 |
|
Letters from visitors to Greece 2011 These are only a sample of the countless emails and letters we receive from visitors and residents of Greece. 15th July 2011
I have just returned from a holiday in Crete and far from being happy and relaxing I found it a deeply upsetting experience. There were several stray dogs around and for the life of me I couldn't see any way for them to get food or water - I left some where I could but obviously that won't help for long. After reading some of the stuff on your website I was "lucky" not to have witnessed dreadful suffering, but what I did see was enough. I am going to put a notice in at least 2 of my town's vets to advertise your charity and try to make more people aware - I can't believe how little I knew until now! I am completing the tourist form and will make a donation soon.
Best Regards |
Hi
|
15th June 2011
Hi there I urgently need to find a home for a 3 day old kitten. It's mother abandoned it so I took it home to keep it alive but I am not able to give it the amount of care it needs to survive.. and I am going on holiday on Thursday so I need someone to rescue this poor little kitten! I've tried going to the vets and they said they could not help. I went to one shelter and they wouldn't take it. If you know of any where I could take the kitten to be safe please either reply to this email or call my Greek boyfriend. We live in Kallithea. I hope someone can help! Kind Regards Joanne 9th June 2011 First of all, thank you for what you do to help the animals of Greece and thank you for taking the time to read our email. My husband and I are visiting my family in Greece with our two children 2 years and 4 years. I have been involved with animal rescue groups in our home in the US for many years. We are travelling around Greece with my relatives as passengers. We met and fell in love with two wonderful dogs in Arta by the river right next to the old bridge. The dogs live there as we saw them in the same spot 3 days in a row and the locals know them and kick them around. They are both young males with excellent dispositions. We wanted very much to bring them home with us but had two obstacles. 1) The airline will not transport them in cargo in the summer and 2) Our relatives refuse to help (wont let them into their cars or homes). We are willing to pay whatever costs would be involved in getting them Vetted, passports, and transport to the US. We even have a Vet willing to assist. Can you help us to help them? Incidentally, we google "animal rescue Arta, Greece" and an article appeared about people in Arta killing cats and dogs along the river for food. There was coincidentally a large group of homeless people on the same site as these two dogs and we are very concerned for their safety. Please write us with your advice.
Best wishes 21st June 2011 I am an American musician touring Greece and came across a dog chained with a two foot chain in a tiny enclosed yard. My friend that lives next door to the chained dog told me that he's been chained like that for 4 years and that the man who owns him treats him terrible and has never let him off the chain. I was so sad to see this happening and the dog was so sweet as he looked up at me through the barred fence. It looked like he was begging me to free him. I am determined to free him but I wanted to find some help since I am flying back to the US on the 30th of June. Can you help? do you have any suggestions? Please write me back as soon as you can because that poor dog is being mistreated every minute that he is enslaved there. Thank you! Jess26th June 2011 I hope you can give me some advice, we have just got back fron a holiday in Ixia on the island of Rhodes, while over there we were adopted for the duration of our stay by a young ginger and white tom cat who we name Ixie. He would come over to us for food and when he was full would then settle himself down for a sleep usually inside my beach bag, or on mine or my sister in laws knee, he is a beautiful animal and at the moment seens quite well fed and healthy. Please could you give me any information you have as to how we would go about adopting him and getting him over to the UK. Thanking you in anticipation Best regards Marlene 15th June 2011
Hello
I've just returned from a holiday in Northern Greece. Yesterday, whilst on a daytrip to Lailias Mountain Resort we came across a closed hotel which had two bitches and a collection of puppies outside.
I am very concerned about the health of the bitches, they are clearly not in good condition and seem to be starving, although the puppies don't seem to be suffering yet, the bitches are far too thin.
The hotel didn't seem to be currently occupied and there wasn't any obvious provision for feeding the dogs. The puppies have started eating solid food (we established that they were quite partial to banana!)
but they are still very small, however my main concern is the two bitches - one is still feeding five puppies whilst the other has obviously been feeding until fairly recently but we could only identify one puppy as possibly being hers
(it was slightly bigger than the others and also much more wary of people).
The dogs were lovely, friendly and clearly not shy of people, unlike many of the working dogs we came across and we were worried that they had maybe been abandoned up there.
I'm not sure if you'd be able to do anything, or point me in the right direction. I will also have photo's of the dogs available. If you could just advise as to what I can do - if anything - just to find out whether these dogs have
owners I would really appreciate it.
On the plus side further down the same mountain we were adopted for a brief distance by a brother and sister pair of shepherd's dogs, probably only a year or so old. Their coats were glossy, they were brushed, healthy
(although very lean as you would expect from a working dog), friendly, happy dogs - it was a great end to a somewhat traumatic day to find that at least some working dogs in Greece are well treated.
Kind regards,
Charlotte
5th June 2011
Hello,
I've just returned from a holiday in Glyfada, Athens. Whilst I was there I stayed at "The Palmyra Beach Hotel" in Glyfada.
I'm not going to tell you anything you don't already know about the suffering and cruelty to all animals in Greece, but unfortunately I can't help them all. I would like to help a little black cat, which I named "Joyce".
She lives around the hotel and I know the guests feed her, but she's already had kittens and I don't want her to have anymore.
Although I can't bring her home (I'd love to but can't afford it), I would like to have her spayed.
I will pay for all her treatment and housing until she recovers from the operation, plus, if someone were to take care of her, I would also pay for that.
On the last day of my holiday I met an American lady at the Hotel who told me about some ladies from a pub called "The Blue Parrot". Apparently they do fund raising to get animals neutered, but I couldn't find a number.
Could you please help/advice me with this?
Thank you in advance for your reply.
Take care.
Marilyn
28th May 2011
I am an animal lover and have just come back from spending a week in Zackynthos. I was saddened to see so many stray dogs and cats, i tried to feed a lot of them when I was there. There was a particular little dog that I got attached to and wondered if there is any way of getting this little dog to a rescue shelter so it could get the chance of a nice home. I have 3 cats and other animals and although I would love to take the little chap, me and my husband work full time so it would not be fair to have a dog at the moment plus our bungalow is very small. I took pictures of the dog and wonder how it is getting on all the time. If I helped financially could your charity collect it and rehome it? I suppose it depends if it moves on or not. I hate to think it could be killed as I have heard it does happen to strays by the authorities. Your charity name was given to me by a gentleman who runs desparate greekies. He said you may have a contact in Zante. I do hope you can help me with this dilema. Regards Anna. 28th May 2011 We have just come back from holiday in Rhodes and even though we had heard there were a lot of stray cats, we were not prepared for shocking amount of neglected cats. They were everywhere! We stayed in Kalithia and we had an hotel cat which we fed. We walked down to the bus stop and Dialysis Centre and there were cats and kittens, which were I admit being fed. It was in the old town that we came across a very sick cat, which had its leg amputated and was very skinny, walking slowly and was dripping pus from his mouth. I was very distressed. We were told that people do round up the sick and injured and that people put food out, however it was still too much for me, especially as the locals do not seem to have any compassion. I am pleased to know that there are caring people as yourselves out there helping, but what a huge task you have. Even in Madeira and Malta the cats were not this bad. It was shocking to see. I am not sure if I would want to go again. I will be emailing the addresses you have suggested. Regards Sandra 10th January 2011 Hello, my name it Katie, I am currently living in Greece, Although i understand there are many stray dogs which are unfortunate, i do not understand those dogs that owned by persons that are neglected. I have come across a dog in my Village which is shut in small wire pen all day every day, also he is chained up which is odd as he's in a pen anyway! I have visited at various times of day and he is always there...i have extreme concern for him as he is VERY skinny and timid. I have no other evidence for cruelty but been very skinny and timid is enough to say he is neglected.(Visually!) This dogs appear to have very little human contact although he does have water ( but not the cleanest!) What can i do to help this poor dog which just wants to be loved :-( Who do i contact here in greece to get him cheaked? Thank you Katie |
To View letters received in 2010 please click here
Added: 5th July 2011 Updated: 19th July 2011