SAVING GREEK ANIMALSCaring for the Animals Trust

Reg. Charity No.1091152 Newsletter - Summer 2013

Dear FriendsThanks to your loyal support more neglected or abandoned animals have been found new, caring owners and donkeys saved from a slow, painful death from starvation – usually found with untreated hooves, open wounds and teeth badly needing rasping.

The present economic plight of Greece has meant many more dogs and cats being abandoned, putting unbearable pressure on the shelters many of which thanks to your donations, are able to survive.

We continue to promote neutering of strays; overpopulation is the cause of much needless suffering though sad to report there are still too many cases of poisoning, an inhumane (and inefficient) answer to the problem. I am however happy to say that the benefits of neutering are slowly becoming more acceptable both to the general public and to the mayors.

The reports from the small groups and individuals which CARAT supports bear testimony to the very hard work and frustration involved in animal welfare, where animal protection laws are rarely if ever enforced. So PLEASE go on helping us and try to recruit a new supporter. And since there are no overheads (all services are provided free!) all monies donated directly benefit the animals.

Thank you

Gwen Ware

Caring for the Animals Trust11 Lower Barn Road, Purley, Surrey CR8 1HYTel: 020 8660 6011 E-mail: info@savinggreekanimals.org.uk

www.savinggreekanimals.org.uk

@C4AnimalTrust CaringForTheAnimalsTrust

Newsletter & Social Media Editor Erica Starling

Thanks to Margaret Williams, helped by Jill Felsted, Jean Frazer, Jill Henderson, Jean MacKenzie, Pauline Purchase, and Angela Ravenscroft for raising the funds listed below:

Nov- RotaryClub, Wallington Christmas Bazaar £88.40April - Boot Sale Banstead £35.00May - Bedddington May Fair £215.00May - Cheam Charter Fair £85.00

and a warm thank-you to Fiona Cantwell for a street collections raising £417.00

Events to follow: 26th August 10-5 pm

Environmental Fair - Carshalton Park

Saturday 6th November 10am to 2pm Carshalton Beeches Rotary Club Charity Fair in the Wallngton Public Hall - Lots of bargains for

Christmas.. Do come along to both events to support us

and tell your friends as well.

Why not think about us when you sell on ebay - You decide exactly what percentage of your final selling price you’d like to give to CARAT. Visit http://pages.ebay.co.uk/ebayforcharity/sell.html to learn more - or send us a Facebook or email message and we will help you.

Fund Raising activties:

During this time there was the rescue of abandoned dogs on the main road leading to Agia Efimia. These were an old German Shepherd dog with cancer that was PTS, a Labrador dog, a black pit bull female cross about 6 months old , very affectionate but did not like cats. I was really getting close to her and was very pleased to find her a good home here as there are no countries that will take the breed. She was sterilized so no more puppies.

Puppies rescued : two from a B&Q type of shop in Argostoli who were in the doorway and one left in the entrance of the Agia Efimia travel Agent. They all went to ARK and have been adopted.

The worst atrocity that came to my attention was in SKALA, the most popular holiday resort on the Island for Brits was reported by a Greek in which a stray hunting dog had its back paws chopped with an axe and then hanged. It is understood that he did this to 10 others during the winter. It has been established that the village where he lives, live in fear as he is mentally ill and will not speak out. As usual the Police do nothing. He cannot be sectioned as Greece does not have a social services and mental institution where these people can be kept.

Karavomilos Beach , Sami, once again has poison on the beaches. One dog that I know of that was

Peter Cherrington - Kefalonia, Ionian Islands

The worst was in the town of Lixouri where more than 50 dogs that we know of were deliberately poisoned from the 19th January. I live 60 kilo-metres from the town and was receiving phone calls from local students for help with dying dogs. After this had occurred a meeting was called by concerned citizens, Animal Rescue Kefalonia and one of the vets with what can only be called a rep-resentative assistant Mayor as there is now only one elected Mayor on the Island to cut costs. The meeting was a non event as the so called mayor told the meeting that he did not want anything to do with the problem and walked out of the meeting. Word has it that a woman was finally tracked down as having been the person who put the poison about and when questioned said that she did it on the instruction of the representative mayor of Lixouri.

I was called to a farm in the same area where a Greek farmer had 20 dogs which included puppies. On the first visit we rescued 2 puppies that needed immediate vet care. It was very fortunate that I was introduced to Katarina Kapatou who runs an eco friendly farm on the open sea side of Lixouri who offered to take the dogs until I could find homes for them. We rescued 7 puppies of which one died of haemor-rhagic diarrhoea and prolapsed intestine. They were all re housed at Animal Rescue Kefalonia where CARAT donated 2 kennels and food. We were also able to sterilize all the bitches of which there were 6. This was also funded by CARAT.

2013 to date has been the worst year for Animal Abuse in Kefalonia that I have had the misfortune to try and manage, under very difficult conditions in the 6 years we have lived here!

poisoned, was thankfully saved. The Sami assistant Mayor, Greek/Australian received threats over the phone which resulted in both of her dogs being killed by organophosphate poison which devas-tated her family. They found 17 pieces of poisoned

meat in her grounds.

An English couple on holiday came upon a dog in a very bad condition and in the evening

went back, cut the chain and took the animal back to where they were staying. I collected the dog the next morning and have never in my life seen so many ticks on an animal before. I took him miles away to a safe house where it was dipped for ticks.

The vet was amazed that the animal was otherwise in reasonable condition. He will be treated and transported to Germany to a his new forever home.The good news is that the sterilization

programme of cats and dogs is going very well now that I have set up a booking office with a Greek couple Rita and George from Sami Computers, Sami who have really made a very big difference. The funding has all come from CARAT who makes this all happen.

This award must also stand as a monument to all those who donate money and work for the charity to make all this happen. We still have a long way to go and attitudes to change.

Thank you so much for continuing to support CARAT!

We are determined to continue helping animals despite all the red tape we face and the economic crisis, with more and more pets being abandoned.

The DRASI volunteers look after around 2000 dogs, cats, owls and birds of prey most of them fostered in their own homes and in colonies, as well as sup-porting local people who take in rescued animals, helping them with food, medicines, and veterinary support. There are "human feeders" for all the dogs that have been neutered and returned to where they were found.

We receive many calls from concerned persons about the welfare and conditions in which many dogs are kept. Thankfully we receive good support from the police and the local judges when cases go to Court.

DRASI organises awareness days, for the public in a huge Heraklion square a few times a year where we speak about our work, need for adoption and

for more supporters. All these events, and others to raise funds, are well sup-ported.We also visit schools to teach children to love animals, and to live well with them.

DRASI worked extremely hard to organise vets from abroad to neuter cats and dogs, but unfortu-nately no local vet would offer them their surgery for 2 days to work, and the local Authorities would not give their permission, despite the fact the vets had legally required qualifications. Very disappointing as something needs to be done urgently to control the huge number of strays.

Zoofili Drasi - Iraklion, Crete

“A very big thank you to you all from us at Kefalonia to CARAT for MAKING POSITIVE THINGS HAPPEN”

“ We, CARAT and I have been presented with an award by Animal Rescue Kefalonia, an Icon in Sterling Silver and Swarovski Crystal in recognition of services rendered to Animal Welfare in Kefalonia.”

Since we have worked with CARAT we have received invaluable trapping equipment for dogs, cats and even birds; desperately needed dog beds as well as recently a large supply of flea and tick treatments. Many dogs are now happy for being free of ticks, and with intact ears!

The fire brigade was called in March to bring down a cat from a 50 metres high tree in the main square in Heraklion. Seems a dog had chased him up the tree and he had been there for 4 days. A friendly cat, sadly blind in one eye ...his story was on local TV and radio sta-tions and he is looking for a new kind owner.

A pit bull dog was recently taken from its cruel owner after the police and the judge issued a writ for the instant removal of the dog. It was chained up, starving, with ribs showing and full of ticks and fleas. A large sore appeared, after ticks were removed from his left hind leg but with treatment this soon healed. He awaits a new owner too.

We have been extremely busy this April sterilising 21 cats, one male and 20 female, most of them were pregnant!

It is so expensive for us to sterilise the cats locally and the local authorities and government seem blind to the problem. Luckily there is a good vet in Salonika who charges me 30Euro per female, but that means I have to be very organised and ar-range to be able to get the cats the 100km to the vet.

I had also found four kittens abandoned in a box. The poor little things were crying piti-fully - very cold and hungry, I have had them for a few weeks now and they are doing well...they just need new loving homes!

This poor old lady (right) was found in an old derelict house. She was such a kind and gentle dog but she looked so very tired. I wish I had a house with yard to take her to live the rest of her life with me, safe forever! She is over

Poli Papapostolou - Serres, northern Greece

10 years old, according to the vet. He also said that she has cancer, she is blind from one eye and her body is so tired from so many pregnancies. So I took her to the private vet and had her sterilized. I have put a red collar on her in the hope that maybe people think that she has an owner and they don’t hurt her!

The vet didn’t recommend treating her cancer and the eye because it was dangerous for her, it was very likely she would not survive the treatment. I hope she will live in peace in her remaining years and that my small intervention has helped her.

“We would like to thank CARAT from the bottom of our heart, for their support.” Koula Green

We have been striving to neuter as many as we can before the animals give birth. We are finding that from February untill September most females are either pregnant or bringing up babies!

I have been working with my vet almost each weekend, neutering 5-10 cats, depending how lucky we are catching the previous day!

Two of the special ladies neutered in such week-ends were Melinda and Maria Antoinette. Melinda, I am certain was thrown out of ther house by a crazy lady in my area. I discovered that for the past few months she had adopted cats from all over Greece. Cats she did not take good care of and now that she is tired of them she is starting to abandon them on the street. We have managed to trap one of them and Melinda I found outside her building crying and hiding under a car. I picked her up and took her home in my arms... She was purring and trembling at the same time... Unfortunately she was not only pregnant, but also had an infection in her uterus as well. Her poor ears were in horrible state too! After 2 weeks in my care, really requiring just a little bit of care she was a totally different cat.

Her friend, Maria-Antoinette was picked up in another area. My friend was just passing by and was bringing me one of the traps CARAT had sent us, which she had  borrowed. She saw the cat looking too pregnant, tired and in a terrible condition. So she caught her!

I decided to keep her as she was immediately very friendly and happy to be inside, she quickly be-came such good friends with Melinda! They have now gone to a German foster home together. They are such a funny pair.

We also organized 2 big neutering programmes, one in March with 99 cats and one in April with 202 cats and more than 150 dogs!!

We worked with cats all over Attica and with two hoarders (collectors) as well. It was tiring but thankfully all went smoothly.

I managed to get cats from my area as well, includ-ing a female I have been chasing for two years.

However, after all this work, there are still babies to be saved. I have nine at the moment, four from my area. I am angry about this, because they are from a garden I do not have access to. I begged the lady the whole winter to let me in and catch them, but noooo! This was not a priority for her!When I finally got in the back yard, I saw that the kittens were sick, and seemed to be going blind. Already one month old, so I took them all. The mother cat also was very sick, kidneys in a bad way. A very young cat... I thought she would die, but she did not, she is recovering. ...we will see.

It is really dishearten-ing that every day I get a new email or call for kittens found in the rubbish bins. We are being overwhelmed with cats everywhere. I have struggled to keep my area under control all these years and a little bit further away is just chaos.

We really need to get more people involved in this and we really need to get people to neuter the cats, both their pets and the strays they feed. Otherwise it is a battle we cannot win.

So the conclusion is for me, dealing with animals is much easier than dealing with irresponsible and crazy pet owners!!

Adespotologio (Vivi Katifori) - Athens

“The equipment sent by CARAT has been invaluable as always, traps and crush cages alike.”

Melinda and Maria Antoinette

Below- young male cat neutered and treated for his wound on the neck caused by a fight with other male cats. The wound was quite old and some skin was rotten. Care taker, Jim Knight of Kala Nera.

An English man, Jim who lives in Kala Nera for 6 months every year, just arrived for the sum-mer and there were these female and male cats, all strays, around the house. So he caught one female and two males for his first trip to the vet. The youngest cat had a serious wound with dead skin and infection. He received the necessary vet. assistance and Jim continues to treat the wound with Betadine. I hope he can catch the other female and an old male who fights and injures the other males.

The short story of Oscar and Fridolin, is that we usually prefer to neuter females for obvi-ous reasons but when the care taker Christine Schmiedek phoned me to ask to neuter two male cats I accepted because she mentioned there was something about these 2 males but she did not know what it was. Actually, they both needed the vet attention.

Oscar, about 5 years old stray male, half wild: neutered, top left ear clipped, after vet xamination diagnosis of cat Aids. Care taker is Christine Schmiedek of Afete.

Fridolin (above), about 1 year old stray male cat: neutering, left top

ear clipped after vet examination diagnosis of scabies in both ears so

the adequate treatment is given. Care taker is Chris-tine Schmiedek of Afete.

Above Left- A stray female cat neutered and thankfuly not pregnant, top left ear clipped. Care taker Jim Knight of Kala Nera. Jim and his wife are English who live 6 months here in Greece.

Left- Stray male cat neutered because he fights a lot with other males! Care taker, Jim Knight of Kala Nera.

Friends Of Animals, S.Pelion - Greece (Sylvie Margianou)

Sylvie with Chichi

“Therese Zinken a local vet works closely with Sylvie and is a great help with her neutering programme which I am pleased to say CARAT funds” Gwen Ware

You can help CARAT at no cost to yourself by simply buying on line.

www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/chat

You will be asked to register and given further information so that you can support CARAT by raising donations when you shop on-line at any of the hundreds of retail outlets who have joined the scheme...without costing you a penny extra!

Regularly use the internet to look up things and generally use Google? Why not search the web using everyclick. If you use this site instead of Google, CARAT will be paid commission on the number of click throughs you make on searches! Visit

www.everyclick.com/carat

CARAT Fundraising & Fun... Animal Rights Crossword

For the answers please visit our blog. http://caratblogdotcom.wordpress.com

Down 1. Used to shot off a tap or pump (5)2. Animal Doctor (10, 7)3. Smoked by the rich (5)4. Used for shooting (3)5. Liquid for making roads (3)7. If you live in the country, you may depen on one (3)8. Children or goats (4)9. Not “her” (3)10. Object pronoun, related to “we” (2)12. Produced through intensive agriculture (13)13. An illness affecting bovine animals (7,6)15. Short for “agricultural” (4)16. Pills to calm people or animals down (14)17. The abbreviated name for an animal doctor (3)19. “_ _ “ Entry (2)20. Living in rural surroundings (7,4)22. Pursuing a dog like mammal for sport (3,7)23. Obedient dogs are often

trained to _ _ _ (3)25. Large, powerful bird of prey (5)28 The opposite of good (4)30. Kill (9)33. Physical and or Mental fatigue (10)35. Injury or damage (4)38. A cereal plant used as food (3)43. Not barbarous or primitive (10)44. Fair treatment for humans or animals (6,6)45. Harm to people or property (6)46. Organised chase to kill ani-mals (5)48. Put on a costume or special clothes (5,2)49. A heavy weight (3)50. To do well (7)53. A book in the acient roll form (6)55. An indefinite article (2)58. The bank _ _ _ _ _ at 9.30 (5)60. Ferric (4)62. The opposite of buy (4)65. _ _ and She (2)

Across

4. Livery animal, which is kept for its milk (4)5. Birds which are fed under artifical light (7,8)10. Below (5)11. Condition (2)14. Menus for people who refuse to eat meat (9,5)18. A good farmer knows how to _ _ _ _ _ _ the land (6)21. A white fish com-monly eaten in Britian (3)23. Fire a gun (5)24. Ripped into small bits (4,2,6)26. Open a _ _ _ of beans (3)27. Substances injected to increase body size (6,8)29. Spiritual leader (4)31. By mouth (4)32. Against the law (7)34. Promise to tell the _ _ _ _ _ (5)36. The Alsatian is a popular _ _ _ _ _ (5) of dog37. A contest between farmyard birds (12)39. Industry which pre-

pares and sells animals for consumption (4,5)40. The British love ani-mals so much that we _ _ _ them! (3)41. Something which is done which can be good or deadly (4)42. A sweet secented flower (4)43. Rural surroundings (11)47. Old customs or prac-tices (6)51. Wait _ _ _ _ your father comes home (4)52. _ _ _ _ or that (4)54. Adam was the first one (3)56. The pursuit of an animal, for example (5)57. Say _ _ to drugs! (2)59. Substances stopping the growth of bacteria (11)61. They're always going up (6)63. Dogs for hunting foxes (6)64. Nourishment for cats and dogs (3,4)65. Where you go if you don't go to heaven (4)66. Chased or followed (7)

Karditsa Animal Welfare, Karditsa, Northern Greece

I spotted this pointer in an area in Karditsa, while looking for another dog. I could see from afar a large chain hanging from the dog’s neck, and it was so heavy that the animal could barely walk. I asked around to try and find out to whom this dog belonged. Unfortunately his owner was a drunk and drug-addict. The police knew all about him, but did nothing. Therefore, the most immediate solution was for me to steal the dog, so that we could provide him with veterinary assistance first, and then go after his owner for abuse.The condition of this dog was solely due to star-vation, I took him home for a month, and after his recovery I took him to the shelter, hoping for a permanent home.

This cat was located by a lady in an area 10 km away from Kar-ditsa. She was wandering in some fields, where someone wrapped and tightened wire

around his belly.

Unfortunately his belly was already affected (it became atrophic). We took him to the vet who removed the wire, provided antibiotics and after his neutering, the cat was happily adopted!

The day of the rescue - looking skinny and sad

Smiling for the camera one month on! What an improvement

In a village around 7 km from Karditsa, I spotted this dog trying to cross the road. I immediately understood that something was wrong, her front leg was almost rotten and was hanging by a few threads of skin.

Cont....

Here are some more amazing stories from Evi and Katerina

Cont...

She was extremely frightened and ran to hide in a small tunnel. After quite a while and much effort, I managed to capture her, took her to the vet were her front leg was amputated and she was also spayed.

She has become very friendly, as well as gaining-weight! She now lives happily with Evi.

“her front leg was almost rotten and was hanging by a few threads of skin”

Remember to “Like” CARAT on Facebook to keep up-to-date with news and stories

and also not forgetting you can chat with us online too!

CaringForTheAnimalsTrust

Here are just two village Donkeys we help by providing medication, regular visits with advice and assitance with the help of CARAT

CARAT helps funds medication for lice, worms and drops for their eyes as well as paying for petrol money for us to go and check on these donkeys and also pays for emergency veterinary treatment. Cont...

“Without CARAT’s valuable help we would be unable to help the 100s of village Donkeys in our area. This would certainly be a tragedy!” Barbara Doulyerakis

Agia Marina Mires, South Crete

Cont...

Barbara reports on some of the events at Agia Marina.

Iphigenia..our new-est donkey, and one

of the youngest at 9 yrs old. The ancient

Greek name Iphigenia (pron. ee-fee-genia) means of

strong birth.

Iphigenia was the daughter of King Agamemnon who fought the Trojan wars together with Helen of Troy.

Iphigenia surprised us and we are overjoyed to introduce our new baby girl donkey born in the early hours of a Monday morning....a wonderful surprise and very heartwarming after the recent sadness of losing four of our beloved elderly don-keys ...Melina, Violetta, Antigoni & Penelope.She has been named Iro (pronounced Ee-ro).

Iro was the beautiful Priestess of the Goddess of Love...Afroditi.

Iro now leaves her Mummy Iphigenia’s side and gallops up to me when she sees me open the stable door. Iphigenia does not mind me touching her baby at all and yesterday I picked her up and gave her a cuddle while Iphigenia just went on munching her supper. She is a very courageous little lady.

Over the past four years we are proud to report we have rehomed over 300 Neutered Dogs and some Cats. The cats have found homes locally however the Dogs are mainly rehomed in Hol-land, Germany and Belgium with 5 also going to the Uk and one to Scandanavia.

If possible we prefer to rehome stray dogs to lo-cal people, but this can prove extreemly difficult, although several have been sucessfully rehomed to Ex pats from Northen Europe and the UK.

We also rescue Cats who are quite easily rehomed locally (always after neutering!) even adopting 6 cats ourselves!

At present we have 6 dogs waiting for adoption who have been with us for several months.

One was found abanoned by the side of the road (pictured underneath) last November and is still here awaiting a forever home.Unfortunately adoptions have slowed down considerably, but the num-ber of abandoned animals has drastically increased.

Apart from rehoming, we also care for many street dogs and cats. Feeding, watering, neutering, worming and keeping them free from fleas and ticks. There are just far too many ani-mals to be rehomed!Although it is not ideal them living on the streets, they do get some help from us!

I do spend alot of my time checking on barrel dogs (thankfuly illegal here now) and making sure they have enough shelter, shade, water and providing worming and flea medications. This

can occasionally be very difficult, but most owners are responsive and grateful for help.

The laws in Greece are getting much tougher and just recently a sheppard was jailed for keeping 4 barrel dogs in TIN barrels with short heavy chains, placed directly in the sun! The barrels are like

ovens in the summer and freezing in the winter - nor do they have blankets or rugs to sit on. Sadly these dogs were left there but we have managed to arrange feeding, watering and a fosterer!

Over the next page you will meet a very generous man called Fransisko, who is a Romanian refufee. He lives in a shack without any power or running water, near the town of Mires. He devotes his time looking after the many street cats....He is able to visit the Cont...

With CARAT’s support we are helping him with neutering, worming and flea treatments. Together we can help cut down the stray cat population and give these homeless cats a better life.

Cont...

local slaughterhouse daily , which is very close and collect bags of offal to feed 22 cats in his care.

During the hot days, the cats find shade under Fransiskos bed. At night he sleeps outside as it is too hot for him in the shack.

Little Lou Lou wears a a pretty little ribbon with a bell, so at night Fransiskos knows were his best friend is!

Pictures Gallery Left- This beautiful stray puppy ( roughly 5 months old) was lucky to be adpoted by a young couple on holiday from the UK. She was named Sami and together CARAT and Peter Cherrington assited with the vets fees and a travel box.

This cute little chap (sit-ting one of our Greek volunteers vets scrub top), was rescued by Christiana after she found him dumped in a

bin with his brother!

Although a stock photo (below) this post, provoked quite a response on our Facebook page.

The poem that we decided to make acompany it, is just so beautifully written, we thought we had to share!

Do you have stories, poems or pictures to share? Let us know on Facebook!

I have been helping the strays of Halkidiki since 1999 and the shelter has been running since 2002. Now 10 years on and I feel that due to the economic crisis that the situation has become worse. The amount of strays needing help and people asking to rehome their pets due to the fact they are leaving Greece seeking work is enormous. Normally I would be caring for about 40 animals at the shelter but due to so many being abandoned during the winter it escalated to 70. Thankfully it was a mild winter so caring for so many wasn’t so bad. It took until February to get back to my normal numbers.

I’m hoping that I will be able to sterilize more during 2013. The good news is that we are meeting with the Mayor and hoping that he will start helping towards making a sterilsing/microchip and vaccination programme. We have stressed that there is a great need to for an education campaign to make the community aware of their responsi-bilities as pet owners....maybe it’s a dream but we can always dream and pray for a better future for the animals in Greece.

Here are just a few of the rescues for 2013:

Teddy was an owned puppy who was found beaten into a coma and his owner did not take him to a vet. An animal welfare friend alerted me about Teddy and he has been with me now one month. At first he slept most of the day because of his concussion. He has slowly become better, eating and drinking well, even starting to play with some toys but it looks like he has been left blind by his ordeal. (Pictured above right)

Ira was an owned dog who was hit by a car and lost her leg. Her owners brought

Julie Tsiakmakis Halkidiki

her to the shelter ask-ing me to take her because they could not afford to take her to a vet. I said only on the condition that I would find her a new home.

Teddy - Found in a Coma

“189 Animals Neutered in 2012”

Valentina and Cinderella are 2 of 3 Poodles which were aban-doned just before the Christmas. All 3 were extremely terrified of people and did everything to evade capture. Cinderella was the first to be caught but it took another 6 weeks before Valentina

Ira- Hit by a car

They agreed and Ira is getting ready for her new home in England.

Cont....

finally gave in and allowed us to catch her. Unfortunately the 3rd was killed by a car on the same day we caught Valentina. How anybody could allow their dogs to get in this condition disgusts me.

Zanna was found in January wandering the streets with massive tumors. It took the vet 3 hour to operate to remove 2 growths. We decide to wait a few weeks before we sterilized her then after a few week the remaining growths had started to disappear so no need for future surgery.

Freddie was involved in a road accident and had broken 2 of his legs. Thankfully I have a very good vet in Belgium and a fosterer to take care of Freddie after his operation. We had to wait 3 weeks before Freddie could travel and in these weeks Freddie showed us how much of a star he is. He managed to go around at first on 2 legs then 3 and eventually before he left started to chase the cats...and climb on top of the food.

PS from Titch Bird

“Of the dogs in Julie's report, we brought Teddy, Ira and

Cinderella back with us on our recent trip. Our friend

Anna has Teddy who is making remarkable progress and

I rehomed Ira with a lovely lady in Suffolk called Wendy

who has 4 other small disabled dogs including Kiku and

Adelaide, two tiny Papillon cross sisters that I brought

back from Skiathos 3 years ago - they'd been beaten by

their owner as tiny puppies so Adelaide lost an eye and

Kiku suffered a broken back but gets about just fine in a

crab-like style. Cinderella was rehomed by Juliet and is

doing well.”

“Once again I wish to say a special thank you to everyone at CARAT for the tremendous support they are giving to the animals of Halkidiki.” Julie Tsiakmakis

As well as undertaking immense neutering programmes Christianan helps where ever she can....... here a just a few of her heartwrenching stories........

Kali’s StoryThe woman who feeds Kali daily in the neighbourhood, found him very badly injured. The wounds in both hind legs were really bad. After that he was taken to a vet and with a delay of a week in which her refused to eat, was finally transferred to Veterinary School at the University. There he had necessary tests and x-rays carried out the diagnosis, was that unfortunately little Kali had completely damaged his right rear leg. It was so bad there was no option but to have the leg amputated.

The lady who looked after him, was un-able to cover the costs of Kali’s surgery so took him back home without him having the surgery.

A concerned and worried veterinary student convinced this lady to ask me for help. I told her to take him to my own vet where I took over the costs of surgery and hospitalization, given that poor Kali will never go back in the streets again, I felt it was the right thing to do.

Initally when Kali was taken to my vet he was terribly fatigued and dehydrated, since he not eaten for 10 whole days. It was impossible for him to be able to cope

with the surgery. So the vet began strong anti-biotics and mandatory feeding, until he was fit and strong enough to be able to cope with the

operation.

After 15 days and after the little one had already started eating satisfactorily, the vet proceeded with the am-putation of his back leg. It was still touch and go afterwards for or while after surgery and the

prognosis for Kali was poor.

Despite unfavorable forecasts Kali with the patience, perseverance and infinite love of my vet made it and after one month hospitaliza-tion returned home to the lady who took care of him.Brigita’s StoryShe was found wandering in Eptalofos with her front paw in a horrible condition, injured,

bleeding and full of pus. Her leg was so swollen that its size was at least three times bigger than normal. I was contacted by some volunteers to help, since they could not afford to cover the case financially. The little one was captured and transported immediately to the vet. Unfortunately it is looking unlikely that they will be able to save her leg, however we will

try to do so because the cat is not cooperative enough to be forwarded for adoption.

It is urgent that we find a safe area where she can continue the rest of her life as a three-legged cat.

Christiana Karathanasi Salonica, Northern Greece

“I would like to to say Thank You so much to CARAT for paying for the Greek vets to neuter the numerous cats here in Salonica.” Christiana Karathanasi

We are busy learning all we can about how CARAT is run so that as and when Gwen feels the time has come to hand over the day to day running of the Society we will be ready to take over all her many tasks, but in the meantime, we are putting in motion plans to tackle all aspects of fund raising and to recruit members, so we are hoping our friends will come along to sup-port us!

Up until now CARAT’s supporters have donated by standing order or by occasional donations. However it has been agreed it would be preferable to have a fixed membership fee to help us have a better forecast of income, so for new supporters there will be an annual membership fee of £20 for adults and £10 for OAPS, under 18s and unwaged persons. We will be adding a downloadable membership form to the website and Facebook page, you will also find one on the back page of this newsletter.

Please check out our Facebook page where we will soon be showcasing the people supported by CARAT so you can see the excellent work they do for the animals against so many odds.

Some you will be familiar with and other will be new to you but I’m sure all will impress you with their hard work, dedication and compassion……

As I am sure many of you are aware CARAT, Caring for the Animals Trust was started in October 2002 by Gwen Ware. Since its inception, CARAT has been helping small, grass-roots individuals and societies to rescue animals, mainly in Greece.

I am pleased to tell you that we, Titch Bird and Paul Loader have now been elected Trustees of CARAT and will be taking an active role in the char-ity, hoping to broaden the membership and awareness of this great cause that helps so many people who are often overlooked. Our friends will know that we have been backwards and forwards to Greece rescuing animals for the past 13 years so we are very aware of the situation out there and are very hands on. We feel with this background knowl-edge and boundless enthusiasm we can help generate more funds, bring in new members and increase awareness of the great work CARAT does, thus enabling the Society to help more small groups and individuals in their work for the un-wanted, abandoned and abused animals.

From left to right Oratios our dog from Athens who had acid thrown over him. Titch and beneath her Dale along with Daisy, Achilles sister then Achilles and his grandma Mabel all saved from a uncertain fate by Julie Tsiakmakis

NEWSFLASH

Achilles having a cuddle with Paul

Titch & Paulx x

CARAT MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM Please consider helping CARAT to help animals by becoming a member.

Individual membership £20.00 per yearConcessions (OAP/unwaged/under 18) £10.00 per year

I would like to become a member of CARAT and enclose my membership fee of £…………

Name………………………………………………………… Date…………………………………………………………. Address……………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………Postcode…………………

Tel…………………………………………

Email address……………………………………………………………

Signature……………………………………………………………………

By providing us with your email adress you are consenting for CARAT to keep you up-to-date via email and to receive our newsletter by email.

Please tear off this page and return this with your cheque/PO to : CARAT Membership 32 Cobden Road, Worthing, West Sussex BN11 4BD

Alternatively send us an email including the above information to.......... information.carat@gmail.com and pay your subs by electronic bank transfer to:

Caring For the Animals Trust Barclays Bank plc. Account No. 50300772 Sort Code 20-24-64

NOTE: As a UK Tax payer, and at no extra cost to yourself, you can increase the value of your donation by more than a quarter by signing the Gift Aid declaration below.

I wish CARAT to treat the above donation and all donations I make from the date of this declaration, as GIFT AID until I notify the charity otherwise.

Signature……………………………….......... Date………….

Notes:1. Please be aware that you must have paid an amount of income and/or capital gains tax at least equal to the amount of tax reclaimed by CARAT on all your donations in the tax year (6th April one year to 5th April the next). 2. You can cancel the declaration at any time by notifying CARAT. 3.CARAT must be notified of any changes of name or address.

Registered office: 11 Lower Barn Road, Purley, Surrey CR8 1HY Charity No.1091152