| Corfu Donkey Rescue |
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17th December It has been an exceptionally busy 2 months because I have had very little help here at the shelter. Cheryl still comes 2 mornings a week thankfully. But she is my only regular. Imagine taking care of 44 donkeys in the most appalling weather conditions, on your own. It is not fun. It is exhausting work, 10 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Corfu in winter - definitely not Paradise Island!!! Our army tent came down in the high winds, the roof blew off the barn, and the awning from the office caravan blew down – so putting communications out (the computer was inside the caravan and therefore inaccessible) All this on top of the daily routine of the shelter work and the extra problems with sick donkeys and damaged gates, fences and stables (donkeys are the most destructive animals) – and not a man in sight to help with repairs etc. I did put out an SOS on a local message boards which met with negative response to physical help. Most disappointing.
But my thanks go to Dagmar from The Nefeli Hotel in Kommeno who helped in many ways and will be back next year, to Lynnie from Australia who cured our pigeon problem - she gave them an eviction notice of 24 hours and was able to stop there re-entry into the main barn and to Bill, who is doing our adoptions and helping in other ways. And to Roseanne who finally made it when the weather allowed her to scooter down from Kassiopi. And huge thanks to all of you who can’t be here but support us in many other ways through donations, parcels and moral support. We had severe disappointment with the export of the donkeys to Austria that was due to take place on 21st October. The state vets here told us there were new regulations in place that meant the donkeys could not travel without a code number and they could only have a code number if they came from licensed premises. The state vet, Maria, refused to tell us where she got this information from and to whom we should contact for it. It took about 2 months of many people using their contacts in London, Brussels, Germany and Greece before we finally found out that this legislation does not come into effect until July 2009. So the state vets forgot to mention this to us!! I cannot believe they did not know. By the time we got the information it was too cold for the donkeys to arrive in Austria. So 15 donkeys have to suffer another winter here and we who work here had 15 extra donkeys to care for and pay for which was totally unnecessary. In the New Year we will attack the state vets and let it be known in Athens about their total ineptitude in their work and what many consider, their deliberate obstruction. I have always been careful in the past not to offend in any way officials as we will need them in the future and they won’t help. With this particular government department, I am no longer Mr. Nice Guy, Maria, the one we need to approach has been nothing but obstructive for several years, I have nothing to lose.
OK, good news. Greek Animal Welfare Fund (GAWF) Equine Project paid us a visit in December. Due to the horrendous weather, they lost a days work trying to get here. However, we started work at 5am the following day!!!! Kleo put in a tremendous effort and did the teeth on 44 donkeys and Yiannis did as many donkeys feet as was possible. Thanks to Kleo and Yiannis and The GAWF Equine Project the donkeys now have new feet and teeth to get them through the winter.
My lawyer, Lyberis Tryfon has told me that with luck and the wind behind us we should be able to sign contracts for the new land in January. That will be a day to celebrate. Lyberis has helped the shelter for 3 years now and all of this is pro bono. I cannot thank him enough and of course, highly recommend him. He is an exceptional Greek. We sorted out the paypal problem and have put it back up on line for the time being. We will hopefully find a replacement paying system in the future. Sadly we have lost 4 donkeys, Gandalf, Homer, Doro and Nemea. Gandalf had a very arthritic knee and eventually his good knee gave up after years of taking the strain. She could no longer stand and so was pts. Homer suffered a severe colic, probably twisted gut, and died in 36 hours. Doro was ill for 2 days and collapsed and died despite treatment. Nemea who suffered badly from COPD collapsed, could not stand and despite treatment died that night. It’s a terrible time when this happens, but all apart from Homer, were living on borrowed time. They had many months of comfort here before leaving us. As usual The Ezelsociteit shelter in Holland are holding a memorial day for all their lost donkeys this year and including ours. Do look at their site in January for photos. The Ezelsocieteit continue to give us physical, financial and moral support. Vera is an unsung hero.
The cavalry has arrived! Last week an old friend and past volunteer of the shelter, arrived by car from the UK. He has decided to try and start a new life in Corfu. While he sets up business as a plumber, he is here every day now helping at the shelter. He is fixing everything slowly and doing so much heavy work, it has lightened my load. He has fixed the shower in the caravan so I can recommend his plumbing skills! He will have plenty of work as we have had exceptional bad weather, heavy rain and the worst winds in decades, Garitsa Bay Walkway in the main town has collapsed – washed away by the sea. So all in all, everything is well here after a pretty bad spell. The donkeys can all get inside stables and have rugs. They have plenty of food. They have us watching over them and they have your support. They are very lucky Corfu donkeys. Thank you all, and a very Happy Christmas and New Year.
2nd October At last Autumn has arrived and it is cooler – and sometimes a lot wetter when we have the odd storms. I was caught out and lost another modem with the lightening! Fortunately I had a spare and so the cost was nil. The rugs have come out again as many donkeys really feel the chill now and get cold quickly when it rains. In the morning you can see them all gather in one part of the field to catch the first warming rays of the sun; they really do remind me of the way lizards heat up in the early morning. Our new trailer arrived a few weeks ago thanks to Dave – The White Van Man and thanks to Tina and Juergen who filled it with lots of special fattening food for the donkeys and dog and cat food for our other lodgers. I haven’t tried the trailer out yet but Dave said it was super to tow and certainly it looks great, a safe and comfortable ride will now be had by all our travelling donkeys. The trailer was purchased thanks to a donation from WSPA, World Society for the Protection of Animals. I was trying my best to keep the number of donkeys in the shelter low, since we have lost all our other grazing rights thanks to the neighbours threatening to sue everyone. However, I have had to take in 7 more donkeys that were in a very bad way. One of them, Kokola Spirit, was a bag of bones, the worst case I ever saw, and was brought in by a dealer who made her trot 3km behind his car!! She had a great first week, seemed to come alive and was happy and appeared a tough little girl. But in the second week she gradually weakened again and we lost her last Friday despite our vet’s attempts to save her. I was with her at the end. The other new donkeys are doing very well and have settled in nicely. The latest one, Sounia does not trust us totally yet. I am sure she will come round; they all do in the end. We have agreed to a pre contract on the land and hopefully this will be signed soon. Our request to the relevant governmental departments for application for the license has met with negative response these last 2 months, despite letters and phone calls. We will persevere. But it may be that we will have to hire a civil engineer to process everything, something we are trying to avoid to cut costs. We need to save as much money as we can to build the new stables. But all in all I am optimistic. The donkeys and I have had the benefit of 2 students from Holland the last 5 weeks. Mariette and Marlot have worked really hard and enabled me to catch up on the office work again. Last Saturday Vera from The Ezelsocieteit (The donkey shelter in Holland) brought her team of volunteers including Paul Clark a farrier. Or should I say – The farrier. Paul has done brilliant work on all the needy donkeys and I am so happy that Zois has finally got the new artificial foot, Super Fast Vettec plastic, he has needed for so many years. Axia who suffers from severe ballerina syndrome now has a shoe with a toe extension and Atlanti also has a ‘new hoof’ like Zois. These 3 donkeys are now back in the thick of it, being able to move with ease, immediate results. I am so happy for them, they literally have a new lease of life. We have really enjoyed having Vera, Gerrie, Willeke and Paul here. The physical and emotional support is invaluable, Vera having the same tough job running the shelter in Holland. On the admin front I would like to request that anyone who sends a donation by bank transfer puts their email address on the bank forms. This enables us to acknowledge receipt of the money at no cost. Another very good reason is that the computerised bank forms arrive and the name and address you write is all in one continuous block so it is often impossible to read them correctly and I am concerned that some cards of thanks do not reach the donators. We have also been having a great deal of problems from paypal, they request more information and papers which I send, then they request more, I send it and then they request more. This is exceedingly time consuming and costs us money. They have closed our account this last 3 weeks which is unforgivable. The information they request is information they already have had for a year. We are now removing the paypal method of donations from the website. We hope to find an alternative method of easy payment and so hope it will not cause you too much inconvenience. It is so frustrating having to spend time away from the donkeys dealing with the incompetence of companies making lives unnecessarily difficult. It is not as if paypal is free! In fact it’s a little late for us but it is worth visiting www.paypalsucks.com before you decide to sign up. We have finally got the go ahead to send 15 more donkeys to Gut Aiderbichl in Austria. The transport should leave here on 21st October so the donkeys will have a few months to acclimatise before the winter sets in. More about that in the next weblog. 20th August 08 We are in the middle of yet another heat wave and I am sitting in the awning alongside a fan blowing really hot air over me, not pleasant at all, Nadia and Susan are outside cleaning and taking plenty of breaks and water. Nadia is from Holland and has come for 10 days to help. Nadia has mules at home and is very capable of managing the shelter in my absence in the ‘office’. She came here last year and enjoyed it so much that she came again to help. I don’t know what I would do without our Dutch volunteers and students in the summer. Our dear old Kate made a good recovery. We tried all the usual remedies for COPD but nothing worked. Then we tried dexamethasone 21 injection and she was back on form in days, kicking, barging and quite often taking a full speed trot straight into a crowd of donkeys quietly eating. This clears the crowd and she takes over that particular pile of hay. What a character she is. Still needs to put weight on but that can be done slowly. Doro gave me a bit of a scare a few weeks ago. She has over stretched tendons/ligaments in her front legs which make it difficult for her to walk fast. She tends to keep away from the crowds as disabled donkeys do. But for some mornings she was finding it difficult to get up on her own, her back legs taking too much strain to compensate for her front ones. However, she responded very well to medication (equipalazone) so her quality of life is back and I can breathe a sigh of relief. The neighbours continue to be a real pain. Having not succeeded in closing the shelter they are now watching us with binoculars from their garden and staring in each time they drive past. One day they will have an accident as they are so busy trying to spot some misdemeanour they are not looking where they are going and a couple of times have had to swerve to avoid going off the road. Now they are calling the police about the dogs! So every dog is tied inside the shelter. I wonder what they think of next. Yesterday we heard that the owners (3 of them) have come to an agreement about selling their land at the price we offered. They are keen to sell (they rang us, unheard of normally) and so I hope that we can press ahead and it will all be done by Christmas or before – but this is Corfu. The land is nearly 2 acres and 2 km from the nearest house. We are keeping the location a secret for now until a pre contract has been drawn up. We don’t want the neighbour landowners causing a fuss before we buy, they could well put the new owners off the sale. It is a really nice piece of land even better than the one we were waiting to buy. I am optimistic. We have had visitors despite the absence of signs, but even they are driving round for an hour with the map trying to find us. If you do want to visit, take a mobile phone with you if you have one and call me if you are lost, we will come and find you! That’s
it for now, thank you everyone for your support and help in all
the ways that you find. We couldn’t do it without you, 28th July Today is the day our donkeys were due to be evicted. Nobody has appeared so I write just to assure you, Mr Poulimenos is a man of his word. We must appreciate what he has achieved. He is actually active in helping us find another piece of land. (The problems associated with buying the original piece seem to be taking far too long to solve so we are still searching). We are applying for a temporary license to stay here until we can move, making us legal and complying with the Greek law. I tried to do this a year ago but met with blanks every where but with Andreas on The Board now we are really getting somewhere. And to Andreas we all owe him a big thank you as without him, his contacts and all his efforts, I think the end of this story would have been very different. His wife Susan has been a volunteer here for 18 months, she is a totally reliable star.
We have been invited to join the EcoCorfu forum of 8 environmental groups on Corfu and Paxos. (www.ecocorfu.gr) They are very supportive of our work and have offered us the use of 5 stremata of land nearby if we need it. Within one day of meeting they shocked us by putting the interview on You Tube but have yet to add us to their website or send me their logo to put on mine! I will chase them up. (again). It was great to meet the people from Ecocorfu and hear their support and encouraging ideas for future plans together. We are having a few concerns about Kate. She has lost a lot of weight in the last few months despite having a good appetite. Then a week ago she showed signs of COPD (obstructive pulmonary disorder) and the last few days this has got worse. Breathing becomes more laboured and requires more effort. This morning she was collapsed in a hospital stable. We managed to get her up and comfortable again and she had a good breakfast. We will do our best for her and hope she comes round. This stoic little donkey has always defied death. She has had so many problems, suffering from piro plasmosis 2 years ago (tick disease) with a reoccurrence last year. She was one of the donkeys that were poisoned last year and I was certain again she would die. But no she was having none of it. So I hope she will be strong enough to cope through the next few months of heat and dust. This is a major problem here, the dust. The donkeys feet just grind the ground into a powder then they end up breathing it all in. I am taking advice from a vet from Belgium, Annette Pauls, who is always on the end of the phone when I need her. Annette has a special interest in Kate as she rescued her when she was on holiday here 2 years ago. Be sure we will do our best and Kate will fight hard as usual. It has been a very interesting time this last 3 weeks. The support as I have said has been tremendous from all over the world. Huge charities and small charities have all sent letters of support, individuals have signed petitions and emailed, reporters have reported, everyone is talking and asking how they can help. Everyone that is, except the International Donkey Protection Trust run by Paul Svendsen. This is part of the famous Donkey Sanctuary in Devon, UK. The message is clear. Yesterday
we paid a bemused Albanian to hide in the bushes to get a photo
of the person taking our shelter direction signs down everyday.
Without this evidence we cannot stop her. Of course as luck would
have it she took a sign down but not the one where our man was hiding
in the bushes in ambush. A definite case of Murphy’s Law.
So, one day this week I am going to find time and the combat gear
to do it myself. It really is quite serious as many people are taking
an age to find us and how many give up we will never know. One lady
came in a taxi with her daughter today and nearly broke the child’s
heart as she said it was taking so long to find us and the taxi
was expensive they would have to turn around and go home. But the
good old taxi driver found us in the end. Tina and Juergen Bolz are on the search for the new trailer (sponsored by WSPA) in Germany, hopefully we will have that soon and will fill it up with lots of special recipe fattening foods for donkeys. No point in bringing it over empty. Our pictures on this blog are of our beautiful donkeys blissfully unaware of the trouble they have caused the government and the fame they have created for this little corner of Corfu and the Corfiot donkey. The other is of ‘my team’ in July who helped me through the troubles here at the shelter (Dave from UK and El from Holland, Susan and Andreas, Julie) Thanks to all of you who were there in spirit. And thank you Mr Poulimenos.
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July 2008 The response to the petition and the request for emails to be sent to the authorities has been massive. If they didn’t know about the shelter before they certainly know now. Two radio programmes discussed the issues, one with our Board member Andreas Scuperas and the other was done by Hilary and Harry (Islanders will know who I’m talking about) Also there were reports in various papers. On Tuesday, Andreas had a meeting with Mr Poulimenos the Governor of Corfu. Mr Poulimenos offered his support and help and said that we would be given more time. However, I am still uncertain of how much time we have got and we are waiting on confirmation of this, hopefully we will know more on Monday. Since I have nothing in writing and nothing has been said publicly to confirm we have been given this time I am not going to stop the campaign just yet. Politicians of all nations make promises! I think it would be a show of faith if we stopped sending the emails but I would very much like the petition to stay on line and we will extend the time on this. We will present the petition to the Governor and keep a copy, so if the local council drags its heels during the planning process and licensing we can use it again. I have been overwhelmed by the support and quick action of everyone to get the petition and emailing done. We have had letters of support from all over the world. I can only say my sincerest thanks for helping me help the donkeys. It isn’t over yet, but we are well on the way. I will write a letter of thanks to the Governor on behalf of everyone, but should you wish to write yourself, please do, but perhaps not by email (we don’t want to jam their In Boxes again!) His address is Nomarheio, Kerkyra. The neighbours are very upset that the closure of the shelter was taken off the agenda at the civil council meeting last Wednesday and I have been subject to much verbal abuse however that we can cope with, but they are continuing to remove all my road signs three, four and five times a day. I can’t always keep up with replacing them. It is very upsetting because the visitors are driving round and round looking for us and many give up. This is much lost income for the shelter and a great disappointment for the visitors. I can only apologise. The Supermarket at Gombu on the Paleocastritsa Road do have little maps you can collect to show you the way. I will endeavour to keep trying with the signs. So,
keep on with the petition please, we cannot be complacent, and can
I ask just one more thing. The land will be paid for by two very
generous donations sent for this purpose. But we still need to fence
it and build the stables ready for the winter and connect electric
and water etc. It’s a mammoth task. I will look pretty sad
sitting on the new land with 40 donkeys and no stables in the winter
rains. So I ask you, before closing this site, to spare 5 euros
or 5 pounds and send it as an online donation which can be done
using the Thank you to everyone who helped in any way to support 40 little donkeys in Corfu – I bet the authorities are still in shock that their donkeys mean so much to so many people. 11
July 2008 I had a visit from the police last week asking me to attend a meeting with the District Attorney. I went with my lawyers and they discussed, with ‘THE neighbour’ the situation at the shelter. The outcome was that we were to meet with the Mayor of Paleocastritsa the following Monday. We all piled in his office and the outcome of that was that all the donkeys would be thrown outside the shelter in 20 days and the shelter would be sealed so they could not go back in. In other words, the Dimos were going to abandon the donkeys. Since I live inside the shelter in the caravan, I would effectively be sealed in or out – they never told me which! I should stress that the Mayor is doing what he has been told to do by the DA. However, nobody in local government so far has been prepared to help me. While trying to get a license the last year I have been sent from one office to another to another. Told a lot of nonsense or told they don’t know. I have tried so hard to get information but everyone fobs me off. The only department which has been helpful is the forestry. All we need is time! All we asked for was time to relocate. They will not give us that time. They seem to think that I can take 40 donkeys and find homes for them somewhere? But of course wherever I put them, someone will complain. We have land that is suitable but they will not help us with the license. We have another option but they will not give us time to move. We have to fence the land, build shelters and connect water, electricity, and telephone. This cannot be done in 20 days! 2
years ago they closed the dog shelter on the Island, so we must
not be complacent; they can and maybe will close the donkey’s
shelter. What can you do? Mr Stefanos Poulimenos (Governor of Corfu) grafeionomarxi@kerkyra.gr Paleokastritsa Municipality (The shelters in this region) paleomun@otenet.gr The other great way to help is to go to the online petition and sign it. In a week we will print them off and go to see the Governor himself. Just copy and paste it onto the address line at the top of your internet page. Then it should come up. http://www.petitiononline.com/Corfudon/petition-sign.html Already we have had a great response from Belgium, Germany, UK, Holland, USA, Austria Now for some good news. We are a Member Society of World Society for the Protection of Animals. We are delighted to inform you that our grant application for 5000 dollars has been accepted. We asked for the money to purchase a proper trailer for transportation. Some of you will know the awful vehicle we have been using which was not road worthy and most unsuitable for the poor old donkeys. We are now looking for one, probably from Germany. It must be second hand but in very good condition. It will be great to have this trailer in time to transport the donkeys to their new home! Our sincere thanks to WSPA, a wonderful charity helping so many charities and animals all over the world. They have also written letters to the Governor and Mayor and Ministry today! As you know 9 donkeys went to Gut Aiderbichl in Austria in April. They arrived on Easter Sunday and on this day they invite a priest to bless the animals at the shelter. The Corfu donkeys received their blessing too and were the centre of attention that day. Thanks to all this publicity the children fro Markt/Inn School, Bavaria adopted Avrio. The first picture shows the priest and Michael Aufhauser (founder of Gut Aiderbichl) with the Corfu donkeys and the second, the children from Markt Inn School with the Corfu donkeys that were sent 2 years ago.
Last week we had visitors from Australia. Two families came with their children. They loved to be able to walk around and touch the donkeys. I was totally bowled over when they left. The children had been given money to spend on their holiday. They chose to give it all to the donkeys. That was a total of 160 euros. How reassuring that new generations of children are caring about the animals in this most generous way. Thank you.
For 2 weeks I had the great help and company of Erika and Andreas, mother and daughter from Germany. This is the 3rd time they have come to Corfu and come everyday to help look after the donkeys. They also brought everyday, carrots, apples and special food for the dogs, cats and rabbits, no-one was forgotten. Erika and Andreas also have adopted 2 of our donkeys, Avrio and Shine.
And a very happy ending on a dog story too. Spiros brought me a dog he had found in the middle of nowhere. It is a very old hunting dog of a special breed, rare on the Island. It looked at first as if the dog had been bitten by a snake. I could not get a vet for 2 days so gave treatment I thought would help. By the time we got her to the vet, she was doing better but she needed stitching up. They believed she had been shot. Because she looked so aristocratic I called her Miss Huntington. She made a good recovery and I became very fond of her. However, Spiros eventually found the Greek owner who was delighted to have her back and pay all the bills! Miss Huntington was known as Lisa to her owner and she seemed happy to be reunited, but she came to me before she went as if to say thanks. I was a little sad for myself but very happy for Lisa and to know that the owner cared enough for his dog.
On the donkey front, we have not taken in any donkeys lately. With all the problems we have, we have put them on the waiting list. We have lost two donkeys in the last month. One called Patras was put to sleep to avoid further suffering from what was believed (talking to foreign professionals) to be a problem with the brain. The second was Micro, our smallest donkey. I went to do morning feeds and found Micro staggering about. I took her to a stable for safety but she collapsed and died in my arms. She was not ill before so I can only presume it was heart failure. We have had 3 colic cases in the last 2 weeks. I cant say the cause, colic can be caused of many things. However, Dino our vet was very quick to act and he drenched them with paraffin into the stomach and they all made good recoveries. On the whole, the donkeys are looking very very good, I am quite proud of them! And I will not tell which one bit me yesterday! We are happily busy with many visitors now, the donkeys love it, all the treats and cuddles available and this morning a Dutch family groomed them all and Caitlin even got that much needed bath. They look so smart. I apologise to all visitors who have trouble to find us. Someone??? Keeps taking down all my sign posts – every day! I put them back up as fast as I can, but it is a full time job. That’s it for now; I will keep you posted on progress. Please don’t forget to sign the petition and write those emails – it’s so important. Thank you.
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June 2008 I have had a great May and June as I have been spoilt with my volunteers and students. Lisa arrived in May for 5 weeks. She is a student from Holland. She had never worked with donkeys before but picked it up very quickly and has been a great help. Brigitte, a student from last year came back to help for 2 weeks. It was great to see her again. Brigitte and Lisa are college friends and are now fully qualified with diplomas in animal care. Brigitte is hoping to return in January for a year, more about that later. Marina my friend came for a week to help and had a great time. She thought she would miss her dog but with all our donkeys, dogs and cats, she didn’t have time to miss her Ziggy. In fact she left here giving me instructions to passport up a stray I feed. She wants to take her home as a companion for Ziggy. I also had my friend Paul here for 2 weeks to help with the maintenance. I have just brought 2 caravans, one to sleep in and one as an office. Paul rigged up the electrics, gas, water supplies and made everything habitable for me. Graham came and sorted the computer and internet connections out. So, I was totally spoilt with all the help and am most grateful. However, everyone is gone now and we are left with the usual gang of volunteers, Cheryl, Colin and Susan. It will be some weeks before we get extra help. This is not a huge problem in the winter but in the summer with all the visitors it can be difficult.
It has been really great to welcome the visitors this year. So many familiar faces returned to see us, and bring goodies for the donkeys. It is great to meet so many like minded people who don’t forget us and we consider ourselves friends, friends together and friends of the donkeys. Obviously we have many first time visitors and their support is much appreciated. I feel very touched when people visit our humble little place and are inspired by it and the work we do. Sometimes I feel embarrassed by the simplicity of the place and the appalling dealer’s yard next door. But our visitors thankfully see beyond that and see how we really do help the donkeys and keep them safe and comfortable within our limited budget. They never fail in their generosity towards the donkeys and the future of the shelter. Most dealers tether their donkeys out in the bushes, this way it costs them nothing to feed the donkeys. Unfortunately the dealers cannot be bothered to check the donkeys twice or even once daily. They leave it 4-5 or even more days. During that time a donkey can get severely tangled in its rope. By then it is usually too late, the blood supply is cut off to the foot. The hoof will drop off and there is nothing that can be done. Below is a picture of a donkey that this happened to, only 2 months ago. The only good thing was that the dealer asked for my help. All I could do was arrange for euthanasia This is the 3rd instance of this happening to his donkeys that I know of. Some people neither learn nor care. But at least we were there to end the donkey’s misery.
One other sad note is that of our dear Tsakis. We finally had our Tsakis put to sleep a few weeks ago. For months she had terrible problems with her front feet and we couldn’t get an accurate diagnosis of the problem. We tried many treatments some showed improvement followed by relapse. In the end her back legs could not take the strain and we decided to let her go. It was a very hard day for all of us as she was such a stoical animal and the sweetest character. She is much missed.
And on a brighter front, from death of an elderly donkey to a celebration of a youngster. Our baby, Paraskevi had her first birthday on 8th June. A large bowl of goodies and a walk to the lake were her presents and all the donkeys received a McVities Hobnob biscuit each to celebrate. Fully recovered from her broken leg, we hope Paraskevi will be rehomed in the Fall where she can live with other young donkeys and lead a more active life fit for a young donkey with nothing but mischief on her mind!
I don’t have broadband/ASDL at the shelter yet so connections are very slow and I cannot send photos or many KB,s, hence the newsletter will be late, until we get ASDL. Also I am without any kind of help in the office so bear with me if I am not replying immediately. Apologies. 01
June 2008 We also collected one from Lefkimmi. She is white and in not bad condition, but old. Both are friendly donkeys but our white one is a little reserved at the moment. We were also given a very old pony that was severely malnourished. Severe dental problems. But we are giving him lots of warm soft food and hopefully he will pick up. GAWF are coming at the end of the month so he will be first on their list for dental work. Several other donkeys have arrived and I will mention them in the next newsletter All the new donkeys will be kept in quarantine until they are blood tested, as the rest of our gang are all clear of EIA after their tests last month. On 4th April I went home to UK for 10 days. Feeling a little tired and overwhelmed by our problems, I decided a break would be a good idea before the new season. I had a great time; believe it or not the sun shone everyday (even on my 3 day visit to Wales). I saw all my friends and family and came back raring to go – and fight the good fight. Julie, Colin and Cheryl stepped in to help out and run the shelter while I was away. Whatever happened while I was away, I knew Julie would not tell me, determined that I should not worry at all. We have made a deal on a super piece of land in the Skripero Valley. We are now in the process of applying for planning permission and licenses. The relevant departments have all pledged their support and want to help. Hopefully things will move quickly and the purchase will be completed in a few months. Then the building……………………. We had a very successful visit from GAWF. Kleo and Michalis came for 3 days and did the teeth and feet of all the donkeys. One day was spent on the Island doing our outreach work. It seems our pony only has a few teeth left – so we will continue with his porridge feeds and give him a happy retirement for as long as he can manage. We don’t normally take ponies, but he was a very special sad case and we could not refuse.
The 5 donkeys and one pony going to UK, were left behind on the first trip due to needing special passports for entry. They left a few weeks later and were sent to The Ezelsocieteit where they are staying until they get their passports. In a couple of weeks they should reach their final destinations in Sussex.
It’s as busy as ever. We have been on German TV, are in the German Tourist Guide Books; so are delighted to have more visitors. Our shelter is ‘poor’ in comparison to most, but it does mean visitors can see that we need the donations and that these donations go directly to the donkeys. Nobody is paid. Also we actively encourage visitors to groom and take the donkeys for walks. Everyone benefits. Just want to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to Angela and Graham from Agni Animal Welfare Fund. (AAWF) They have financed the neutering of 2 of our cats. If people donate to our donkeys, we want them to know that the money does go to the donkeys. AAWF always helps us with our cats. Also a thank you to Gabriele Jacoby who is sponsoring our 2 street dogs until they find homes. We don’t normally take in dogs or cats, these were exceptional circumstances - so please don’t bring us any. We have more than enough to do with our donkeys.
The weather is boiling hot all ready – it is like July. Visitors to Corfu, be prepared! 25th
March 2008 On Friday 21st March we bade farewell to 23 donkeys. It took 15 months to get the papers, but who cares – we did it. We now have the full co-operation of the Corfu state vets. That in itself, took me 4 and a half years, but it is worth it. Unfortunately the 5 donkeys and one pony going to the UK could not leave. They need special individual passports to enter the UK. Guess what – Greece doesn’t do passports for unregistered equines. We can’t pass a donkey off as a racehorse, however hard we try. But fear not, we will get these animals to England, and soon. Sadly, our little donkey Sky, got colic the day before the transport left and although she was fully recovered in 24 hours we dare not risk sending her. So she is hanging out by the gate every day as usual, just getting in the way, as usual, and asking for special titbits, as usual. But now she has a good excuse – she missed the boat. We
took in one donkey a few weeks ago.. A very unusual case. Apparently
the owner totally abused this donkey. Working it so hard and everyday,
riding her when she was already overloaded. Finally the donkey rebelled,
and ‘bit and kicked’ her owner and she ended up in hospital.
The family begged Spiros to take her away. I was a bit dubious about
taking her on, what were we getting? But we need not have worried;
she is a gentle soul and seems to be taking to her change in fortune
very well. Although I regret the owners unfortunate ‘accident’
I can’t help wondering that if a few more donkeys retaliated,
then they might just be treated with a bit more respect. But would
we really want to change the donkey, this gentle and most docile
of creatures? (Except at feed time when half of them behave like
a bunch of hooligans and you wonder if they really are the same
creatures). I am thinking of a name for this donkey, one that befits
her special status as the donkey that stood up for herself. She
is lucky she didn’t get herself shot! A dog would have, without
doubt. 17th
February 2008 Very
bad news on the starving donkeys. I told you we believed 3 had already
died. Since then I tried to get my private vet involved and he did
come to see the remaining 5 donkeys but informed me that I could
not prove they were starving. I then went to the state vets and
one vet told me he knew about the donkeys but since the owner lived
in the same village as him, he could do nothing because they would
shoot him! The next time I went I found only 3 donkeys left and
one of those was dead! There was a stack of hay there, so I was
encouraged that the remaining two would survive. However, 2 weeks
later I returned and there were no donkeys at all, and the stack
of hay remained the same amount as when I had last been there. What
happened to the other two donkeys, I can’t say yet. Maybe
they were moved so the owners could put down the olive nets that
were there. I hope to find out the fate of these last 2 donkeys. Please bear in mind that the 10 donkeys were purchased purely to provide an income for the owners from donkey riding for tourists. All these donkeys were old, one was nearly blind, and non were fit for the job they were brought for. The owners didn’t care, the dealer who sold them didn’t care and what’s more, they will start again this Summer if they think it is financially worth it. To stop this happening again, please do not support these tourist attractions. If you see them, tell the owners or people running the operation, that you will not support them and tell them why, and what happened at Krini/Makrades this Winter. And please telephone me immediately you see something you believe to be a threat to the wellbeing of any donkeys. I will respond to any calls. It is easier to make a difference if it is during the tourist season and tourists can register their disapproval with me. Tourism is Corfu’s primary money earner. We have to hit them where it hurts. We keep Greek Official Complaints Forms which can be obtained at the shelter. (Please do not call me about dogs or cats, please refer to the ‘Links’ page on these matters)
Finally we have got the state vets co-operation (after 14 months) with the export of 25-30 donkeys to fabulous shelters abroad. We should know by the end of this week, whether the blood test results are negative and have a date for their departure. I include a photo of Snow below. Snow was sent with 8 other donkeys to The Ezelsocietiet in Zeist, Holland, the shelter founded by Vera and Harry. Snow had health problems that we could not help her with here. True to her word, Vera arranged for her to receive the best veterinary care and this included surgery by veterinarian Prof. Klein. Snow made a full recovery and can been seen at the shelter in Holland. Also our Marcus received vital surgery for his injuries at the same clinic. Much as we hate to see our donkeys leave Corfu, for some it is the very best option. We are so limited here when it comes to veterinary help. The Ezelsocieteit (see links page for address) does fabulous work for donkeys in Holland and satellite countries and are instrumental in helping us with ours. We have also found a lovely piece of land that we are trying to purchase for the new shelter. At present we are seeking planning permissions to build in that area. If agreed we will purchase and finally see the dream coming true. Then it will be a huge fundraising drive to purchase the necessary building materials to make the shelter a permanent safe haven for Corfu’s remaining donkeys. Any thing you can do in your home country to raise awareness and raise funds will be greatly appreciated and absolutely necessary in order to fulfill this dream. We here, will concentrate on trying to encourage the Greek nationals to contribute. So far, all of our funds have come from abroad. Some of you may remember Bobby a dog we took in 2 years ago. He is not a young dog and blind in one eye. He had a bad history and I’m ashamed to say, caused in part, by an English couple. However, when Vera visited last Sptember, she was very taken with him, and she took him back to Holland to live at her donkey shelter. Here he is enjoying a night out at the pub with a volunteer from the shelter. I think Bobby landed on his feet!.
Volunteers are absolutely essential to keeping the shelter open and caring for the donkeys, so if you don’t enjoy spending all your time on the beach, you are welcome at the shelter. The donkeys always need grooming and enjoy walks out and they thrive on plenty of individual love and attention. And there is always good old fashioned hard work to be done as well. And some socializing is always on the cards! Please consider a working holiday with us, especially this year, as I shall be very busy trying to fundraise and manage the building of the new shelter, I can’t be in two places at once unfortunately. Vera at The Ezelsocieteit can tell you first hand, all about volunteering here or contact Julie at my email address. Let us hope that next month I can bring good news and pictures of the 30 donkeys at their new homes abroad.
January
8th 2008 Unfortunately I have not such good news to start off the New Year. But start with the bad news I will, and end on a good note of hope and optimism. Sadly a few days before Christmas we had Anixi put to sleep. She was only with us a few weeks but came in suffering so badly from COPD. After 2 very serious attacks where she collapsed, we decided that she should suffer no more. A cure being unavailable and no response of any kind to the usual medicines for this problem, we knew we could do no more. Anixi spent the last few weeks of her life knowing love, gentleness and caring. We miss her. I am trying to help in two cases of owners starving their donkeys and horses to death. Sadly I am getting nowhere. In one case, we believe at least 3 animals had already died. Of the remaining 5, our vet said there was no evidence, in this case, that the animals were starving to death. The fact that the donkeys were eating their own wooden barn and the bark from the olive trees did not constitute evidence of any kind. Of course the vet had not seen the before and after health of the donkeys, only the after. I have to wait till they are minutes from death. I then asked another vet what I could do and he said that he knew about these donkeys, they were in his village, they were starving to death but he would do nothing because they would shoot him. In the other case, again, no-one will do anything due to fear of retribution, but this man has starved 3 horses to death in the last year that we know of. Just to digress slightly. We do still help occasionally with dogs we find abandoned or in trouble. Before Christmas I found this one tied up near the shelter. It really was a pitiful sight. On a 2 metre chain next to a rusty barrel, both ends open and holes in the roof – however that was irrelevant as the chain was too short so the dog could not get in it anyway! It was forced to sit outside in the most appalling freezing weather and also in the monsoon rains. To top this, he was fed by means of throwing down a carrier bag of kitchen waste. After he frantically ripped open the bag, the dog found potato peelings, lemons, oranges, tomatoes, cabbage and other things I could not recognise, nor wanted to. He must have found something edible as he was still alive. However when I found him he was a bag of bones, shivering all over and peed himself. I took food everyday until I could find away to ‘rescue’ him. Problems is, you find the owner and ask for the dog if they don’t want it. They either say yes or no. If they say no, in all likelihood, they will then move the dog to another location unknown to us. Then we cannot help the dog at all, not even by feeding it. Does anyone have any other ideas? Donkeys and dogs are left with no shelter in the most appalling weather imaginable.
And finally on the bad news but could have been much worse news, is this. On the way home one evening in December, the road collapsed and my jeep slid off down the steep and deep hill, sideways. It came to a halt thanks to some strong bushes growing on the side of the slope. The jeep, my dogs and I suffered not a scratch. But in typical Greek fashion – the jeep sustained major injuries when the men came to haul her out of the ravine. I knew I should have called the professionals instead of the cowboys!!
Good news. Yes there is some. The donkeys have had a good winter so far. Colin built 4 separate stables inside the big barn. This saved our ‘fallers’ Sirus and Hydra, so when they couldn’t get up on their own in the morning, they had a soft, safe bed to lie on until we arrived to stand them up. Plus we now have 2 spare stables for any others that might get sick or need a quiet place away from the others. I just wanted to say here, publicly, a huge thank you to Colin and Cheryl Eve, volunteers at the shelter since September. When they heard that my other helpers were away all over Christmas and New Year, they came in every day, for over a month, to help me, including Christmas day and New Year. This has been fantastic as normally I am on my own totally during this period and my strength is severely strapped. But this Christmas I not only had strength but we all had a lot of fun and retsina too.
When I was at the Donkey Conference in Hydra, I met Yiorgos (George) a veterinary student studying at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. He said he came from Corfu and would come and help us at Christmas. And so he did. It was great to have some extra help and George was so sweet and patient with all the animals. He is going to make a great vet for sure. He didn’t even moan when he got kicked. I am pleased to say we introduced him to the British culinary delights of cheese toasties with Branston Pickle and Piccalilli, and he now tells us he has converted his university friends to it. I wonder if we can get Branston to sponsor us as sales must be increasing all over Greece as word gets around!
The Ezelsocieteit, Holland, held a Memorial Day for all the donkeys they lost last year and very kindly had a special wall of remembrance for all the Corfu donkeys lost this last year.
Also, we needed to rent more land as the shelter could not keep 55 donkeys on it. We found some nearby but it had no barn or stables on it. The Ezelsocieteit again came to our rescue with the quick dispatch of an army tent. This has enabled our 22 donkeys to have shelter from the rotten winter weather we have had so far.
The 24 donkeys should be leaving here for their new homes on 4th February. This is over one year later than planned and nothing is certain yet! I ordered 300 bales of good quality hay only from the mainland before Christmas. Today, it finally arrived weeks later than expected. I received 300 bales of poor quality straw. I refused to accept it and sent them away. Apparently in Corfu hay is known as hay but on the mainland, hay is called something else and straw is called hay! Is this true? I doubt it. Please keep the donations coming, we are using 8 bales of hay a day to feed the donkeys – this is 58 euros a day, that’s 406 euros a week – just for hay. Thank you everyone for your support and good wishes, it really keeps us going in the midst of winter, the mud, and the rain that you can only get in Corfu! Soon be Spring! |
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