British TV company arrived in Ermioni to film the GreekSTRAYS

A dream come true.  Words alone cannot describe what this meant to us. Exciting, exhilarating, a dream come true, unbelievable, amazing, incredible, superb, which left us in a state of disbelief that this was actually happening.  Will be live on Channel 5 at some point in the summer or early autumn.  Here in our region and most of Greece, stray cats are viewed as vermin, are poisoned, are hissed at, stoned, targeted in the roads and much more.  Yet there was a British TV company who actually wanted to film stray colonies and instead of focusing just on the UK, they decided to visit Ermioni to see all our colony cats.   What did we expect?  We have no expectations at all, but if this documentary on the lives of colony cats enables us to receive the much need of continuous food for the strays and donations, then this in itself will be absolutely amazing.

For some if not all three of them, it was their first visit to Greece.  Sadly the weather wasn't brilliant, but it didn't deter them at all. We were a little apprehensive, because we didn't know what to expect, but they were absolutely such warm and friendly people and treated us more like friends.  Because of the winter season, there were only a couple of tavernas open, so we chose one at the front of the harbour, where we all enjoyed local beers, wine and local Greek cuisine.   Because they had had an early start, departing from the UK and the next morning was going to a very early start, we didn't stay out too long.  I suppose to some extent, we were anxious, because if it rained then there would hardly be any cats around. Also our strays are only used to us.  Would they welcome strangers?  Only time would tell.

The next morning, it was rise and shine very early.  For us, that was 04:00.  Our hope was that the colony cats would all be present. They certainly were outside our gate.  We met with the film crew shortly after.  They were all dressed in gear and it was bitterly cold, but at least dry.  We were geared up with mics and then off we went.  We waved Kalimera to the 05:00 bus and then noticed that the gift shop cats started to cross the road and approach our car. All our colony cats know the sound of our car, so this was our start, but then there were some doggies who wanted feeding as well.

The time spent at most of the colonies was endless.  I, in particular thought that is would just be a quick 5 minutes here and then within an hour or two, it would be all over.  But it wasn't. It was great hearing the sound of the strays munching at their food and in some cases, I believe purring too.  Because it was so dark in the morning, we had to keep our full lights on the car, but without the engine running.  When the time came for us to drive to one particular colony, the car wouldn't start.  Naturally we thought the worst, but is wasn't. When we had the break, we were able to organise some jump leads and everything was back to normal.

Even though mid morning the sun did shine, in the afternoon, it rained heavily.  It didn't dampen any spirits as the filming still continued, but the cats knew there were unfamiliar people and were afraid.  They were able to film us catching HOPE in view of us being able to save him. They actually got an insight into our activities as animal rescuers/carers for the cats and some of the stray doggies. We finished off with a lengthy interview, which afterwards made me think long and hard, especially all the costs associated with feeding and caring for colony cats.  A long day to say the least, but the exciting part is that some of our colony cats will be on British TV, which to us, will be amazing.  

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