Nellie’s story began on a hot summer’s day in 2015 when the sound of a mewing kitten could be heard coming from the bottom of a large rubbish bin on Sitia seafront. But the kitten was not scavenging for food — she had been tied up in a plastic bag and tossed in with the trash to die.
The kind-hearted passer-by pulled the bag containing the crying kitten out of the bin and took it to Sitia Animal Rescue where, as luck would have it, the vet from Forderverein Arche Noah Kreta e.V. was paying a visit for one of the regular neutering sessions. The little kitten was found to have one badly damaged eye and was operated on immediately to remove it.
But what’s the future for an undernourished one-eyed feral kitten? It couldn’t just be put back on the street, where it would surely die. The kitten’s plight attracted the attention of one of the UK’s largest-circulation newspapers, which published her story online and the work being done by Sitia Animal Rescue. That story from 2015 is still on the internet and you can read it here:
And what of Nellie today? Did the story have a happy ending? You bet it did! After being fostered here in Sitia for a few more weeks until she was old enough to travel, Nellie was then given all the necessary jabs, together with a pet passport, and flown to England to begin a new life with her British “mum and dad.”
Rufus appeared in an almost deserted village in Eastern Crete and looked like a pure bred German wirehaired pointer. Only two local residents lived in the village but we were involved in the renovation of my son’s property and were helping to feed the feral cats, so in the absence of a local shelter, we found him a small abandoned block building and provided him with a clean warm bed and fed him every day because we were unable to home him due to our circumstances. He had suffered a broken back leg in the past which left him with a limp, but otherwise he was fit and healthy with a lovely temperament. With the arrival of an Arche-Noah Vet to the Sitia Animal Welfare we had him neutered and checked over and once the renovations were complete, my son and his wife fed him when they were in the village with us filling in when they were away. Rufus was free to wander in the area but he always returned for his food and shelter at night. This continued for about five years until his work forced them to return to the UK.
Whilst Rufus missed them and their dog he continued to live his free life style whilst living in the kennel beside their house with us going every day to feed him through the worst days of the winter until one morning Ray found him limping towards him with the same damaged leg hanging in the air. The xray showed a bad brake close to the joint and an operation to repair the fracture had only a limited chance of success. A different way of dealing with this kind of fracture, entailing making a half plaster caste and pressure bandaging the leg every day, was used to repair the damage whilst Rufus endeared himself to the veterinary staff who agreed with us that at his mature age it was not possible to return him to the village. With the aid of Arche Noah he found his forever home in the residence of a German volunteer who loves and adopts these large dogs with similar health problems.
Arriving in winter and coming from the relative heat of Crete, Rufus goes into the house to be introduced to the other dogs and immediately chooses the dog bed closest to the radiator and subsequent photos sent to us have shown him running and playing with the other dogs in the owners lovely garden.
One morning we had a phone call, from someone who does not want to be named… About her dog that had given birth, at the village of Pilalimata. She did not want to keep the puppies, and demanded that we come and take them, or she would “take care of the issue herself”
So one of our volunteers, who was already in the area, said she would drive past and check out the situation.
What she found just past Pilalimata…. (why we called her Pilar) was a mummy with her pups, living in a wooden box….. exposed to the cold wet winter weather….
Mum/Pilar was soo skinny you could see all her bones, it was amazing her puppies were in such good condition, especially when you consider she had been living off cucumber!
We can not just take the dogs… this is against the law and could cause serious leagl issues…. We have to be given the animals, and the owner was nowhere around, the heart breaking choice had to be made to leave with out them, and contact the owner to arrange a collection. The volunteer left some food and water, and with a very heavy heart had to head back to the office.
We were able to track down the owner and arrange collection the following day… but when our volunteer arrived at the same location, the puppies were missing!
The owner claimed that maybe they had run away! one month old puppies, who need to feed every 2 hours… run away…. not convinced!
Neither was our volunteer, and after what seemed like hours of discussion, the owner admitted to dumping them further down the road….
So we finally had the puppies…. but what about the poor mum! firstly these angels were still nursing every 2 hours! And if we did take them and bottle feed them, what would happen to mummy Pilar? live the rest of her life on that chain…. eating cucumber? No way….
We managed to convince the owner….. which was not easy… to hand over mum as well.
So we managed to get the family back to our shelter. and then set about making sure their were no health issues, some food for them all, and a warm bed.
Due to the ages of the puppies, and the state of mummy Pilar… we decided to wait until the puppies were older and weaned, and mummy had put on weight and was healthy again, before we would put them up for adoption.
These angels were not up for adoption for long… within a month Pilar and all the puppies had been adopted and off to their new homes…
Here are some photos we have been sent from all their new families of them in their new homes…
The following is written in 4 languages: Greek, English, French and German.. they are all saying the same, but as we have many followers from all over the world, we have tried to cater for everybody…
Ο Φιλοζωικός Σύλλογος Σητείας εδώ και χρόνια αγωνίζεται ενάντια σε κάθε είδους αντιξοότητα, να διατηρήσει το επίπεδο ευζωίας των απανταχού αδέσποτων πλασμάτων αυτής της πόλης. Σε ένα καταφύγιο που δεν πληρεί τις νόμιμες προδιαγραφές και που καλούμαστε επανειλημμένα να εκκενώσουμε με το φόβο να βρεθούν δεκάδες σκυλιά στους δριμους, καταθέτουμε καθημερινά τον ιδρώτα, την προσπάθεια και την ελπίδα μας. Με δική μας πρωτοβουλία υποβάλαμε αίτηση συμμετοχής σε πρόγραμμα Leader που αφορά την επιδότηση για κατασκευή και ίδρυση καταφυγίου αδέσποτων ζώων συντροφιάς. Απαραίτητη προϋπόθεση όμως για να γίνει δεκτή η αίτησή μας και να εκπονηθεί η κατασκευή νέου καταφυγίου εντός προδιαγραφών είναι η ύπαρξη οικοπέδου με τίτλους ιδιοκτησίας του Συλλόγου. Το οικόπεδο βρέθηκε, χωρίς να έχουμε καταφέρει εντούτοις να συλλέξουμε το πλήρες ποσό για την αγορά του. Με αίσθημα βαριάς ευθύνης, ζητάμε τη βοήθειά σας για να φέρουμε εις πέρας το μεγαλόπνοο αυτό σχέδιο που θα δώσει στα ζώα μας την ευκαιρία να ζουν με τη δέουσα αξιοπρέπεια και φροντίδα.
Sitia animal rescue for many years now is fighting against all odds to keep the level of well being of all kinds of animals in the Sitia area. In an animal centre that does not meet legal standards and that we have been threatened to be evicted several times, living with the constant fear that so many animals we care for will be thrown out to the streets. Under the hardest of circumstances we invest every day our hard work and our hope to make the life of animals in the area better. Through our initiative we submitted an application to be a part of the Leader program, that funds groups like ours to build and create an animal rescue facility. One of the main requirements to qualify for the funding grant of the program so we can build the shelter is that we own the land where the shelter is going to be. The plot of land has been located but we have not been able to raise the full funds yet necessary for the purchase. With a great sense of responsibility, we ask for your help in order to accomplish our dream of building the shelter that will be able to provide our animals to be cared for and live with dignity in an environment that they deserve.
L’ Association Animale de Sitia lutte depuis de nombreuses années et ce dans des circonstances souvent bien défavorables pour la cause des animaux errants de la région. Aujourd’hui, le refuge où nous accueillons et prenons soin des animaux avec beaucoup de peine et de travail, n’est pas conforme aux réglementations avec pour conséquence d’avoir à plusieurs reprises été menacés d’évacuer les lieux. Pour éviter ce danger qui pèse et mettrait en danger tout ce que nous avons réussi à faire jusqu’à présent, nous avobs pris l’initiative de faire une démarche auprès du programme Leader pour participer à un projet qui envisage la subvention de la construction et la fondation d’un refuge modèle. Seulement, la condition préalable requise pour que nous puissions voir notre demande acceptée est que notre Association soit propriétaire d’un terrain conforme à ces fins. Nous avons trouvé le terrain sans malheureusement avoir encore réussi à collecter la totalité des fonds nécessaires à son achat. Avec un sentiment de lourde responsabilité envers ces êtres démunis, nous vous demandons votre aide afin de pouvoir réaliser ce projet qui donnera aux animaux l’occasion de vivre dans un environnement digne et décent dans l’attente d’un foyer aimant. Votre contribution si minime soit-elle nous serait précieuse. Un grand merci à vous.
Der Tierverein von Sitia kämpft seit Jahren gegen jedes Missgeschick, um das Niveau des Wohlbefindens der allgegenwärtigen Herrenlose Tieren aufrechtzuerhalten. In einem Tierheim, obwohl das nicht den gesetzlichen Anforderungen entspricht, legen wir täglich unsere Anstrengung, Hoffnung und unseren Schweiß ab und wir fürchten immer wieder es evakuieren zu sollen mit der Angst, dass so viele Hunde auf der Straße enden werden. Mit unserer Initiative haben wir uns für ein Programm Leader angewendet, das betrifft einen Zuschuss für den Bau und die Gründung eines Tierheims für streunenden Haustiere. Die notwendige Voraussetzung für diese Anwendung, damit sie akzeptiert werden kann, um dieses neue Tierheim innerhalb der Spezifikationen gebaut wird, ist die Existenz eines Grundstücks im Besitz des Vereins. Das Grundstück ist gefunden worden aber nicht der gesamte Betrag für den Einkauf des Grundstückes. Mit schwerer Verantwortung bitten wir Ihnen um Ihre Hilfe, um dieses großartige Projekt zu schaffen, dadurch die Tiere die Chance haben werden, mit Würde und Pflege zu leben.
sitianimalrescuePlease read and help us make this become a reality…..
This handsome little man was found wandering the streets of a local mountain village called Mouliana. He was soo scared of humans, that he would run away anytime someone would go near him… It took us a long time to try and catch him, we tried many different ways, including food and calm talking….. finally we did manage to catch him, and bring him back to the shelter for a check up with the vet and treatment for fleas and ticks.
Within the first couple of days at the shelter we could see that we would have to work a great deal with little Coby… He was showing signs of depression, and didn’t trust any human, and was also showing signs of behavioural problems…… all of which would need to be worked on if he was going to stand a chance of a finding a new home.
One of our volunteers, a kind and patient lady called Eleni Petropoulou offered to foster Coby….. To start working on his trust issues, whilst we tried to find a more permanent solution for him.
So we posted his story and photograph on our facebook page…. where by the hand of God a woman named Julia Kontaros, who is from Sweden and is married to a man from Greece. She saw the post about little coconut and immediately knew that she wanted to help and got in touch with us.
It is one thing to say that you will help, then it is another thing to go through the lengths this lady went through to bring little Coconut to Sweden…. There were numerous messages back and forth between herself and Eleni (who was already fostering him) so that she could prepare for the work ahead… and then there was the technical side… getting him to Sweden, trying to find the best, most comfortable was for him to travel…. would someone drive him over, would he fly over…. In the end they got lucky and a friend of Julias was flying over…… and very kindly offered to escort him on his journey over. At the same time Julia had managed to already find his forever home …. a Lovely lady called Nicoletter Lindvall-Rae and her family, who also lived in Sweden.
Whilst his transport to Sweden was being sort out, Eleni made a start working with him on some of his issues, giving him unconditional love, and time….. time to realise that this human was here to help him and not hurt or abandon him….
Unfortunately we do not know anything about his past, and what he went through before he was found at the village… so she was having to work without knowing if anything in particular would trigger him off. One thing was for sure… He needed a bath and a brush…. Which did not go down well… And the judgment was made that she would have to cut out some of the knots in his fur…. as he was not keen on being brushed at all…..
The day arrived for Coconut to leave…. His passport was ready, the paper work was done and he had all his injections ready to go….. this is a hard day for a foster mama….. But also a good one…. So a happy but sad Eleni bid good bye to coconut, and watched him fly away…..
Now i don’t think i will be amiss to say that Coconut owes a great deal to all three of these ladies, but Julia especially went above and beyond… from the beginning she was in communication with the shelter, Eleni and Nicolette…. she was the glue that held it all together.
Once he arrived at her house, she had a great many behaviour problems to work on with Coconut…. many were going to take training, others were going to take time, love and patience.
Julia had another dog, and Coconut would become possessive over food and toys, and most things… So this took a lot of training and calmness…..
Over the next weeks… she worked tirelessly on all his issues…. And he started to come out of his shell….. Started following her around the house, letting her brush him, and eventually stroke and hug him… The whole time she was keeping everyone up to date with his progress… until he was ready to go to Julia and his forever home.
He still has a few issues, and these will fade with time and love, but wouldn’t you?
He is a very happy boy now….. He now goes by the name Coby…. He loves to have his tummy rubbed, he adores Julias and especially her son…. And likes nothing more than going for a walk and then home for a cuddle.
We had a phone call about an abandoned mama dog with her 2 puppies, walking around a local village….
One of our volunteers went out to investigate, and found this little man hiding in a bush….. cuddled up to his mum and sister.
She had a look around, and asked if anyone owned them, they all replied the same, no…. they are just strays, they don’t have an owner or home….. they just wander around the village.
So our volunteer took henry, his mother and sister to our vet, where they could have a thorough check up, and treatments if needed.
The vet gave him a thorough health check, and found that his mum had no microchip. They were all covered in fleas, and henry and his sister were about 5 months old.
He was not too much under weight, as his mum had been trying her hardest to feed them all. Living off scraps of food that sometimes a kind villager would throw for them, and drinking rain water.
Our volunteer brought them all to the shelter, where they were given a nice warm and dry bed to snuggle up in.
One of our volunteers spent the rest of the day giving them loads of cuddles and love, and made sure they all had a good meal and plenty to drink.
The following morning we set about a very important job… photos! so that we could put him (and his mother and sister, but i will tell their stories another day.) on our site, and try and find him a home as soon as possible…. This is easier said than done sometimes, and this was the case with henry! He did not want to have his photo taken at all… was far more interested in giving kisses and cuddles… amazing how some dogs can just be so trusting and full of love even when they have been abandoned.
We uploaded his photos, and information. We are very lucky that we work along side some sister organisations… to give an example: Germany, England and France.
So like we do with many of our puppies and dogs, we sent them his photo and information…. this means he has a far greater chance of finding a home.
Well this time Germany really did it for him…. His little face was seen on their website by a lovely lady called Sylvie Frey.
Without even being able to see him in the flesh, she wanted to adopt him…..
So we went through the official paper work for the adoption, got his passport sorted, and got him ready to fly off to Germany to start his new life!
Here he is a few months later, at his new home….. where i am told he is a brilliant addition to the family. He loves children, other dogs and cats. He even just won first place in a good learning dogs competition. He is very much part of the family and is showered in love and affection every day.
This little angel was found walking alone, along the main highway towards Agios Nicholaos, close to the town called Sfaka.
He was found in a terrible state. As you can see his fur was soo badly matted we could not make out if he was a boy or girl, if he was injured at all, or if he had any skin problems underneath it all.
It took a while to try and get him to come close enough to be caught… eventually he was won over by a cheesepie…
We took him straight to our vet, who after what seemed like hours, was able to remove all the matted fur from his body…. what a weight it was, it weighed more than his actual body weight.
He was given a full health check, which revealed he was a boy, around a year old. He was severely malnourished, had fleas and ticks but no broken bones….
We took him back home to the shelter, where he was given his first meal in who knows how long. And a blanket to keep him warm.
It took pepito a while to trust a human again, he had obviously been alone for a long time….. And would prefer to sit back and watch from a far… But with time and love he slowly started to understand that we were there to help him, and we would never let him be alone again.
We took some photos and put them up on our facebook page, then all we can do is wait, hope and pray that some one would see him and want to take him home.
Luckily for little Pepito here he didn’t have to wait to long…. he was seen by a lovely lady called Ioanna Papapetrou, who instantly fell in love with him, and wanted to make him a part of her family….
So after we went through the formal adoption paper work, and one final health check, off he went…
And here he is now….. what a difference!
He now lives in a home filled with love, walks, cuddles, playtime and soo much more….
Τα αδέσποτα έκαναν Χριστούγεννα με τροφές από την Royal Canin!
Δέκα τόνοι τροφών μοιράστηκαν φέτος τα Χριστούγεννα στα αδέσποτα της Κρήτης και της Βόρειας Ελλάδας προσφορά της Royal Canin και των ανθρώπων της στην αδέσποτη ζωή μέσω της Ομοσπονδίας μας.
Τους ευχαριστούμε πολύ.
Και μόνο βλέποντας τα αδεσποτάκια πως την κατανάλωναν μονομιάς ένιωθε κανείς τη χαρά τους .
Μια «ζεστή» ανάσα μέσα στη παγωνιά αυτών των ημερών.
Ας ευχηθούμε το 2016 να είναι μια χρονιά αλληλεγγύης και προσφοράς για κάθε πλάσμα που την έχει ανάγκη.
Η διαδικασία της εκπαίδευσης αφορά την παρατήρηση του χαρακτήρα του σκύλου και του περιβάλλοντός του, και την διαμόρφωση συμπεριφορών μέσω της επιβράβευσης κι όχι της τιμωρίας.
Συγκεκριμένα , εντοπίζουμε τις επιθυμητές συμπεριφορές και προκαλούμε την επανάληψή τουςμέχρι να γίνουν συνήθεια. Η μέθοδος βασίζεται στον Ρώσο φυσιολόγο Ιβάν Πέτροβιτς Παβλόφ και στην θεωρία εξαρτημένων αντανακλαστικών- Νόμπελ Ιατρικής, 1904.
Εξελίχθηκε από τον Skinner και εφαρμόζεται από την δεκαετία του 50 από κορυφαίους εκπαιδευτές όπως ο Bob Bailey στην εκπαίδευση δελφινιών και αργότερα σε άλλα είδη. Το πλεονέκτημα της μεθόδου είναι ότι ο σκύλος μπορεί να εκπαιδευτεί από 2 μηνών – όταν περιέρχεται στην φροντίδα της οικογένειάς του- αφού δεν εφαρμόζεται πόνος που θα βλάψει το κουτάβι. Αντίθετα βοηθάμε το κουτάβι εγκαίρως να ανακαλύψει και να υιοθετήσει επιθυμητές συμπεριφορές.Η εκπαίδευση γίνεται παρουσία του κηδεμόνα ο οποίος μαθαίνει για την συμπεριφορά του σκύλου του, πώς να τον χειρίζεται και πώς να θεμελιώσει την σχέση του με τον σκύλο του.
Η Θετική Εκπαίδευση δεν περιλαμβάνει βίαιες μεθόδους ή εκφοβισμό ( ηλεκτρικά ή ψεκασμού κολάρα, πνίχτες, αιώρηση, ξύλο) που προκαλούν πόνο ακόμα και σωματικές βλάβες και που με την αφαίρεση αυτών ο σκύλος επιστρέφει σε ανεπιθύμητες συμπεριφορές π.χ. τράβηγμα και ανεξέλεγκτο γαύγισμα. Τα παραπάνω καθιστούν τον εκπαιδευτή και κηδεμόνα πηγές πόνου και δυσφορίας και μετατρέπουν τα σκυλιά σε φοβικά ή επιθετικά.
Η εκπαίδευση που εφαρμόζει βία γεμίζει τους κηδεμόνες με εκνευρισμό αφού πρέπει να είναι πηγή τιμωρίας. Αντιθέτως η Θετική Εκπαίδευση είναι η βάση μιας ήρεμης συμβίωσης και δυνατής σχέσης και μπορεί να εφαρμοστεί από παιδιά και ηλικιωμένους αφού δεν περιλαμβάνει βία ή σωματική επιβολή.
Η Θετική εκπαίδευση βοηθά τον σκύλο να έχει αυτοπεποίθηση, να είναι κοινωνικοποιημένος, δημιουργικός και συνεργάσιμος με αυξημένη ευφυΐα και αντίληψη.
Και μην ξεχνάτε ότι η αρμονική συμβίωση με ένα κατοικίδιο , σας χαρίζει μακροζωία και ηρεμία.
Η θανάτωση των ζώων με φόλες είναι αξιόποινη πράξη, δηλαδή έγκλημα το οποίο τιμωρείται με φυλάκιση και χρηματική ποινή, σύμφωνα με το Νόμο 3170/2003 και το Νόμο 1197/1981 και τον Νόμο 4039/2012. Το συγκεκριμένο έγκλημα μάλιστα διώκεται αυτεπάγγελτα, που σημαίνει ότι οποιοσδήποτε λάβει γνώση αυτού του εγκλήματος μεοποιοδήποτε τρόπο (δηλαδή ως αυτόπτης ή αυτήκοος μάρτυρας) έχει δικαίωμα να το καταγγείλει στις αρμόδιες διωκτικές αρχές.
