Cretan Stray Dogs

by Camilla Andersen
(Denmark)

Hi, my name is Camilla.

I was in Crete last summer, and I worked at a dog shelter. I have been working in Greek shelters for the last 3 summers. The situation in Crete is awful. There are many strays and many cases of animal abuse and people abandoning their dogs. The shelters are overcrowded.

A woman called Linda Lucas has a shelter near Chania. There are way to many dogs in the shelter now, and she can not possibly make it on her own. She works all day long with the dogs, and still the situation is way out of control. She really needs help. It is too much for one woman to take care of that many dogs. I respect her so much for dedicating her life to the dogs, but it is necessary for her and the dogs to get help. Something needs to be done for the situation to change.

I am moving to Crete in 1.5 months and I wanna help her. I wanna start feeding the dogs in the street and give them medicine. My dream is to build a small shelter for dogs in need. A place I can take them if they are sick, and when they get better I put them back where I found them. This way I will make their life in the street better. This is the best option cause life in the street is better than life in an overcrowded shelter. And in Crete all shelters end up overcrowded cause of the huge need of help. I need help with this project. I need help to make these things happen so I can help Linda and the dogs.

I also wanna focus on neutralization and to tell the Greek people about dogs, how to treat them and the importance of neutralization. I believe that this can make a difference in time, and hopefully in some years this will make Linda's shelter less overcrowded.

I work together with an organisation called Kretas Gadehunde. (Google translate Kretas Gadehunde - English - Added by Editor). They help both Linda and me. And they do a great job helping the Cretan strays. Their e-mail address is karin @ kretahundene.dk. Their website is under construction. My e-mail is milla1711 @ ofir.dk

To the world, you are one person, to an animal you can be the whole world. Make the difference!