food and then walking out again, which can be very frustrating. Two female cats nearly didn't make it as they were too sick.  One young female was very dehydrated, another had fluid on her lungs. What surprised me more than anything was the size of some cats being caught.  They were kittens, less than 8 weeks old.  Some people just don't get it!

http://www.ermioni.info/content/animal-welfare
http://www.ermioni.info/things-to-know/greek-strays-neutering
https://www.facebook.com/Greekstrays