Why we need home-grown expertise in Greece

By Anna Stamatiou

Greek volunteers vets working with the support
of Animal Action/GAWF. April 2013.

GAWF Animal/Action has historically relied on expertise from the UK.  Our trusted professional partners have, over the years, helped to build the image of thorough knowledge, high standards and unselfish commitment to animal welfare that the organisation now enjoys.  This is of inestimable value, and something we are justly proud of.  Vets, farriers, equine dentists, veterinary nurses and even our office staff have all to a lesser or greater extent in the past been trained in the UK.  Recently we have been deliberately moving to change this… why?

We know that in order for the way animals are regarded (and therefore treated) to change radically across every level of Greek society, the animal welfare message has to be embraced by the Greek public.  If that is to happen, we have gradually to withdraw anything that feels like “foreign” support and encourage the Greeks to take on the issues and deal with them for themselves. 

That is why we have regularly sent Greek professionals to train in the UK, honing and adding to the skills they already have, so that we can work with them when they return and allow them, through the practical, hands-on work they do, to communicate the idea that animal welfare is not something only crazy foreigners care about. 

But we can’t train enough people, fast enough.  That means we must build a local, home grown network of professionals that appreciate the need for our high standards and aim continually to improve their practice and add to their knowledge.  This is what we have been aiming for of late but the process is not without its risks and drawbacks. 

Initially good supervision and guidance are needed.  One difficulty that has been put in our way is the attitude of the Greek government towards the use of foreign vets…  Although on paper they may come and practice, there are so many hoops for them to jump through, that in effect it is not practical to use them – at least not if we want to remain within the law.  This means we cannot derive the benefit of their skills and experience while working in the field, and our Greek colleagues miss out on potential learning opportunities.

Then, Greek vets and their professional body do not want to see volunteers from overseas coming in and offering their services at low or no cost.  They believe this takes away their customers and undermines their position and their fee structures.  So they are inclined to report any activity of this kind to the authorities, in an effort to stop it. 

Now, one of the principal funding bodies in the UK, which used to support GAWF/Animal Action’s work most generously, has decided that, in the face of government and professional intransigence and lack of cooperation, it will, with immediate effect, suspend all its funding for welfare work in Greece.  That should send a loud message to the government and the professional body concerned, but in fact we do not have the impression that anyone is really taking any notice.  The way they see it, it’s just another case of the foreigners trying to tell the Greeks how to run their country. 

 

Nevertheless, there are also positive signs, one of which is the recent formation of an association of Greek volunteer vets, and we are making headway in building strong local partnerships that are constantly under review.  With these, we will spread our work and messages deeper than ever into Greek society until the idea of mistreating or neglecting the needs of any animal becomes as repugnant in Greece as it was to our founder, Eleanor Close, over 50 years ago.

A permanent vet surgery for Paxos Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) on Paxos.

 

By Lindsay Geddes

Whilst holidaying in Paxos in 2005, I was saddened to see so many stray cats and no veterinary services on the island to take care of the situation. To my surprise, the mayor agreed to my ideas to help improve animal welfare and PAWS was created.

Lindsay and PAWS volunteers with the Mayor of Paxos

In the beginning our main concern was to offer regular veterinary services together with a sterilisation programme. Starting from scratch, we took advice from UK vets about what basic drugs and equipment to buy. We compiled a much longer list than anticipated and shipped out boxes of supplies by courier or carried excess baggage whenever we travelled.

 

We advertised on the WVS website for vets and nurses and fortunately received a very positive response. Many of our volunteers have made return visits and two of our current vet teams have been volunteering for PAWS for 5 years.

During a recent neutering trip with GAWF/Animal Action

Although we have the use of a garden flat in Gaios which we set up as a temporary surgery, PAWS has been striving to obtain a suitable building that we can convert to a permanent clinic. We were therefore delighted in 2012 when the mayor and municipality agreed to give us a building in Magazia as permanent premises. During the winter of 2012/13, these premises have been cleared and renovation work started.

Residents of Paxos have come together to work on this project and the imagination and innovation of some of the volunteers has been amazing. To find a rusty old BBQ and convert this into a surgery trolley beggared belief but the pictures don't lie!

Above: the rusty BBQ before
Below: transformed into a surgery trolley

Once the work has been completed in the next month, new anaesthetic equipment and surgical supplies will be ordered so that PAWS can expand its services to operate safely on dogs. This will be a great step forward for animal welfare on Paxos as currently travelling to Corfu by boat to seek veterinary care is far from ideal.

 As part of our fund raising activities, Lucy Davis (whose parents live on Paxos), Lindsay (the director of PAWS) and Graham (a PAWS volunteer) are taking part in Action Challenge events at the end of May and June respectively. We hope to raise as much money as possible so as to be able to satisfactorily fund the new surgery. Donations can be made via Just Giving.

For more information and photos on all of the above please see our website at www.pawspaxos.com 

 

And of course please come and visit us when on holiday in Paxos!

 

PAWS is one of the animal welfare societies in Greece supported by GAWF/Animal Action Greece.

Why Greek Animals? By Lucy Westmore, Head of UK Operations, GAWF

Whilst fundraising at Brighton train station, a young man approached me to put some money in my collecting tin and asked

‘why the GREEK Animal Welfare Fund, is it really that bad over there?’

Sadly the answer is yes and, due to the dire economic situation in Greece right now, GAWF is needed more than ever. Animals have become the latest victims of the financial crisis as they are neglected and often turned out onto the street when people can longer afford to keep them. Luckily GAWF/Animal Action is there to step in and help. Here’s a little bit about how and why we became the Greek Animal Welfare Fund…

Back in 1959, a British woman, Eleanor Close, moved to Greece with her husband and was shocked by scenes of animal abuse and neglect that confronted her. Sick and starving dogs and cats roaming the streets; bony dogs in hospital laboratories waiting their turn to take part in cruel experiments; exhausted horses and donkeys at the end of their working lives - abandoned to fend for themselves because they were no longer useful and abattoirs using medieval practices in the slaughter of animals.  The list goes on.

Mrs Close quickly set up a working group of Greek, English and American women and their aim was to change the way people viewed animals but above all, to improve their lives. 

Over the decades that followed, GAWF made dramatic inroads and supported hundreds of local welfare groups, fundraised for veterinary equipment and medicines and donated these, neutered and treated countless animals, gave grants and emergency funding to those in desperate need and launched a national education drive to raise awareness of the needs of animals – to name just a few of our activities.

Today, we are continuing the work Mrs Close began, reinvigorated and with as strong a will as ever, always with the same aim:  to improve the welfare of all animals in Greece. 

GAWF now operates in Greece as Animal Action (because the Action happens in Greece and we Fund the work from the UK).  We believe in working within Greece to find practical and sustainable solutions to animal welfare problems and each year we help thousands of animals. We have seen a vast improvement in the way people treat animals in the 50+ years GAWF has been active and we are certain we will continue to see more positive results as we look to the future.

Mrs. Close

So - going back to the guy at the train station - I told him that GAWF is absolutely essential for the animals in Greece and we do need a charity working specifically for them.  Sadly, Mrs Close is no longer with us but I often wonder whether she ever imagined what an amazing and lasting legacy she would leave.

Greece is a beautiful country and it is often only ignorance that is responsible for the poor treatment of animals. By working with the people in Greece, in a way that shows them the benefit of treating animals compassionately, we are seeing real changes. So do holiday there, and have a fantastic time safe in the knowledge that GAWF will be there for the animals all year round, and for as long as they need us.

You can help us care for animals in Greece. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

 

 

The importance of neutering

Stray cats and dogs are abundant in Greece, and it is not uncommon to see large groups of them in the streets. This is even more evident in built-up areas, where animals can often be seen congregating near restaurants and in parks.

However, while on the surface you see a group of cute animals relaxing, there lurks a deeper problem underneath. Most of these animals are condemned to a life on the streets – constantly scavenging for food, and often suffering from starvation or disease. When a stray is injured, it has no one to look after it, meaning it may spend the rest of its life with a broken or infected leg, or suffer a painful death as a consequence of the injury.

Tragically, it isn’t uncommon for us to come across unwanted kittens and puppies dumped in litter bins, scared and left to die.

What can we do?

The good news is that the stray problem can be dealt with effectively, with simple neutering programmes. By stopping the stray population from spiralling out of the control, over time the number of strays on the streets is greatly reduced. This mean fewer animals living on the streets, struggling to find food. It also takes the strain off undernourished mothers, who are too weak to care for large numbers of offspring. Neutering also causes males to become less aggressive and less likely to get into fights with other animals, which could lead to injury.

Happy and neutered

GAWF helps in two ways:

• Organising neutering programmes – we work to neuter strays in specific areas, after which they are released back into to the same area. This generally prevents new animals from colonising in the area and reproducing.
• Education – we work with the local communities, showing them how to look after strays and ensure that stray populations do not get out of control. We find that in areas where the community looks after the street animals, incidents of cruelty and poisoning are rare.

How can you help?

Your donations help fund the neutering programmes, and give us the resources we need to educate local communities. We work with friendly vets and have managed to get the cost of neutering right down to just £30. Your donations are vitally needed and together we can:
• Reduce illness in strays, by vaccinating them
• Prevent animals from starving, by controlling their populations
• Ease the strain on undernourished mothers, who are too weak to care for their offspring
• Reduce cruelty towards strays by educating local communities
• Treat injured, ill, or poisoned animals who would otherwise have no one to look after them.

Please donate today, and make a difference to the lives of these beautiful, innocent animals. Thank you. For more about our neutering programme click here.

Taking the law into their own hands

By Anna Stamatiou

The economic crisis is having far-reaching consequences at all levels of Greek society.  In the field of animal welfare it is clear that less weight is being given to all kinds of issues.  It has almost become politically incorrect to demand of the police that they should spend increasingly scarce resources to prosecute animal abusers, check on conditions for animals in transit, attend a report of a permanently tethered dog… or seek to identify and bring to justice a neighbourhood poisoner.


English: It's only a matter of time until we find you

 Ordinary, caring citizens as well as committed welfare activists have become enraged by the state’s failures, and this has led to increasing incidents of direct action, or vigilantism.  Graffiti have been appearing at the entrances to buildings where poisoners are thought to live.  These scrawled messages can be as nasty and threatening as those that the UK saw in 2000 when the News of the World “named and shamed” individuals thought to be guilty of child abuse, and baying mobs gathered outside the houses of sometimes innocent people in the city of Portsmouth. 

 This trend means that normally law-abiding people are being driven to behave in illegal ways (making threats and defacing property) and that the potentially innocent may be wrongly accused and persecuted.  It must be hell for the residents of the affected apartment blocks. 
Why do people go out and poison strays in the first place?  Online welfare sites in Greece are full of purple language fulminating against the “perverts” and “psychos” that carry out indiscriminate poisoning.   I have never seen any attempt at a balanced assessment of motivations other than these, and until there is one the root causes of such illegal and barbaric acts will never be successfully addressed.  Why, can’t the welfare community sensibly discuss the problems that both strays and owned cats and dogs can cause?  What about the poo-covered pavements?  The endless all night barking of confined dogs?  Attacks by packs or bad-tempered individual dogs on both pets and people?  The strewing of stinky detritus all over the street when rubbish bags are torn open by scavenging animals?  The fear of communicable disease that is only strengthened by the sight of unkempt, unhealthy-looking animals?





English: Murderer of animals - we have found you

Greece needs to deal with the problem of its strays in a more honest and focussed way… numbers need to be managed, and dangerous dogs should be taken off the street permanently.  Neutering helps with this but it isn’t a complete solution.  In an ideal world there would be no strays at all on the streets.  Tolerating even low numbers of them communicates the wrong message:  “It is okay for cats and dogs that no one takes responsibility for to be here”.  Actually, no, it’s not.  All cats and dogs should be owned and taken responsibility for, they should be properly cared for in sickness and in health for the whole of their lives, and prevented from causing nuisance and from producing unwanted litters of kittens and pups.  Until Greek society “gets it” incidents of mass poisonings look likely to continue.  

GAWF Equine Project

GAWF’s Equine Project was started in 1999, with the goal of alleviating the suffering of horses, donkeys and mules in Greece.

Working equines are common in Greece, and their numbers have increased in recent years. Rising unemployment has resulted in many workers relocating from cities to more rural areas, where equines are frequently used for agriculture. In less developed of Greece where there are no roads, equines are sometimes the only means of transporting produce around.

These rural areas often lack the vital resources required to keep equines healthy and happy, such as local farriers (hoof care specialists), dental technicians and vets. 

In addition, many owners are unaware of the how to care for their animals, or they simply don’t realise the level of maintenance they require.  Common problems we come across are:

• Hobbling - restrictive binding of the animal's legs, to prevent it from wandering too far. Unbeknownst to a lot of owners, this can cause pain and serious health problems such as fractures, dislocations and tendon injuries
• Severe tendonitis, bruised soles and foot abscesses.
• Overgrown, twisted or diseased hooves - often a result of heavy work on hard ground, or overfeeding. Again, owners often do not know how to spot these afflictions.
• Dental problems - left unchecked, equines can develop sharp edges on their molars, which cut their mouths and make eating difficult. This can develop into severe health problems, pain, and even death from starvation or blood loss if an artery is severed.
• Birth problems - just like humans, equines can develop life threatening problems during birth. When a trained vet is not present, there are risks for both mother and baby.

It is vital for the health and well-being of working equines in Greece that we are able to give care directly to these animals, and educate people on how to look after them. 
 

Taking Action

In the early days, we found that people were wary of our motives and suspicious of our credentials. How were people to know that we wouldn’t damage their animal’s feet and leave it lame and unable to work for weeks? Over time, we demonstrated that we have all the necessary training, professionalism and qualifications to help these animals, and we have built up a name that is well known and trusted throughout Greece.

How does GAWF help?

Your donations help by funding GAWF to:

• advise and instruct owners on how to care for their animals
• send outreach teams (usually an equine farrier, vet  and equine dentist) to visit equines
• offer treatment to over 1,250 equines every year, including 100’s of life-saving procedures
• train Greek veterinary students and fund courses for them in Greece and the UK
• provide instructional materials and training guides for those working in the field.

Please help us to continue by donating on our website. We desperately need funds to continue our Equine Project, so we can not only prevent equine suffering, but ensure that many poor people in Greece are able to make a living during the economic slump.