Greek Animal Rescue (GAR) is a UK based charity (No:802243)
Founded in 1989 in order to alleviate the suffering of animals in Greece by supporting a number of animal shelters, sterilising as many dogs & cats as funds allow and finding homes for the lucky few in the UK and several other EU countries.
Please help GAR by making a donation Click on the button below to donate with Paypal Thank you!
At no cost to yourself, you can help raise money for GAR by changing your internet search engine from Google, Yahoo, etc to 'Everyclick'.
Click on the logo below to start raising funds, simply by searching the internet!
The following is a poem written by the singer Maria Daines.
It was inspired by the hanging of two hunting dogs in Greece. Hunting dogs are all too often the victims of neglect and abuse.
The image below is available as a car sticker. Click HERE to purchase yours along with a variety of GAR merchandise.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
It all began with a holiday in Greece in 1987. My husband Paul and I drove to Greece and intended to travel around for one month, but as we crossed the border, we encountered the first stray, not realising at the time that he was just one out of hundreds we were to see during our so called holiday.
We spent ten days of our holiday on Crete and that’s where we witnessed appalling neglect of animals ... dozens of hungry stray dogs and cats begging for scraps, ‘guard dogs’ chained to rusty oil drums or to a tree, countless dead dogs and cats lying by the roadside, donkeys and mules left tied in barren fields with no food or water, often hobbling or barely able to move.
The last few days of our so-called holiday found us helping at an animal shelter near Athens and it was there we realised that sterilising of dogs and cats wasn’t a common practice in Greece, but abandonment of unwanted litters of puppies and kittens was.
The few decent shelters there are in Greece, should be there to help and to provide a sanctuary for the neediest cases - the starved, sick or injured animals, but unfortunately they also become a dumping ground for unwanted litters of puppies and kittens and for older dogs, who have been replaced by ‘younger models’.
Our fund-raising to help animals in Greece began as soon as we returned home from that fateful holiday in 1987 and a few months later, we also set the wheels in motion to apply for a charity status, which we finally obtained in October 1989.
Every year we receive dozens of letters, emails and phone calls from people who have returned from their holiday in Greece, distressed and unable to erase the sad memories of hungry and sick strays, often witnessing deliberate cruelty being inflicted on them. Some decide to ‘adopt’ a stray dog or a cat they had befriended and we help them all we can (though not financially), since we have considerable experience with the ‘Pet Passports’ procedure. We have in fact rehomed in the UK many dogs and cats from Greece that we have helped to rescue, either through the shelters we support or in response to a call for help, often involving an animal which requires urgent surgery (leg amputation, removal of an eye etc).
ANIMAL SUFFERING KNOWS NO FRONTIERS, LANGUAGE OR CREED.
PLEASE HELP US TO HELP ANIMALS IN GREECE!
Vesna Jones
Founder of Greek Animal Rescue
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS ON THESE SLIDESHOWS BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS BELOW, WHERE YOU WILL BE REDIRECTED TO THE FOOTAGE ON YOUTUBE
To show the world the side of Greece few holidaymakers see and to protest by writing to the relevant authorities who are responsible for implementing the animal welfare laws they all voted for, but which are blatantly ignored.
I feel that we owe it to the voiceless animals which feature in the slides show to let the world see their pain, their pitiful existence ..... and, in some cases, their death. The slides show is accompanied by two sad yet beautiful and very appropriate songs ("Is it bad enough for you?" and "Rescuer's Prayer), by Maria Daines and Paul Killington, used with their permission.
All the photos used in the slides show are genuine and I would also like to point out that many of the featured animals have recovered from their injuries/neglect and have been rehomed ... like Sef, in the group of pics from Ioannina (the one who had a piece of wire tied around his leg, causing a deep wound, literally to the bone) Well, he's living happily in the UK and the dog who was shot and needed to have a leg amputated will be homed in the UK when all the paperwork etc is completed. The dog who had been set on fire by teenage thugs in Thessaloniki, is also being 'prepared' for homing in the UK. 4 of the dogs in 'Patras group' are 'living happily ever after'...
IF YOU DO DECIDE TO GO TO GREECE ON HOLIDAY, PLEASE CONTACT A LOCAL ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY (IF THERE IS ONE) AND OFFER TO HELP
PLEASE WRITE TO THE RELEVANT AUTHORITIES LISTED BELOW
Minister of Tourism: Mr. Constantine Markopoulos
Tel: 210 8707605-9
Fax: 210 8707635
Email: k.markopoulos@parliament.gr
Special Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism : Dr. Emmanuel Alexandrakis
7 Tsoha Str, Gr-115 21 Athens,
Tel.: 210 8707528-30, 210 6964891-3
Fax: 210 8707550, 210 6911674
Email: specialsecretary@mintour.gr
President of the Greek National Tourism Organisation: Mr. Ioannis Kofinis
Tel : 210 8707571, 210 8707573
Fax : 210 6442926
Minister of Rural Development:
Mr. Sotirios Hatzigakis
(contact details TBC)
Ministry of Rural Development - Veterinary Directorate:
Mr. V. Batziliotis
Tel: 21257535754
E-mail: ka6u014@minagric.gr
Veterinary Department of Ministry of Agriculture:
Mrs Chryssa Dile:
ka6u016@minagric.gr
Tel: +30 210 2125 734 ~ Fax: +30 210 8231 267
The 'Jones gang'
The photos show our 6 adopted 'Greekies' (my affectionate term for Greek dogs), three of which are disabled - Chrisuli has a leg missing, Bonzo underwent two operations on his hind legs and Mala had been shot in the face (& consequently lost a large part of her nose & right cheek/teeth), but they enjoy life to the full.
Hoppy Monday... Little Miracles is doing our huge spay/neuter push to help get all the bunnies Home for the Holidays... Please visit our link and tell your friends. Each $45 sponsors a bunny and gets you a Christmas gift in the mail from the bunny whose life you save! It's so easy- Hoppy Holidays (Just Click here!) We're already 14% of the way there, even if you only donate $5, it'll get us closer to our goal. ANY debit or credit card will work - so please help (My paws are getting sore!) Thank you!
Halloween is past, but we do have a barbarian at the gate, a demon lurking in the ground, frozen there for eons, now being thawed and released into the living world, where it will roast life alive. If you want to really scare yourself silly, watch this 50 minute video in one go. Turn off the light, and the phone..
Sinikka Crosland, President of The Responsible Animal Care Society (TRACS), leading and winning activist in British Columbia, who has a thing or two to show her American counterparts, will join Anthony Marr this Friday on Animal Voices to talk about this and other issues.
Animal Voices is aired every Friday 3-4pm ET/12-1pm PT: - global: online live at www.CoopRadio.org - radio: CFRO Radio 102.7FM Vancouver + 17 stations in BC, Canada. - archived in www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr - call-in # 604- 684- 7561
Update: Stray black dog who's friend was killed by hit & run truck.
Pictures I took today 10/22 Thurs. of the stray black dog whose best friend, another black male dog was purposely run over & killed by someone in a white truck couple months ago in front of me & this dog who lost the only living thing he ever let near him.
He's eating a bowl of dry food, always takes food out the bowl & puts it on the ground before eating. I took the pics through my front window screen, he's a lot further than it looks. We built a cover over the bowl so the food doesn't spoil in rain, still won't come in garage to eat.
Little guy's gone underground, we think he stays under a small bridge that goes over a running stream partly on our property. He still hangs out in the cow pasteur across the road. My husband says there's small hollow caves, nooks & crannies where he can protect himself from bad weather under bridge.
He's not skinny anymore & is eating food we put out for daily. We still try to coax him but he runs, he's become wild.
My friends here followed this story since the other dog was alive & I was trying to rescue both. You showed a lot of kindness &
Anthony Marr will be telling more fascinating tiger tales, and discussing how to save life on Earth, this coming Friday on Animal Voices. Animal Voices is aired every Friday 3-4pm ET/12-1pm PT: - global: online live at www.CoopRadio.org - radio: CFRO Radio 102.7FM Vancouver + 17 stations in BC, Canada. - archived in www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr - call-in # 604- 684- 7561