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A.S.A.P.Alonnisos Society for Animal Protection. |
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We were again granted a licence to operate a fundraising stall, this year located in Patitiri next to the Port Police office on the harbour front. The stall was custom built by Dick Dendy, who sadly passed away earlier in the year but whose work will act as a memorial to him. I would like to thank Michaela Kiriannakis who helped me speak to the Port Police (responsible for the harbour area) and acquire a prime location for public visibility and with natural shade for those working on the stall. Volunteers for running the stall are always needed and thanks are due to Trish and Don Phillips, Beau and Bert Dendy, Bob and Monica Dern, Dawn Kiriannakis and Helene James who helped man the stall at various times. |
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| Special thanks to Anni Basson who was particularly constant with her help and support throughout the summer. More help is always needed – if anyone is able to volunteer for next year (May – Sept.), please contact ASAP nearer the time. Given the relatively few hours that we were able to open the stall each week, it still attracted many generous people who bought goods, made donations, became members of ASAP or who just expressed their interest in our Society. New this year was a complaints & suggestions book whereby people could comment on any animal welfare issue. All comments were then discussed at committee meetings and acted upon as necessary; comments concerning animals that needed treatment or feeding were acted upon urgently. We also appealed to all stall visitors to sign a petition against poisoning. We collected over 200 signatures and this petition will be handed to the police during winter. It is illegal in Greece to deliberately poison animals but rarely, if ever, are reported incidents acted upon by the police. We hope that we will be able to exert some pressure on the police and the council to act against this barbarity. Let’s hope that it won’t take the death of a child to force the authorities to act! The overriding comment from visitors to the island and existing members of ASAP alike was that the stray animals here do look remarkably healthy and well-cared for. Some of our regular visitors have commented that they can see a marked improvement in animal welfare each time they visit, which is enormously satisfying for us. Yet others commented or have subsequently emailed to say that not only do the animals look well, but that they don’t have to scrounge for food at tavernas. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your comments and continuing support, without which we could not function. Of course, there are still some people (fortunately a minority) who think we should not be raising money by selling goods on the stall and that any money raised is wasted on feeding stray animals. To the short-sighted few we say nothing, except that the money we collect also goes to pay for medicines and visits by veterinary surgeons: everyone with pets here on the island, whether members of ASAP or not, benefits from this expenditure. So, many thanks to you all for your support, which we hope will be extended into the future: all of us who care for the animals on Alonnisos wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009 and look forward to seeing you again next summer. |
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Five kittens, found abandoned at a villa complex at the end of summer, enjoying a meal at one of the feeding stations paid for with money raised by ASAP. |
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| Thanks to our visitors and members, we have once again been able to identify areas where we need to feed colonies of cats over the winter. Just to remind you, we don’t spend a huge amount of time, effort and money feeding animals year round because of any self-gratification process. Animals on the island don’t ask to be dumped in rubbish bins nor expect to be abandoned by those who feed them in the summer and then disappear, expecting them to fend for themselves over the increasingly harsher winter months. As the strays become accustomed to their volunteer feeders, they can be caught for neutering and for the administration of any treatment that is required to keep them healthy. We have shelters at most locations so that the animals can keep warm and dry. The 20 feeding locations range from local (Patitiri, Votsi) to more remote (Vamvakies) and, at the time of writing, totalling around 200 cats! Any help in any way will be greatly appreciated! For some of the more remote locations Mike Holmes has adapted large jars so that we can leave a supply of biscuits and just visit once or twice a week. His wife Carol runs the feeding programme and, with the help of a team of dedicated volunteers, oversees the operation. |
| Having already mentioned our anti-poisoning petition, we are very sorry to have to report that a number of cats and dogs, both pets and strays, have recently been poisoned. The poison in question (this time around, anyway) seems to be a potent organophosphate – these chemicals are still used to eradicate plant pests but, as this is not the time of year during which plants are traditionally treated, one can only assume that the poisoning is a deliberate and malicious act. I would urge all pet owners to keep a stock of ATROPINE. This is available from the pharmacy in 1ml ampoules and is a specific antidote to organophosphate poisoning. If you have atropine on hand, administration at the first sign of the effects of organophosphate ingestion may save your pet’s life. Signs and symptoms include hypersalivation, running eyes, diarrhoea, pupillary constriction, muscle twitching, asthmatic breathing, trembling, convulsion and coma. On finding an animal exhibiting any of these symptoms, the first thing to do would be to administer an emetic such as a saline solution or baking soda dissolved in lukewarm water. After induction of vomiting, activated charcoal tablets will delay the absorption of poison from the gut. However, an emetic should not be given to animals showing signs of trembling, staggering or collapse – in such cases, administration of an emetic may lead to inhalation pneumonia. Atropine should be administered either intravenously, intramuscularly or sub cutaneously (in descending order of speed of action). The dose required is 1ml for cats and 2 to 3 ml for larger animals. A member of the ASAP committee will always be on hand to assist if required, but the sooner therapy can be administered the better the prognosis for your pet!. |
| Outside their house in the Old Village, Jeff and Jan have a selection of books and invite passers-by to take any of these in return for a donation to ASAP (many thanks to all who have donated books). Additionally, Jan spends time whilst here making jams and chutneys to raise more money for ASAP. As if this wasn’t enough, Jeff and Jan also undertook to hold ‘mini’ quiz nights: with Jeff as quizmaster and Jan as the power behind the scenes, these evenings were great fun and praise was fulsome for the quizzes themselves, the prizes, the accompanying raffles, the relaxed and friendly atmosphere, and the fact that they finished early enough for a meal to be enjoyed afterwards! Altogether, Jeff and Jan raised over 900 euros for ASAP this summer – the ASAP committee thanks them, as do the animals who will benefit this winter from their time and devotion. |
| Well, it’s that time of year again! A time for reflection and a time to thank all those who have worked so hard (and often thanklessly from the human perspective – but then one only has to look at the animals, who give us unconditional support always). I hope we have thanked those on the committee who do so much, but there are others who haven’t already been mentioned in this newsletter. There are a lot of people who are deserving of mention and, if I forget you, it’s not because I’m not eternally grateful but because the little grey cells aren’t functioning as well as they might! Here goes……. Guy and Jane Routh, who are always on hand to treat and foster animals: George Michail, our almost resident vet; Bessie and Kostas Efstathiou at the Paradise Hotel for allowing us to use their bar for the quiz nights; Yorgos Anagnostou at the Pleiades Restaurant who accepts being inundated with us all for our AGM with good grace; my wonderful GIC clients who seem to accept that each villa comes with a supply of cats and then proceed to spend their holidays buying cat food; Alex and Andrea Watson who have supplied tents which are brilliant shelters for the cats in the winter; Fred and Jayne who work tirelessly to find homes for stray dogs in the UK; Carol Spanou at 9lives who sent us not only a fanstastic vet but a veterinary nurse also (thank you Tom and Tracy); Ellen Stucki and her group in Swizerland; Panagiota in the Old Village whose house is the ultimate testimony to an animal lover – on every surface there is a cat! The list is endless but, to you all, our heartfelt thanks. Deserving of special mention is the Edna Smylie Memorial Fund, and its trustees, which again granted us a very large sum of money to continue our work. There have been failures too, though! Again last winter we lost a number of animals, particularly young animals, to feline enteritis and cat flu. To protect these we need to instigate a vaccination programme – unfortunately we don’t yet have the resources to spend the 20 euros required to give each young animal the 2 vaccinations of ‘tricat’ necessary. Many of the strays we look after have been taken from their mothers too early and are immunocompromised as a result of this or because of underlying FIV or FLV infections and are therefore susceptible to infection. There are also a lot of eye infections in kittens due to congenital contamination. And then there was the web-site debacle! We got hi-jacked and would urge you all not to attempt to access our web site until we can come up with a new one – all our members will be advised with a new web address when we have sorted this out, hopefully very soon. So, enough! To you all a very happy festive season and a wonderful future – it’s only fitting, as you have all been so instrumental in offering a wonderful future to the stray animals here on Alonnisos. |
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Merry Christmas
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