In a heart wrenching plea to anyone who may decide to try to save, or help by adopting a puppy, one of the founders of Amber’s Hope Animal Welfare organisation, spoke out again yesterday and today, about the dangers of Parvo virus on Crete, for young animals.
As John Walton explained, in his very touching post on social media, because of the extent of the spread of the disease around the island, it can take away the life of any individual puppy very quickly, but also, before you know it, infect other animals that may come into contact with it. After their newest case of the virus and the death of another tiny ball of fluff, John emphasizes the importance of isolating the puppy in a kind of quarantine and observing it closely for several days and for it to be seen by a vet, before allowing it to integrate with the rest of the family, both two- legged and four-legged alike!
I would go further than what John was saying however and suggest that we have to find practical way to stop all of these litters of new puppies (and kittens), ever being born. There is no more room in any of the shelters and in very few willing people’s homes to help them all anymore!
Amber’s Hope is still running a discounted neutering programme, which is aimed at owners who want to neuter their pets and get them microchipped at the same time.
Everyone who owns a dog (and not only) should stop and think before they allow them to breed, be it a deliberate choice or an accidental oversight, if they cannot then also take responsibility for the situation. With the arrival of every new litter of mouths to be fed there is also the need for their treatment by a vet, which is not cheap if the animal is to be cared for properly and responsibly.
How much longer can John, Tracy, Sue, Takis, Virginia, Marios, Dora…and all the others who we don’t know personally, keep going with their efforts and support? Hopefully for a long time to come, but I’m sure that ideally, they would prefer that their services were not required, than have to keep turning away animals, because they just can’t take any more new ones or because there is a health risk to all the others they are trying to help………..the vicious circle has to be broken, but how?
The Mayor of Agios Nikolaos called a meeting at the end of April, on the subject of the Council “Shelter”. Since then, has anything changed? I don’t see Marios making pleas for help on faceook a much as before, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he doesn’t still need help – he could just have finally given up hope of anyone actually responding to his pleas?
Since that meeting, which was attended by only a very few truly “interested” and dedicated parties, what has changed? After a long discussion, they came to the fairly obvious conclusion that more volunteers were needed, and were being called upon to come forward and secondly, that the Council would now finally be more helpful with funding for food, water and medicines, but, has anything changed?
Since the meeting here, a conference has been held in Athens, with the hopeful ttle “Greece without Strays and how to get there”. It was the 1st National Conference of Municipalities and Animal Welfare Associations held on May 6th, 2017, and aimed to look at the issue which affects the entire country to some degree or another, and saw over 70 Municipalities from around Greece, and 58 Animal Welfare Associations, but also Police officials and Prosecuting authorities attend. Did a representative from our area attend?
In conclusion those that were taking part voted for two resolutions that were then, as agreed, forwarded to the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament and Ministries that had a role to play in finding an overall solution to the problem, which Greece cannot be proud of.
The first resolution calls for the Government and the Ministries involved, to make use of the knowledge, the experience and the know-how especially of the animal welfare organisations, and draw up and put into practice, national programmes and solutions, that will change and help the current perception and treatment of the stray animals in Greece.
The second, calls for the Federation and its Associations with their tireless and ongoing voluntary work and initiatives, to continue to maintain their efforts towards this goal.
One shining example of the decisive and effective measures that are being taken on Crete, is with the work of the Council in Apokoronas, which was one of the very first Municipalities to introduce a comprehensive, regular neutering programme for strays. The Mayor, Mr. Charalambos Koukianakis spoke in favour of the expansion of the volunteer vet neutering-and-release programme, alongside an education and adoption campaign. He believes that despite the risks on the roads and from poisoning, a shelter isn’t the right solution.
So how do we move forward on this? By taking responsibility for our own animals and getting them neutered and also, by helping if we can, in anyway, for the strays and the local animal welfare groups and organisations.
Let’s all do our bit from now on in, with the new slogan “Greece without strays”.
