Animal Welfare

[senga]

A number of Halki residents have formed the Halki Animal Welfare Society. We have been concerned for some time particularly about the condition of dogs and the treatment of cats on the island.

There was a terrible case of poisoning in May when a local house owner lost 5 of her cats in one night, 2 of them nursing mothers.
This has been reported to the police by the owner, and to the local authority by the Chairman of the Society.

And a number of visitors who have just finished their holidays on Halki are determined to express their views on the treatment of animals on Halki.

The Society endorses the concern of the visitors about a number of issues, concerning dogs, birds, cat poisoning, the consequent increase in vermin, the education of the children, the visits of vets, etc and are preparing a document to be submitted to the local authority.

Furthermore, there is the suspected use of air rifles, seemingly to practise on cats as living targets. A friend lost a dearly loved tame tomcat recently.

Halki has a name as the Island of Peace and Friendship. Not if you are part of the Animal Kingdom, it seems.

I am sorry to have to bring this sad message to you all but it is about time that these matters were taken seriously by the powers that be on this island, and for that we need the voice of the visitors who are in the main the providers of the island's livelihood.

[carol]

Hi Senga, that is very sad indeed, is there anything specific we can do to help? Many of us remarked this year that there seemed to be less cats than ever, some old favourites were still about like Stumpy and I was pleased to see your lovely Bella in fine form but one particular dog on the harbour looked in need of some tlc and a good bath.More worrying though is the sight of dogs chained up in the sun with little or no water, I think as a nation of animal lovers a lot of us would put our support behind anything you can suggest we can do to help.

[fatcat]

I agree with Carol.

I know the Halki 'review' magazine had an article about the very same thing, we contributed to the winter feeding programme via DG & Nissia offices and would gladly contribute time/effort/donate to help this very worthy cause.

How would 'we' organise some sort of petition that could be submitted to the Halki council.........

[Liz]

I think alot boils down 'local attitude' for want of a better expression .. There are a few dogs that look alike around the harbour front all in varying states
The dog I believe belonging to Dimitris ( apologies if I'm wrong ) was obviously a well cared for .clean ,groomed ,friendly little soul
Its a shame that couldn't be said of some of the others ..one of them was matted to the skin ..had faeces matted in his/her fur ..how this animal has avoided fly strike is beyond me
I saw one being dragged by the chain around his neck and being 'helped' along by a boot
Now I know attitudes vary ...but surely this is not acceptable !
I did notice a lack of cats ..the ones I saw looked fairly healthy tho'
What is it that we can do to help ?

[daisy]

Hear hear to all that's been said in the above posts.

There are two poor dogs tied up all day up behind Nikitas which I know have put some people off staying in these lovely studios.

As far as I could see in May their owner who shall remain nameless came up once a day thew down some food and I can only hope water and then left spending all of 5 mins there.

I never saw them anywhere else but tied up all day and night in an old ruin.

He would never ever get away with this here.

On a lighter note Carol had a family of rabbits behind Flora who were looked after very well and their numbers grew by the day but that might just have been the Retsina effect ;D ;D ;D Sorry Carol couldn't reset. ;D ;D

[Liz]

LOL ,those rabbits were HUGE !!! ;D

[carol]

Yes they were lovely, very large white rabbits, honestly At the beginning of our hols there were two and at the end there were nine !!! I have photos to prove it

[senga]

Thanks for your support everyone. The individual dog in distress is being helped, eg with medicine for his ticks (now gone).
And by the way I know about those dogs behind Nikitas, owned by guess who? - our not so charming taxi driver!

I have had a letter from the group on the boat.
By all means write everyone, either by email to me, [e-mail], and I will pass it on,
or by post to the Deputy Mayor
Takis Chrisovergis, Demos Halki,
Halki, Dodecanese Islands, 85110 GREECE

We must keep up the momentum on this, with exposure on Greek TV a possibility through an influential local lady here, and my contact with the Greek Anmal welfare people in Athens and London re vets and education of the children.

We will soon have (paperwork permitting!) a bank account for the Society which will make the receipt of donations easier.

Meanwhile, raise the consciousness everyone and let the authority know about the animal welfare issues which have affected you as a visitor. And make sure you mention that people have been and will be put off returning to the island because of poor treatment of animals. Unfortunately, loss of income is what they understand and care about.

[Deleted]

Just be very very careful to have all the correct paperwork; there was a group in Rhodes called DAPS a few years ago who charitably treated all kinds of strays in the dodecanese and the local vets association got them closed down by accusing them of taking money for treatment

[Di]

If you are concerned about paperwork and want to get a model constitution (setting out how the group operates), you can download one from the Charity Commission website and adapt it to your needs. I work for them so if anyone wants any further info regarding this, just let me know.

[senga]

Thank you Betsy and Di for those helpful comments.
I am going to take advice from Athens and Rhodes about how to go about all this. I am apalled to hear of the ungenerous and mercenary attitude of the Rhodes vets.
Another horror reported today, a young mother cat and one of her kittens found poisoned.
One of my near neighbours, next door to where these cats have been living, has vowed to try to catch the three remaining kittens and take them to Rhodes.
The matter is being reported to the local authority, but I don't suppose that anything can be done to stop an evil individual doing this.

[animalwelfare]

hello,
we try to bring help from Germany. We started with foundation a new animal welfare association in Germany, Heidelberg. Please visit our website www.tierhilfe-chalki.de for more information. The website is in building up - just not ready, we are working on it. Hope to help for better life for the animals in Chalki.
Greetings, Maria

[lisa]

Thanks for all the information Frances. We help out with the local 'Animals in Distress' and are more than willing to do what we can to help the animals on Halki.

We stayed in Yorgos this year and could often hear the taxi drivers dogs crying. As dog owners it was very distressing.

I am sure that you will have the supoort of may regular visitors.

ps. I have put your book on my Christmas list. ;D