EARLY DAYS OF GREEK RESCUE

My rescue journey started before I was born as my adoptive Grandmother and my Dad rescued dogs! 

Dad was a dog whisperer before the word was invented. There were always dogs in our house, not always ours…..! He was just amazing and even dogs classed as difficult were just big soppy pups in his presence. 

So back in the early 80s when I went to work in Greece, without Dad around, and with puppies popping up all over the place it was inevitable that I became a dog rescuer myself! 

It was really bad back then – but all of us Brits who loved dogs did our bit alongside some of our Greek friends and managed to successfully re-home a few dogs. 

Most notably, Sunmed Fred, our first ever rescue from Zante to UK in 1983. This is him and me waiting at Mimosa Beach Hotel in Zante the night before our drive to Athens.

You can read all about his rescue here which even made the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail.

Dog ownership in Greece has changed dramatically since my years as a rep. The new generation have changed things radically and there are now so many lovely people doing all they can for animal welfare but despite this, nothing has changed. In fact it’s got worse! 

According to a study in 2022 by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki there are now an estimated three million stray dogs and cats in Greece. 

THE DREAM

Fast forward to 2014 and I’m on holiday in Lemnos with my oldest school friends celebrating our 60th birthdays and talking about our bucket lists dreams. 

Next door to our holiday home is a farm with a big black dog chained 24/7 in the open air under an old cart. We can see him clearly from our terrace. The farmer arrives just once a day in the evening on his moped, chucks him a rock hard loaf of bread, ignores him, gets on with his work and departs an hour later. 

We ask the farmer’s permission and start bringing the poor dog some proper food and I inevitably think seriously about asking if I can adopt the dog. We all decide that, even if the farmer accepts, saving that one dog won’t make a scrap of difference – he will only be replaced with another poor dog. 

I want to do something but I don’t know what. Then a Greek friend suggests I need to meet Fotini! 

RESCUE HEROES 

Nothing could have prepared me for the first visit to Lemnos Shelter. 

It’s hard to describe the hell it was. Inhumane, a botched job of dangerous wire netting, old broken beach umbrellas and, bizarrely, there was an office style building with storerooms and showers where the food was kept.

The dogs were exposed to all the elements, in the open air and separated into 3 packs. The dogs often went days without food as the shelter depended solely on two volunteers. 

In the middle of hell was this little pocket rocket, Fotini and her best friend, Vaggelio, and a whole pile of surprisingly happy looking dogs. God knows how! 

That basic human instinct hit hard and I just wanted to cry. (Later I saw grown men visit the shelter and do exactly that). But watching Fotini and Vaggelio and their absolute infectious joy that they were making a difference to the lives of these doom dogs was a wake up call. 

I asked how I could help and the rest as they say is history. 

I look back at our 10 years and feel so grateful to all my old friends who have donated, fundraised and adopted dogs. And all the wonderful people who, through the dogs, have become new friends and supported us in every way possible. 

But sadly, for every adoption, every achievement is followed by set-back after set-back because the problem is so massive!