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Article in Athens News - rescue of 5 dogs from Daskalio island By Cordelia Madden Athens News, 11th July 2008 Five dogs living on an uninhabited isle in the Corinthian Gulf were shipped to safety on July 5 2008. The rescue mission, carried out by animal welfare volunteers, was sparked by a letter written by Tim Munton (published in the Athens News on July 4 (***that's Athens News in Athens, Ohio, USA) who had spotted the dogs on Daskalio island while sailing in the area. "The animals were in reasonable condition except for a chronic shortage of water," wrote Munton, who left 25 litres of water and painted a sign asking other boaters to fill up the dogs' bucket. " As we have five dogs already we could not take them with us, and it was heartbreaking to leave them behind." On receiving Munton's email, Vesna Jones of UK-based Greek Animal Rescue scrambled a team of volunteers through the Panhellenic Animal Welfare Federation. "It was clear that the mother dog and her grown-up puppies had been abandoned there deliberately," says Jones. "They had no hope of surviving on the island." |
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Three volunteers and a reporter from Mega TV channel set off for Daskalio early on July 5 in a rented boat, equipped with transport kennels, water, food, collars and serum in case the dogs were severely dehydrated. "Realising that Tim's photos had been taken on June 11, we didn't even know if we would find all of the dogs alive," says volunteer Nafsika Korniliou. But as they drew up, "we saw two wonderful dogs smiling at us, showing their white teeth and wagging their tails non-stop," reports Korniliou. Within an hour, the volunteers located and caught the remaining four dogs on the island. "They were all thin, very wet (the only way they could cool off was getting into the sea) and smelled strongly of fish." |
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The dogs were transported to a kennels in Attica where, after a bath and tick treatment, they await sterilisation and adoption. All expenses for the rescue operation, the dogs' kennelling and veterinary costs are being covered by Greek Animal Rescue, Graeske Hunde from Denmark and the Dutch organisation World Shelters. "I hope that we Greeks will one day start respecting animals," says Korniliou, who unsuccessfully requested aid for the dogs from Corinth authorities. "We were happy to find the dogs alive and we will make sure that they find lovely homes and never have to suffer again." |
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UPDATE ON DOGS, JULY 2009 The pictures below show some of the dogs in their new homes. 3 of the dogs are now with families in Denmark and 2 are enjoying a new life in Holland. |
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