Hi all, we are back after three weeks over in Halkidiki. During that time we found three puppies dumped (about five weeks old maximum). Could hardly walk, very tiny. Dumped near the water spring on the mountain road from Hanioti to Skioni. We fed them every day whilst trying to find some help. A few days later another puppy was dumped with them from an entirely different litter, and a bit older.

All were fed by us every day (and others). We did a 24 mile round trip to keep an eye on them every day and it took us almost the whole three weeks to find someone who would take them on for us and get a vet to treat them and find new homes. We were lucky to find someone as it appears that puppies are dumped all over the place in Greece. Usually you see stray dogs and pups, but this was heartbreaking just four tiny pups with no mum at all.

By the time we got them some help they had endured gypsies feeding them with cooked chicken carcase bones, bites from insects that had swollen to almost the same size as the pups tums, they were full of worms and obviously very dirty.

PLEASE anyone over there at the moment, keep your eyes open and try to help dumped pups if you can. I know there must be some UK dog lovers holidaying there, we met two who were looking after the pups too. Also some Greeks, Germans and Bulgarians fed them too.

If you want to continue to help, you can send donations to me for forwarding on to a lovely English lady over there who is helping these dogs. I will of course provide a receipt and get you a receipt from this lady over there. She is almost at the point of becoming an official shelter which is great news.

Anybody interested in helping please email me. We are thinking of going back over there long term from the end of next year, so perhaps I will be able to do more while I am there.

Please help them. Not only dogs, there are donkeys, cats etc needing some help.

Thanks
Jane

Just bringing this back to the top, please dont forget the animals.

id love to help out i think it is wonderful what you are doing Jane. im hoping to get out there this year myself so if i can be of any use id love to help. also if there is anything i can do this end? i do a lot of voluntary work for the RSPCA and other animal welfare organisations and id love to get involved in what you are doing please email me if i can be of any help

Thanks Kerrie, I have sent you a private email.

Can anybody else help while holidaying over there. I know you save hard for your holidays and want to enjoy them to the full, but just a little help goes a long way to making life better for these dumped pups etc. They didnt ask to be born, and it really is heartbreaking to see them dumped like rubbish.

In fact while we were speaking to this English woman she told us she had recently had seven pups taken to her that had been found tied up in a plastic bag and placed in a rubbish skip, just a few days old. Unbelievable cruelty, lets help where we can please.......

Thanks Kerrie again, will be in touch soon

Did you get my email Kerrie. Will get info to you asap but I need to put Greek sim card in to get Julies telephone numbers for you. Will email you direct once I hear back from you.

Cheers,
Jane

no Jane i didnt get email. wrightkerrie@yahoo.co.uk

I am in Pefkohori RIGHT NOW and there are strays everywhere after the fire.....come save em PLEASE!!!!!!!

Jim, Doncaster.

Jim, please email me jane at onecal dot co dot uk and I will give you the number of Julie who helped us. Not sure how she is fixed after the fire, but you can at least ask her.

I know how upsetting it is, just try your best, that is all you can do. We always drove round with dog food in the boot for possible starving strays ! Even when we lived there three years, and then of course it was even more upsetting as you saw more and more of them.

Have a good holiday though, but great to know other people care about the dogs.

Jane

We should not forget the other mistreated or abandoned animals - cats are also found everywhere. I was in the Halkidiki area around August time and there were kittens all over the place. Its so heart-wrenching. There is a very good pet shop in Pefkohori who can advise on where to take or how to deal with stray or badly treated animals, its called Pegasus.
What shocked me was not just the stray animals who are abandoned but also the animals with so-called 'owners' - who chain their dogs up in the direct sun day after day, sometimes without food or even just water. The RSPCA has been contacted and 'officially' said that they cannot fund any rescue attempt directly - whether this position will change or not we can only hope. Increasingly, there are Greek charities forming that deal with these issues and very slowly people are being educated with regards to their treatment of animals... keep up the good work.

Sophie, I agree. If you look at previous postings by me under this subject I mentioned cats, donkeys etc. I trekked over about four fields one year to feed a donkey I felt sorry for. One that was in the daytime tethered in the hot sun with a pack on its back and no shade or water. The Greeks I told laughed and said they were used to it. But my point that I made to them was, WHY should they be used to it, they should get the basics of food, water and shade, same as every human or animal is entitled to.

Some Greeks do care about their animals, but I am afraid a lot do not. It is not just Greece though, we have seen the same in Italy, and I have heard Spain is just a bad in some areas.

And this is not a message against Greek people. My dad was Greek, I have many Greek friends (who incidentally have animals and treat them properly) and I absolutely adore Greece and the Greek people. Just this niggle about animal welfare, but I do my best when over there and a lot of other people, ex pats and Greeks, and German ladies too, seem to be helping out more and more.

hello all,

Ive just come back from a week in Hanioti and it still breaks my heart thinking about the stray dogs and cats - we strayed at the Hanioti Village and often wandered into the town at night and there were about 10 dogs roaming around looking for food, some looked really thin others not as bad but it was just a sad sight,they shouldnt have to live like that, i just thought how can you people sit about drinking and laughing when this is going on - i used to buy packs of ham and feed them every night i just didnt know what else to do, i saw others feeding them too but not many, I was there with a boyfriend who doesnt like animals and just dismissed the dogs - hence the fact he is not my boyfriend anymore!! I am an extreme animal lover and the plight of these dogs has haunted me ever since - i would love to know if there is some organisation who do feed the dogs (i know there is something like that in bendidorm) or can one be set up with backing??? Apologies for the rushed message and i havent had chance to read many posts as i'm just lending a freinds laptop. My email address is julie.holgate@wincanton.co.uk or julie.holgate@uk.hjheinz.com (07891575996 and 01942 716393) i really want to help the dogs in hanioti (and the rest of greece) please can someone contact me - thankyou x

Julie, it is so good to hear from a tourist who is actually bothered about the dogs and other animals suffering here in Greece. I did try back in 2006 on this forum as you can see from this posting, and a few kind people replied. But there are not enough

I know people save hard for their holidays and Greece is a beautiful country, but it is also a hell hole for animals. I have recently found out so much via facebook and Greek Animal welfare people and it is truly shocking. This is probably not the place to detail all the cruelty, but then again I think tourists should know so they can campaign for the welfare of these poor animals. So briefly, there are all over Greece (Rhodes, Crete and Kos are particularly bad, but not the only ones at all) abused animals, puppies and kittens dumped in rubbish bins, dogs hung from trees, dogs and cats poisoned, even adult sick dogs put in rubbish bins, donkeys left out in full sun with no water, a recent case of a dog stoned to death because it has psoriasis ! Awful, but true.

So, I can put you in touch with loads of Greek animal welfare sites - are you on facebook? This would be the easiest way and you could see the extent of the problem here and add your voice to those who are currently campaigning. A good piece of news is that the Chief of Police has recently put out an order for police to follow up cruelty cases with animal welfare organisations, something that should have been done years ago. This will not change the Greek view of animals unfortunately, not for a long while, but it is a start.

If you are on facebook send me your link and a friend request. If not I will pm you with the details but will have to gather them all together. The more you can spread the word the more animals can be helped.

Thank you so much for caring, and all who read this and are planning on visiting Halkidiki or any other part of Greece, if you love animals please do what you can to help them, they really are worth it.

Hi Jane,

We recently took in a gorgeous boxer that had been abandoned outside our garden, because she was pregnant! She was dumped in a bush on her own to give birth...left with a bucket of dry food, stagment water and stale bread. She eventually learnt to trust us and now her and her babies are in our garden and we are looking after them. However we already have a dog that we brought with us from England and with keeping the mother we cant possibly keep the 8 puppies that she has. Is there anyone that you know that can help us in rehoming them?
Any advice would be gratefully received.

Regards
Anne

Hi Anne, I have spoken to Julie but she tells me you already know her. She is the only person I know that can help you, but she is overrun as usual with so many dogs.

I am asking around if anyone would like a pup, but you know what it is like here, so many dogs so few dog lovers.

I wish you luck, and thank you so much for caring about this dog and her puppies.

I am Greek (Greek American) and a staunch animal rights advocate, and Greeks make me sick !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 400 years of Turkish slavery and it will take another 400 to get rid of that muslim/savage mentality which has seeped into the Greek psyche..............like a cancer..

Athena, are you are facebook? We could do with someone like you to join us all who are fighting for the animals of the world, but particularly Greece. We are currently phoning and emailing the Mayor of Athens who unbelievably withholds water from the strays of Athens, resulting in much publicised deaths of much loved strays this summer. After pressure he promised to restore the water, then went back on his word. We are still waiting. He must think that once the autumn and winter rains come we will forget and let him continue murdering these dogs next spring and summer by not providing water. Will you join us in our fight against this man, and many many other Greeks who do nothing to help the poor abused animals of this country. I am of Greek descent too, and I despair of the modern Greeks and their attitude to animals. If you are on facebook, send me a pm with your details and I will send a friend request.

Thank you for caring.

Hi, I have just returned from Kriopigi..... And can anyone tell me who George, the village dog belongs to ?

Hi. I have just returned from kriopigi, and would really like to know who George the resident famous dog of Kriopigi belongs to ?
Does anyone know ?

He is, as far as I know, a stray. One that has been dumped in the village. That is if he is the white bull mastiff, also known as Baloo !

Hi Jane

I just thought you might like to know that at the end of last week for the second time in recent months, a charity has been collecting for Greek animals at London Bridge and I'm happy to say that people, including myself, were donating.

Regards

Shirls and Baz