At long last, the authorities (in this case the police), in Agios Nikolaos have finally intervened at the, supposedly temporary, “council dog shelter”.
The stopgap shelter has finally made it onto the priority list of the people that are responsible for the protection of animals from cruelty, and who must ensure that they are provided with appropriate care, something that the council has yet again, and despite new “assurances”, so badly failed to do.
The repeated pleas for support, both to the responsible members of the council and via the local media, to try and gain the help of the general public and raise awareness to the situation, have paid off.
Perhaps not in the way that anyone was expecting, but with the site’s forced closure over the next few weeks, at least there is new hope for these animals.
Over the two years, since this piece of no-man’s land was designated with the off the record agreement by the Mayor, for it’s operation as the “temporary” council shelter, everyday it became more and more permanent, but without any staff or any infrastructure.
Promises were made and never held, local government politicians visited and pledged support and in the meantime, everyone held their breath and waited for the “official shelter” to one day become a reality.
This type of shelter for strays, is something which is seen as a necessity in so many other areas of Crete, but for some reason, it didn’t happen here.
In other areas of Crete, the local councils have worked decisivly, together with animal welfare groups and organisations, to alleviate the problem of strays in their areas.
Here in Agios Nikolaos, it was too much to expect.
Here, it appeared to be very much a case of them and us. The animal welfare groups do what they do and so should the Council, in theory – it is their obligation. I think most people would agree with that principal in an ideal world, but the dogs in the “council shelter” didn’t have anyone fighting for their corner for a long time, except for Marios who, on his own and under the circumstances, was never going to be able to give them the care they deserved and are entitled to by law.
I think we all hoped that our combined pleas would shake up the local council, or would lead to more offers of help from animal welfare groups locally and from private individuals with food, treatment for worms, ticks, fleas and vaccinations at least. Maybe bring more people forward who were thinking of adopting a stray. Possibly help with the purchase of extra kennels – all of which would only be short term solutions, everyone acknowledges that, but all of them would have greatly eased the dog’s situation – until the council finally took responsibility or the police intervened, as has now happened.
To close, we as a team at fonien.gr are very grateful for and admire the hard work that all animal welfare groups and volunteers do in this area, but are saddened that our efforts to help in that direction, have been judged negatively by some. The area of animal welfare it transpires, like every other field – is full of landmines, political potholes and differences in methodologies. We will tread very carefully with any future support, should we decide to give it.
S.K.
