Does Corfu need CDR

January 2010

Apologies for the lack of a blog in December last year. Winter is a very busy time for us, shorter daylight hours and fewer volunteers and no students. However thanks to The Tina and Juergen Bolz Foundation we were able to employ Cheryl from CARE, 3 days a week to help me out. Also we had a young girl 3 days a week who took over Brigitte’s sponsorship after she abandoned ship and returned to Holland. Thanks to another generous donation from the Hausmann-Richter family we have now been able to employ someone else to cover us until mid February when our first welcome students and volunteers arrive. Although I have had to do several days completely alone in both shelters over the holiday period I can say that it is impossible for me to work alone any longer, it’s just too much for my aging bones and definitely not in the donkey’s best interests. We really do need more volunteers in the winter. After the students leave at the end of March, we will again be short of help. Although there will be some money left for more wages I really do prefer volunteers – the money is much better spent on building the new shelter – I ‘m sure you agree. Volunteers come because they care about the donkeys, this has to be better.

In mid December the long awaited tent arrived from Austria, generously donated by Gut Aiderbichl, near Salzburg. Two Greek/German engineers arrived with the tent. With our employed English team of 4 to assist, Marcus to act as interpreter speaking German, Greek and English, the erection got underway after a false start due to the lorry slipping off the road and getting bogged down. I left it to ‘the men’ – they were all paid so I figured it was their job to get out of the mess they were in, I had donkeys to take care of. By lunch time the following day, the tent was up. We moved feed boxes inside and then let the donkeys explore. There was no hesitation, the large light and airy construction caused them no fear at all and I do believe that one or two have never come out since?. Despite heavy rain and very high winds the tent has remained stable and secure. I have a feeling it will be there long after the Acropolis has fallen down.

We now have 20 donkeys there and it has been reassuring to know they have plenty of space and comfort. One end is knee deep in straw for them to relax on. Having donkeys in 2 different places has been difficult as I knew it would be. I have to go 2 times everyday to check them and feed them. Sometimes leaving here at 6pm to drive there and check by torch light. But in the new field there is little they can harm themselves with and I do believe the whole ambiance of the place is conducive to a happier existence than at our old shelter. There is no mud for a start! Seriously, the new place has a very special feel to it, and I love to be there and can’t wait for us all to move.

That said, it is my plan to move lock stock and barrel in the 3rd/4th week of May. During that time we have a team of Belgium students coming over for a week to help out and so this makes perfect sense for the move to take place then – ready or not. Of course the stables etc won’t be completed by then but the weather will be good enough for all donkeys to live out if they want or live in the tent if they want. We will build around them, in between them, over them and under them as and when we have the money. But we will get them out of this old place so they can all appreciate the calming and beautiful setting of the new.

I wanted to thank John Cartier and his Greek friend; they have voluntarily helped to do many repairs to our stable and tools, repairs by welding. John even managed to resurrect our old little donkey trailer when I thought it was ready for a final journey to Corfu metal recycling! It will live on for a few years yet,

I also wanted to say a thank you to a lady called Edith from Germany who has sent several generous donations, however on the bank papers there is only a street address and so we have been unable to thank her personally. If you do read this Edith, we would love to have your full address.

I have had several emails and a phone call from various people, Greek and Scottish asking to buy or borrow stallion donkeys so they can mate with their female donkeys. Although we have some stallions, (only because we have no vet to castrate them) we do not encourage breeding. When you see the amount of unwanted donkeys selling for a few euros then I can see no reason to breed more. They live for up to 40-50 years and no person can ever ensure that their homebred will always have a loving a permanent home for life. We respect everyone’s right to breed should they wish but using the stock from CDR is not an option.

3 new donkeys came in during December, Timoni, Soukia and Nymfes. All have their problems, lameness of course the main problem, but all seem able to cope. Yesterday we received out first donkey for 2010 and we have called her Pagi. She was unwanted by her owner and happily for us she seems very strong and healthy. As soon as we can we will take her to the new place. It is so interesting to watch the new donkeys. They spend many days standing away from the others and just watching. I wonder what they think.

Just before Christmas we were asked to help a man who had taken in a horse that was very ill. The gelding was very thin, I called him Grandee. He had obviously been a well bred handsome horse, imported into the country. I had seen this horse in the summer and he was indeed magnificent. Now he was a walking skeleton. He was plainly very ill and although he wanted to eat he could not, whatever delicacy was tempted. For a week the man had tried every feed available and suggested to him.. A vet was not called as this would cost money and it’s a rare Greek who pays money for an animal unless there is a good chance he will recover the money. When we were called in it was plain it was too late to help and no vet on the Island had the knowledge or skills to know where to begin. When we told the man that the horse should be euthanized he refused. This would cost him money, the horse must be left to die he said. This we could not allow and offered to arrange and pay for euthanasia, which we did. I hope you agree we did the right thing for Grandee who though not a donkey was in much need of our help in his final days.

2009 Overview
January started grimly with the loss of our beloved donkey Shine and throughout the year additions and losses. Each loss painful for us and each gain a joyous moment, another life to help if possible.

April saw the final signing of the contracts for the new land. The donkeys finally have a permanent home to live out their lives in peace.

Early May saw me go to Austria and Holland to see the donkeys that had been rehomed there in the last 3 years. Despite a few losses the remaining donkeys were happy and very well cared for in both shelters.

Late May the transport for Austria, Gut Aiderbichl finally left. 14 more donkeys destined for a new life. I had never given up hope despite the State vets putting every obstacle in our way – even inventing laws that did not exist! But I kept returning and telling them that “I will not go away until my donkeys have the export papers they need”. And so eventually the donkeys left for their new home in Austria, another battle won here. But there should have been no battle.

June was the month the new field was finally fenced and enclosed meaning we could move some 7 donkeys onto the land. The 12th was the day we went to court to fight for the right to stay at the old shelter until we could move to the new. June also brought Mark the farrier from UK to help our donkeys.

The summer months brought plenty of students, volunteers, visitors and old friends back to the shelter. It is a good time for the donkeys with all the attention and for those of us who do the work, to know how much it is appreciated. Sadly our dog Meli was stolen and 5 cats were poisoned.

September came and the decision of the court was beyond our expectations. We were given leave to remain at the old shelter indefinitely, albeit with a limit on numbers. A resounding win. No-one could quite believe it. The end of another 2 year battle.

October brought the architects plans for the design of the new shelter. Things were beginning to take shape. Also the Dutch team from the Ezelsocieteit with a farrier and dentist and volunteers and friends to help the donkeys once again. Also Paul, Tina and the Richter family arrived and this meant many repairs were done to see us through the winter in the old shelter and a small field shelter was built at the new place (all with 2nd hand materials costing nothing) which meant we could move another 5 donkeys.

December brought the tent from Austria and meant we could have in total 19 donkeys on the new land. We have 5 more to move but the problem is we use the trailer as a storage for our food supplies which means it is out of action unless between deliveries. Nothing is straight forward here.

Also news from UK that our application for charity commission status in UK is finally completed and hopefully we will have full UK registration in a few months. We will keep our UK supporters informed on this.
Although we will move to the new land next May it will take time to set up and build the new shelter. This is not just for financial reasons but because we must do this legally and this is often where time is a problem. Things move slowly and for each set of progress we make with licenses and permits to build etc, this costs us money in fees. If we don’t have this money we cannot make progress legally. We will be asking the government for help. We will be asking you all for help. But I am sure, for those of you who visit us this year and see our new land and the hope it holds for the Corfu donkey’s future, you will see for yourself that it is a very worthwhile cause. Many of you will have followed our progress over the years and see how far we have come.

Thanks to you all I am very optimistic for the future of CDR and all its inhabitants. For 5 years we have been at this old shelter, please help me see it through the next 5 years at the new, and see what a difference we can all make. Happy New Year to you all.

3 Dogs Needing Homes
I don’t normally ask for help with rehoming dogs but this winter 3 dogs came my way and I have had to take them in to save their lives. It is very difficult for us here to cope with all the dogs and the donkeys; it has not been easy at all, not to mention the additional expense. I also feed several street dogs and all this food adds to the expense. When we take in cats as special cases, Agni Animal Welfare Fund, whose main remit is cat protection, always offer their help and have even set up a monthly standing order to help pay for the food. Unfortunately the dog charities refused to help us by taking these dogs in. Though I should add that Cheryl does take any puppies I find and Tierhilfe Korfu did agree to sterilize Charlton and a mother and daughter owned by a poor Greek family.

Charlton
He is a robust castrated male, cross bred dog about 2 years old. He was left chained up to the gate at the new shelter several months ago. From his behavior it would seem he has spent his life chained up, everything is new to him and very exciting. He is exceptionally friendly with people and dogs. He is bottom of the pecking order and if my own 2 dogs attack him he rolls over and submits immediately then comes running to me for reassurance. There is not a bad bone in his body, a truly super dog but will need some training to curb his exuberance. He is great with children but because he is strong and excitable he will be better with older children.

Bella
I found on a dirt track just off the main Paleocastritsa Road. Immediately she jumped in the jeep and became my shadow. She is a setter or spaniel. She has obviously had several litters of puppies previously. She is no trouble at all. But a nervous little soul who seems to think everyone and everything is out ‘to get her’. If you want a medium size, light weight, loyal dog who is more than happy to curl up on your lap or in your bed, Bella is for you. Excellent with children, she just lives for cuddles. She is a hunting dog and when cuddles are short she loves running, her one faux pas, if you like gardens, she likes to dig for frogs, mice, insects etc.

Elsa
I found her in exactly the same place as Bella. She was a bag of bones and near to death. She also has a problem with her front leg which is broken in 3 places. These are old breaks and cannot be repaired here, maybe in Germany? However, it does not stop her leading a perfectly normal life. She also has Leishamania but since putting her on a daily dose of tablets she has improved no end. She is looking 100% better now. She is also very sweet and loyal and excellent with children. Tierhilfe Korfu have a foster home in Germany for Elsa but we need a flugpaten for her or someone travelling to Germany by car to offer to take her so she can get that important treatment for her leg.

All the dogs are happy to ride in the car together, most days I take all the dogs, 6, it’s a bit crowded but try leaving one behind when I go to the new shelter each morning. They are good with other dogs, cats and donkeys.

5th November 2009

We are 2 days into a week of promised severe rain and storms, oh how we love Corfu in the winter! However, with our extra stables we are better prepared. All our wonderful volunteers have gone home and the ‘few’ are left to see the donkeys through the next 6 months. A few weeks ago I stopped at my local petrol station in the middle of yet another storm and asked Kostas when the rain would stop, he replied, “next summer”. He isn’t wrong really.

Yet another saga is developing over the olive tree. We finally located the owner of the land the tree is on, a retired policeman. I arranged a meeting with him. Tassos showed me that he owned half stremata of land (1/8 acre) with 4 olive trees on it. He said he would cut down the offending olive tree in 2 days if I agreed to buy all 4 olive trees for 2,500 euros. We had no choice and the extra piece of land would be most suitable as a parking area. But Tassos wanted this deal done with no lawyers and no information to the tax man. I was supposed to sign a paper that he produced. We had no evidence that he owned the land but he said he and his brother would sign the paper too. I told him I would have to consult my lawyer and we parted company.

A week later the tree was still in situ and no word from Tassos. Then he rang and said the paper was ready and his mother was signing it. A bit worrying. I told him to ring my lawyer. Lyberis than phoned me and told me that Tassos had changed his mind yet again. Tassos had said he was emotionally attached to the olive trees and could not bear to cut them down but if I brought the land I could do what I wanted. I agreed again to buy the land but only in a legal and proper way. Our only other choice would be court action which we would win but would take a long time and cost a lot of money and as I was advised, make an enemy of our new neighbour, as would any attempt to just cut the tree and take the consequences. I certainly have no intention of upsetting the neighbours before we even move in.

So we waited for Tassos to make contact again which he did, this time he said he would cut down the tree himself if I gave him €500. His emotional attachment apparently forgotten. So I agreed, give me a date, time and place, I would watch him cut down the tree and hand him the money. I am still waiting for this date or his next idea. Meanwhile the weather has changed and any thoughts of building this year seem unlikely but in this strange and difficult Island, anything is possible with patience.

Tina, my friend from Germany came over to help for a week and Paul my old friend from UK came to help for 3 weeks and we had a lovely German family, Waldi, Klaus, Isabell and Julien volunteer for a week all in October. Paul built 3 extra stables, did lots of repairs. Klaus and Paul built a temporary shelter at the new place so our donkeys there had some shelter from the bad weather. Paul and Klaus were busy all week repairing and building and improving. I brought a lot of sand for the inside of the stables. We hope this will help improve conditions under foot, and be much better for the hooves of the donkeys, keeping them off the wet ground and soggy straw bedding. It is an experiment, we will see the results. Tina, Waldi and the children were busy at the shelter doing all the normal necessary chores plus grooming and walking donkeys and dogs. It was a wonderful week with wonderful people.

9th November
Tassos says he will call me this week and cut down the olive tree. I am not holding my breath. But I have an alternative plan if he fails to cut the tree! I will not be thwarted.

We are doing the ground work that will enable the cattle tent from Austria to be erected. Kindly donated by Gut Aiderbichl it will ensure we can move more donkeys to the new land and they will be warm and dry.

Brigitte’s sponsorship has been taken over by Krystle. I think Brigitte just couldn’t stand another winter here. Cheryl is working for us 3 days a week too thanks to Tina and Juergen. So I am not alone. But we will be alone over the 2 week Christmas and New Year period, so if anyone wants to help out over this period, please don’t hold back – volunteer!

One of our latest newcomers to the shelter is Cookie. Unbelievably she is actually a very healthy and happy donkey who just happens to have a serious deformity. She is only 10-12 years old. Her photos have been examined by vets in Holland and Belgium and it is believed Cooki was born like this. She is really sweet and behaves no different than any of our other donkeys.

Late NewsFlash
At 11.30am, Tuesday 10th November – the olive tree was toppled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2nd October 2009

It’s Sunday, a beautiful morning and just another day in paradise! OK, so I am in an optimistic mood. Things have been going very well generally for CDR the last month, we won the court case, we raised 3,500 euros at the auction and were given a very large donation from Austria (see below) which means we can really make a start with building the new shelter. On the downside, we have many sick donkeys that need constant attention and some may not make it. But that is what we face all the time here, so rare is there a day when we don’t have extra special worries over and above the general running of the shelter and keeping the donkeys in good health. Where do I start……………..

I think, with the auction. My sincere and personal thanks to all the artists who contributed their work for our auction. Your generosity ensured the great success of the event and the wonderful amount of money raised which will go directly towards the new donkey hospital stables. I also thank everyone who attended and so kindly brought the art work. It was a wonderful evening and I thank Bill Farmer for stepping in at the last minute to take over the organization of the event and Dagmar and Machos who kindly let us stage the event at Hotel Nefeli and did all the organizing on site. We will dedicate one of the new hospital stables to the artists of Corfu.

The Ezelsocieteit team was here last week, well they left yesterday, and the place seems sadly very empty. (See links page to learn about the work of this wonderful donkey shelter in Holland) But we have many happier and healthier donkeys because of the visit. Vera, the founder of this charity, organizes the trip for herself and 2 volunteers, Jerry and Annalou and Hans the farrier and donkey expert and Alex the equine dentist. In a week much work was done, teeth extracted, leveled, cleaned and feet trimmed and corrected, diseases discovered (laminitis) and much needed advice given in all aspects of donkey welfare. I always feel better informed and encouraged by these visits and the emotional support I get is invaluable. They even left us with a sand pit for our laminitic and sore footed donkeys. The dogs rather love to play in it also and unfortunately it makes a great toilet for the cats.

Eleni, who I wrote about in the last blog had a serious setback some weeks ago. After her initial improvement she got worse, we didn’t know why, and could no longer stand up on her own. We brought her back from the new field to the shelter so we could help her more. Every day we had to pick her up, she happens to be the largest and heaviest donkey we have ever had, so this is a major job for 3 or 4 people!! She would only stand an hour or two before lying down again. Her future looked grim. Hans the farrier discovered she had a laminitis attack in her front feet and this was the reason, probably caused by all the stress of her previous foot and knee problems. She also seemed so unusually weak and we believe she had eaten a toxic plant in the new field. We seriously considered ending it all for her but then I listened to a friend and started intense homeopathic treatment, her feet were treated and we gave lots of power food. She is making considerable improvement but still cannot stand without help. We will persevere for this courageous, stoic donkey and hope that she wins in the end. But with winter coming, a shortage of volunteers and students to help, we cannot promise anything.

Oreia, also written about last month, is almost as good as new, in a few weeks her wound will be fully healed.

We were given 3 donkeys over the last month with serious cases of laminitis, they are making slow progress but we have no reason to believe they won’t make a full recovery. Yammas who came in with serious colic and a very serious leg injury is on the mend now, we just need her to eat a lot more to give her more strength. Skalia arrived a few weeks ago, seriously malnourished and weak. For the first week she would not eat. We suspected she had severe teeth problems. After a course of antibiotics and pain killer she gained an appetite but not enough, Alex removed 3 teeth and did lots of dental work on her and she should have improved considerably but she stopped eating again. I again, had to think about euthanasia to prevent further suffering but before I had chance to deal with it, yesterday she started to eat again, not a lot, but enough to give us some hope and to fight for her survival. Time will tell.

The olive tree is still causing us problems and no-one is able to contact the owner to get permission to cut it down. No work can be started until its removal. A small problem becoming a major obstruction. But there is always a solution, we will find it.

Notice – We had a visit from a lovely young Greek couple in September. They have been renting a house on Corfu the last 5 months. They offered their help and left me their phone number. Unfortunately that night the rats found the notebook and decided to tear it up for some nice winter bedding and the phone number is lost in the bowels of our concrete floor. All I remember is the man was called Vangellis. If you are reading this Vangellis please get in touch again, we so want and need your help!

More potentially good news. Hans the farrier from Holland, has arranged that we can send 10 donkeys to a new shelter in Holland. This is wonderful with our ever increasing numbers and winter coming, it is vital to get some of the healthier donkeys away. It gives us more time to help the needier ones. All we need now is 8000 euros to pay for the transport! Any offers out there???

The Tina and Juergen Bolz Foundation have very generously donated the finances for us to offer a job, 3 days a week to help throughout the coming months. We are delighted that Cheryl from CARE, a former volunteer of ours, is taking on the job. A strong, reliable and hard worker, it is great news for us, and will help a lot. Many of you know her I am sure.

Sadly since writing the above a few days ago, Yammas died. No warning at all. I went to my caravan to get some supper and half an hour later came out and he was gone. Heart failure maybe? But we know he had a wonderful month with us and found some peace, comfort and friendship. We will miss him, he was so sweet and gentle.

Mirthe our student of the last 9 weeks, finishes on Saturday. An excellent student and friend of the donkeys, she will be missed very much by the 4 legged and 2 legged. Mirthe, at only 18 years, was my ‘right hand man’ and she will be very much missed.

Chris Palmer who visited the Island in the summer with her husband, came back for a week’s voluntary work. It makes a big difference having the extra pair of hands and ensures the donkeys get that little bit of extra time. Thanks Chris, we hope you will come back next year.

Paul, a friend of mine from UK is here now, putting up some temporary new shelters at the old shelter, to ensure that all the donkeys have a warm stable to live in this winter. It sets my mind at rest that we can cope a little better. It is being built with materials that can be taken down and reused at the new shelter next year, so no wasted money.

Caring for the Animals Trust – Saving Greek Animals, based in UK has just donated 1000 euros towards the transport to Holland, our sincere thanks for getting the ball rolling on this expense.

That’s about it for now. Please keep the donations coming in. Despite our windfall from Austria, which must be spent on building the new place, we are always struggling for running costs in the winter. The tourist donations keep us going in the summer but in the winter we struggle. Our thanks to everyone who has visited and donated, who have sent donations and parcels, brought carrots, apples and bread, without you all we could not continue the work. There is much to be done in the next year getting the new shelter up and running and caring for the animals in the coming winter. This has been a good year and with your help we have managed to save many more donkeys from a horrible fate, we hope our run of good luck accompanied be exceptionally hard work by all, will continue.

Corfu Donkey Rescue are pleased to announce that we won the court case brought against us by the neighbours, with many false allegations, in an effort to get the Shelter removed from its present location.!

The judge has decided that CDR can stay open in its present location indefinitely. However, there is a compromise, that we have only 20 donkeys on the premises at any one time. But I call that a resounding win. We have the new land, a large tent shelter coming from Austria and therefore can move the extra donkeys to the new shelter in a month or so. Our 20 sickest donkeys can stay here at the old shelter in the stables until the Spring when we hope to have built at the new location.

Our sincerest thanks and congratulations to our lawyer Lyberis Tryfon (6944374173) and thanks to Dino, our vet the main witness, and Dimitris from EcoCorfu our second witness.

A huge thanks to everyone else for their support through this very difficult and worrying 2 years.

In addition to our excelent news above we would like to say that the Art Auction held last Sunday evening went very well too. It was very well supported and raised a large amount of money for the Donkeys, (final amounts are not known yet) again many thanks to everyone involved and everyone who attended the auction and supported us.

Finally the end of August arrives and I cheer as I know cooler weather is not so far away. Am I the only one who detests the blistering heat. Up here on the plateau it seems so much hotter.

Last week we finally got mains water on the new land. My constant visits to the local Dimos paid dividends and we have been given a temporary supply from the fire hose mains. Now we can move another 10 donkeys over to the new land. I am thinking of a name for this new shelter, any ideas? We still have to find the owner to cut down the offending olive tree that blocks the entrance. The Deputy Mayors promises to do this have been fruitless. We are now racing against time to deal with this problem as we need a JCB in to excavate the area to be concreted. I will not have these heavy machines in once the rain starts as it will destroy our beautiful surface. So it seems now I have to go to the Nomaheio every other day to get this problem dealt with.

We have been promised a huge cattle tent from Gut Aiderbichl, Austria. This is strong enough to withstand the Corfu winter – if erected correctly and we will be calling on Corfu residents to help with this task – and able to hold 40 donkeys inside, so hopefully we will be able to keep some donkeys on the new land all winter, leaving the disable and sick at the old. We wait excitedly for the arrival of the tent.

On Sunday we have our Art Auction to help raise funds for the new shelter hospital and stables. All sorts of things are up for auction from 10 euros to 500 euros, something to suit the purse of everyone. Including surprise lots, tennis lessons, beauty treatments and many other generously donated gifts. I will be taking Paraskevi our baby donkey and one of our little oldies. It will be a nice social evening, so come along and support the donkeys, at the very least buy a t-shirt for a Christmas present! Look at the website to see all the lots. Even if you live abroad you can make bids over the internet see the site:
http://cdr-auction.webs.com/

Stan and Alban our French volunteers have left us. They were excellent workers and we will miss them. It was nice having a few men about the place too and helping me with the heavy work, which they did with ease. Mirthe, our new Dutch student arrived a few weeks ago and is doing an excellent job too, and this week 2 new Dutch students, Elianne and Joyce, start their training here, so we will have a full house again after a short period of short staff.

I forgot to mention the Court Case in the last blog. How could I? We had as our main witness, Dino our vet. He did exceptionally well after over an hour’s questioning and cross examination, I believe the opposition realized things were not going well for them and so they then accused us of sending all our donkeys to Italy for slaughter. This was not on the initial prosecution papers and should not have been allowed by the judge, but he did allow it. However, I welcomed the opportunity to prove once and for all that we never send animals for slaughter. The judge heard some of the evidence but as is the case in Greek Courts, a decision is not made there and then. Over the next few days we had to gather all our evidence and get it translated into Greek! And hand it in to the court for consideration. To date we have not heard any results.

The sad news is that our wonderful Sirus died last week. She was one of our oldest remaining residents having been here 5 years, and a very special donkey to me. Also we have lost 2 more cats to poisoning. But on the up side, we have managed to save the lives of 4 donkeys that came in with terrible problems that I thought we would never cure. But perseverance on our part and especially the donkeys, paid off, and they are now up and walking. Oreia gave us the most worries, lying down in her stable, unable to stand. Each day we would have to lift her and put her in a sling. It was hard painstaking work and I know a few thought I should quit for the sake of the donkey and their backs! After 3 weeks I was on the verge of making that final decision when a massive unseen abscess burst and since then she has made a slow recovery. Now she is living the life of a healthy donkey and only needs constant first aid while the abscess, now an open wound, heals. Even our ‘doubting Thomas’ neighbour, Spiros, called it a miracle!

Eleni came in suffering from horrendously infected hooves, even a keratoma in one. But after much treatment and changes of treatment over the months, as things we tried didn’t always work, she is now walking well, the only pain coming from an old knee injury. It is reassuring to know that over the years we are learning a lot and able to work with this extra knowledge and have more successes. It does help morale and to make up for the losses. It was George Varotsis and old friend and student vet from Thessaloniki Vet School, who visited us for 3 days in August that finally sorted out Eleni. After 3 years of study he came with much more experience and was able to advise us on a few problems we had. Also he found another problem with Eleni’s hoof and after treatment, I am delighted to say, that Eleni made much more rapid progress in recovery, I had nearly given up hope.

We were asked to take part in some research being done at the vet school in order to find out, I think, about the origins of the Greek donkey or at least the gene pool. 20 donkeys had blood samples taken, tail hair and measurements by George which were then passed on to the University.

We have had many visitors this summer, new friends and our regulars. It has been wonderful to meet everyone and receive all the special and vital gifts and supplies they bring for the donkeys, dogs, cats and rabbits. My friend, El Mens from Holland is here and helping for the 3rd year running. El makes Xara’s boots, name tags for the donkeys, organizes volunteers from Holland and countless other things for us when she is not here.

We are expecting the “Ezelsocieteit” team from Zeist in a few weeks, with a farrier and dentist and volunteers. That is always a good week for the donkeys and a special one for me. Many donkeys get their first dental treatment or professional foot treatment in their lives.
That’s about it for now, will keep in touch.

We are having a truly hot summer, I am finding it especially hard, must be old age. Living in caravans is not to be recommended at all. Psela recovered fully from her illness but then found the heat hard to bear and is given showers and wet towels to keep her cool each day. The others seem to cope better, some not worried about the sun and staying out all day and others seeking and finding the preferred shade. For us, the unusual June thunder storms were most welcome but now it will be nothing but heat til September. Grin and bear it we must.

The 14 donkeys all arrived safely and happily in Austria after their 2 day journey. They were all blood tested by the state vets before departure and given a clean bill of health the day before they left. On day of departure Dino even came to check again and between him, me and the transporter we gave little Sounia a cortisone injection to help her on her way, such a sensitive little soul she is. Yiannis kept us informed the whole journey of the progress and rang as soon as they were all safely in Gut Aiderbichl. A vet was there to check them on arrival and all looked great. The TV crew was there plus hundreds of visitors to greet them. What a better start to a new life could they have, a huge tent, green fields and plenty of food and welcome. Another transport was organized for September, in which 20 more could leave for this new life. With that in mind, I was even able to take in a few more donkeys, knowing there would be a place to go very soon.

I am delighted to say that the fence is now erected around our new land. We found an excellent Greek company on the Island and I have to say, they were truly professional and did a wonderful job. Today I go with the boss to count the metres of fence so I can pay. But it is truly money well spent and will last for many decades to come. As many of you have seen at our present location, the fencing is terrible and it shows that the initial layout of professional fencing is well worth it. We have the land and we have the fence. So as soon as we get water, we can move some of the donkeys into the land as there are plenty of trees to provide shade. I am looking forward to that day very much.

Land with new fencing

Of course, we now need to build the stables but there is absolutely no money in the kitty for that. We will have to build as and when we gain enough funds to do a shelter at a time. So, unless we get a very generous benefactor with a large sum, most of the donkeys will all be staying at our present location for the winter. They are old and absolutely must have shelter, warm stables and heating in the cold wet winter months. However, I am not downhearted. Last year we had no land and no fence. This year we have made great progress for such a tiny organization. Next year, who knows what the situation will be.

Entrance to our Land

On a less happy note, we lost Avrio and Oriana in the last 6 weeks. Avrio was put to sleep after suffering a massive COPD (Asthma) attack and Oriana died from colic. Also, we lost our dear little Niko, the 3 legged cat whose photo is in the last blog. He suffered from a 2nd bladder stone infection and never came round from the operation. A week later one of our feral cats, Jack, was found dead and then a day after our dearest Chuck (who was brought in along with Niko) was found writing around in agony after being poisoned. Despite our best efforts little Nikos didn’t make it. It was very upsetting for me to lose these wonderful stoical animals. It was 3 days before I could account for all our other cats and know that they were safe, for now. After the disappearance of Meli our dog who has never been found, and now poison put in the vicinity, I live in fear at what may be attempted next. I can only hope that they will not take it out on the donkeys as this would be too obvious. With no evidence to prove the culprits there is nothing that can be done but the incidents have been reported to the police along with the information that the gate to the shelter was opened at 11.30 one night and the donkeys let out on the road. But it really does make me believe we should move from here as soon as we possibly can. If the animals cannot be safe at a shelter, then it has become a dangerous place. Our 3 kittens photographed last blog, found homes thanks to the intervention of AAWF.

We had a successful meeting with the deputy mayor of Paleocactritsa, thanks to our board member, Andreas Scuperas. We asked for 5 things to help us at the new shelter and to speed up the move and 3 that were possible, were granted. They promised to connect the water, repair the road and find the owner of an olive tree blocking our entrance to large vehicles. 2 days later, I was told our water application was approved and went in to pay, and the road was bulldozed ready for tarmac when they can do it. So congratulations to the local Dimos, we have their full support along with the Governor of Corfu. It’s been a long time coming but shows what progress we have made and how we have impressed them with our resilience to problems and determination to be heard so that we can continue to help the donkeys of Corfu. Thanks to everyone for your support.

Our 4 Dutch student, Marloes, Janeke, Peggy and Antoinette left after helping and studying for 6 weeks. Anne came over from Qatar for a month and was a wonderful help, especially taking care of our ‘little’ animals that tend to be left out of the loop as there are so many big ones and so much work with them. We are left with the 2 French students, Stan and Alban who are here for 3 months and are absolutely great; working very quietly and diligently. In August we are expecting more Dutch students who will just get ‘broken in’ before the 2 boys leave.

Anne taking her duties seriously as rabbit carer

Team of volunteers

So on the whole, positive news all round. Donkeys dying, unfortunately, is a sad fact of the work, as we only take the old and sick and abused. But we can only get over the losses by knowing that we gave them the very best life and help that is possible here in Corfu. That way we can continue our work to help the remaining and those that are unknowingly waiting their turn to come here for a bit of ‘the good life’ especially when they can go the new land.

Dinner time!!!!

New chicken - just moved in!!

and our other residents

On the 2nd May I flew to Munich for a busman’s holiday. Meeting up with Andrea and Erika, they took me to Gut Aiderbichl (GA) near Salzburg in Austria to meet all the donkeys that had been sent there for a new life, from Corfu Donkey Rescue, in the last 3 years. It was also a long awaited opportunity to meet Michael Aufhauser, the Founder of GA and the man who had offered to take in our donkeys and give them a final home in animal paradise. I had a wonderful day. Michael was the perfect host, the donkeys were having a wonderful life and I met on the day, many friends new and old. I am happy that the donkeys sent to GA have the best possible life there and Michael assured me he was willing to take many more.

After a week in Germany visiting friends and having a much needed break I was then taken to The Ezelsocietiet near Zeist in Holland where I met again many friends and my donkeys that we had sent to this wonderful shelter the last few years. Vera, as ever, the excellent host and a great day had by all.

My thanks to everyone for a time to remember, especially Tina and Juergen, Andrea and Erika and Iris, my friend from Animal’s Angels charity who all let me stay with them and ensured I had a super break. I recommend that if you have the chance, visit Gut Aiderbichl and The Ezelsocieteit and see the wonderful work they are doing for animals.

On my return to Corfu, we finally received the news that the 15 donkeys could leave for a new life in Gut Aiderbichl. On 18th May, the transport arrived and we bade a happy farewell to 14 donkeys. They arrived safely and to great fanfare in Austria and will be featured on the annual TV programme near Christmas, in Austria.

Sadly Psela, who was due to go to Gut Aiderbichl and then on to Ezelscietiet, could not leave. She fell ill a week before the transport left. We feared she would lose her battle for life and came within hours of putting her to sleep. But by some miracle and a lot of honey, water, minerals and vitamins she regained her strength. She is eating a lot now but is not quite back to her normal old self. But we think she will be ok with a few more weeks of tender loving care and good food.

We have not made much progress with the new land. Bureaucracy, rules and regulations are making things difficult but we do hope to have the fence up in a few weeks and be able to move some donkeys there. But I anticipate we will remain at the old shelter for the duration of the summer.

This new land is a wonderful gift for the donkeys, only made possible by 2 large donations, from Robert Bartella and his family and from The Tina and Juergen Bolz Foundation. Our sincere thanks to both and we will do them proud by making the shelter a safe haven for the donkeys of Corfu.

After the donkeys left we were down to 30 on the site of the shelter (with 6 others out in foster homes on the Island). We enjoyed for a short while, having less work to do, but as is always the case, this is short lived, and already we have taken in 7 more welcome little hardship cases.

We are blessed with a full contingent of staff. 4 Dutch students, 2 French students and Anne a volunteer from Qatar. So the donkeys are really getting some tender loving care and lots of walks and grooming.

Last week, Mark Brettell, a farrier from Wales, arrived to do all the donkeys feet. He was sponsored by The International Donkey ProtectionTrust and we thank them for this much welcome financial help. Mark gave his services free of charge and lost a week’s work at home in the process. So this was very generous of him. He did a wonderful job on all the donkeys, gave us advice on how to prevent some of the problems and helped in training our students in foot care, so everyone benefitted.

We have started (not me) a CDR Facebook page, Please join as a friend. It is as good as a petition. Numbers mean power! The big court case is on 24th June, only a week away.

Last week, 4 days before the court case about the dogs, our lovely Meli disappeared and the night of the court case (which we won) the big main gate to the shelter was found open at 11pm and donkeys were on the road. I leave you to draw your own conclusions………..

We have taken in 4 more donkeys in the last month from the gypsies and collect one from an elderly lady in Lefkimmi this week. All donkeys are old but in reasonable condition. But one has a serious problem under the hoof which makes her very lame and she lies down a great deal. Mark was able to help her further and we hope she will make a good recovery soon.

Since I am fully staffed for a while, I hope to update you more often. But you know what it is like…………..

Thanks to all of the visitors that have come already and shown their support, brought goodies for the donkeys, cats and dogs and some even for the rabbits and chickens! There has been plenty of donkey walking and brushing, so donkeys are very happy with all the attention.

24th April 2009

Yes, we finally succeeded

We have finally got our piece of land for the new shelter. You can imagine we are all relieved and very happy that at last the donkeys will have a permanent home of their own. Now the next task is to fence it, design it and build it – and get a license. Our lawyer Lyberis has been instrumental in the purchase of the land and we can’t thank him enough. Now we have to go through all the procedures for making the shelter legal. That will be a long and expensive task. But we will persevere as always and win in the end!

We have Brigitte and David here and now two students; Tara and Lianne from Holland have joined us for 6 weeks. Also we have the help of Deb and Mo from UK and America, who are camping at the shelter for 3 weeks to help us too. We are truly fully staffed for once! So I have had plenty of time to do the administration. Boring but necessary.

We are still having problems exporting the donkeys. Our state vets in Corfu have finally agreed that the donkeys can leave but now we have problems in Athens. I am not sure who is at the heart of the problems however. Firstly we were told that donkeys HAD TO HAVE Greek PASSPORTS. (The Greeks do not have a Passport Issuing Office (PIO) for donkeys). However, I have since sent them a letter from the EU Commission that clearly states that the donkeys can have a passport from ANY MEMBER STATE. This means that the UK passports we have offered to get for all the donkeys are valid. But still we are told that if the donkeys being exported come from a shelter, that shelter must be licensed. This obviously causes us a problem. BUT no-one will tell me where they get this legislation from, where is it written? However, we are optimistic. Gut Aiderbichl is waiting for the donkeys and want to come and film them leaving Corfu.

In early May I will go to Germany and visit the donkeys we have previously sent to Gut Aiderbichl and Zeist and reestablish our contacts and see many friends. I shall be at Gut Aiderbichl on Sunday 3rd May. A busman’s holiday as usual. The court case is to be adjourned and a new date established. Hopefully, with lots of hard work and the wind behind us, all the donkeys will be in the new shelter before the court hearing. The accommodation for them will be very basic and temporary until money can be raised to build according to regulations.

Sadly we have had one donkey loss since the last blog. Lazari passed away, she had very bad colic. She had colic in previous years but this time we could not save her. Information from a website, using data from research done on DS donkeys in UK, indicate that colic is a very common problem for them too and that their losses amount to 51% of those that fall ill. It was useful to know that with all the facilities and best medical care in the world, they had substantial losses. It made us feel a little better about our losses, as most of you know our facilities are poor and veterinary knowledge for equines very limited on the Island. The research indicates that those donkeys that have a history of colic, are old and have poor teeth, are more prone to colic. Poor Lazari fitted every criteria.

We have 3 new donkeys, one who came from the gypsies, she is very sweet but is taking her time in learning to trust us. She may have had bad experiences in the past, but with time and patience she will learn she is now safe and there is no need to be afraid anymore. A second came from Giannades village, her owner could not look after her anymore and the 3rd was found abandoned near Giannades. Fortunately none have any serious health problems.

On 23rd April we were on Greek Sky TV. It is very good for us to be on Greek TV as many Greeks do not know we exist and it is difficult to reach them. I did not see the short film as I was in the middle of the country walking the dogs when I received a call to say it was on TV. But immediately afterwards I received a call from a lady in Athens offering support and importantly offering to translate the website to Greek for us. This is wonderful news. Next week we are being interviewed for a German radio programme. I hope to inform you when it will be aired. It would be good to get some feedback from any of the media work we do. I need to know if I am giving the information that YOU want to hear, that is important for new and old supporters to know. I have done quite a bit for TV over the years, Holland, Austria and Germany, but never see the results and as I have no experience it would be useful to hear what you think – good and bad. Sadly we have never had any interest shown in our work from my home country, England.

My apologies to all who try to connect with me on facebook. I actually don’t have a clue how to use it, don’t understand it and honestly don’t have time. The Corfu Donkey one probably is your best bet as it was started by someone who does know what they are doing! I will leave it to him and I will concentrate on building the shelter. If you want to contact me personally it is best done using my email address – I can work that!

It has come to our attention that some viewers to the website are using our photos for their own purposes and some are misinterpreting words put on the website and printing them elsewhere. On occasions these misinterpretations really give the wrong idea. We are always very happy to oblige regarding publicity for the shelter but we ask that first you check with us and send us a copy of anything that is written so we can correct any unintentional errors in meaning. Photos used from the site should always be credited to CDR.

We are looking forward to greeting our seasonal visitors again and hope that you will come with carrots and apples and the energy for a walk with the donkeys or a grooming session. The donkeys are waiting to be spoilt.

Peppy, one of our rescue dogs that was rehomed on the Island a few months ago, came to visit us with her new family yesterday. She looks absolutely fabulous and is very happy.

My sincere thanks to all of you for your continued support for the donkeys. We look forward to seeing all of you who will be visiting the Island this summer. We will let you know on the website WHEN we are moving to the new shelter. Hopefully before June.

11 March 2009

Brigitte arrived 13th February and set to work straight away. She has only ever been here before in the summer and so it was quite a shock to the system to work in rain and mud. Dave has recovered from his heart attack and is back working full time as well. So I finally have a lot of time to catch up on administration and attempt some serious fundraising. We also welcome Katie Flower who has joined the team helping on this side of the work and Dagmar who is assisting with fundraising and working one day a week for us with the donkeys. We are glad to report that Susan has returned to volunteering for us. We have 6 students expected over the summer, so the team is growing. This is wonderful news. Also we have El and Nadia working away in Holland for us. They deal with all the emails from Dutch enquirers and are instrumental in many projects past and present. El has engraved name tags for all our donkeys!! Bobby, one of our ex street dogs was adopted by The Ezelsocieteit shelter in Holland and is very busy supporting us next to El and Nadia, as the photos show.

I have asked for an update on Shoco’s progress for all who have asked, this is what I received

Erika just talked to Shoco's new family on the phone. They are very happy with him, even if he really is hyper active, but they find him funny and get along with him very well. Everything is also working fine with their female dog. She's become a bit livelier since Shoco's arrival and the family is very happy about it, since she was a bit too quiet for their taste before. He likes driving in the car; going for walks, and has already put on some weight (he was very thin when he arrived). He started going to dog school, which is necessary, because he has a lot to learn and he certainly can learn a lot, because he's intelligent. And last but not least, he is such a nice cuddly guy! So please reassure everybody and tell them Shoco is happy in Germany!

And I have some news about Fynn, another of our rescues, who was adopted by Austrians about 2 years ago. Fynn was diagnosed with Leishmania disease but this did not deter Gerald and Ursula Eigl from adopting him. Read his progress and see what a great time he is having. If you want to adopt a dog with Leishmania but are worried, this will prove that these dogs can lead excellent lives with very little medical care.

First the most important thing: Fynn is in best condition. Only getting a little bit chubby. He’s getting his pill every day, and there is not the merest hint about his disease. He’s such a good boy, accompanying me nearly everywhere, and such a loyal friend.

We’ve already been to Czech Republic several times, to Germany and to Italy, been fishing and sailing. He’s been accompanying me trekking on a glacier in the Alps, he loves driving in our 37 year old Volkswagen cabriolet, and in September we’ll go to Croatia for two weeks. I love him so much! Round about Christmas we’ve been to Gut Aiderbichl. Fynn saw some of his donkey friends from Corfu. And everybody at Gut Aiderbichl was impressed, that we’ve been to your home. Everybody knows you there, and they are taking about you will visit them sometimes. Your donkeys are so cool, enjoying their life and running around as free as they want.

Please note that we are NOT a dog rescue by any means. But occasionally a street dog finds its way to the shelter or is deliberately dumped here. The dog charities on the Island won’t help me by taking these dogs to their shelters so we have no choice but to take care of them. This causes us many problems as we do not have the facilities for them and it also costs us money that should be spent on the donkeys. Since we have no facilities for them the dogs have to run loose at the shelter (if we tie them up, the donkeys and people are in danger of tripping over the ropes plus we have no houses for them). For the last year we have had the few dogs that do play in the very quiet road in front of the shelter occasionally and this is against the law – new legislation dated August 2008. This has resulted in me having to appear in court on 13th March charged with the offence of allowing dogs to roam on the road!! So please don’t bring me any dogs, ever! Will let you know what happens in court. It has to be a first and hopefully will come to nothing.

Now the land. We are due to sign contracts on 18th March. There were a series of setbacks and problems, but God willing, the 18th will see our dream come to fruition. There will be an announcement on the website if it all goes well.The move will take a lot longer as we have to raise funds for all the building materials.

The transport – Our proposed export of October last year never happened thanks to the state vets of Corfu. However, we now have the legislation which is proof positive that one state vet lied and this legislation has been handed to the state vets. We have sent 2 letters asking for their co-operation but as yet have not had any written reply. We are in the process of getting all the donkeys a passport and we will not be deterred from exporting them. The donkeys will go to their new homes come hell or high water.

We are pleased to announce that we have finally found our pony, Kino, a super home on the Island. He is living in luxury and must think he has died and gone to heaven. He is very old and has waited a long time for such a lovely home – with a Greek family I might add.

We have taken in one new donkey, a tiny little girl we have called Zachari. She may well follow Kino to his new home, as this family would dearly love her too. She is extra cute. But first we wait a few weeks to make sure she is in good enough health to leave our care.

Already many of you are asking if you can bring some things for the donkeys when you come on your holidays. Everyone is so generous and we have quite a good stock of first aid kit for our donkeys. But listed below are a few items we can never have enough of. They are mostly lightweight or small in size.

Vetwrap bandages. These are elasticated, self adhesive bandages which come in many colours.

Gamgee veterinary tissue. These are specialized rolls of cotton wool type padding to go under bandages.

Dogs – worming tablets and flea treatments (we average 3 street dogs at a time).

Thanks to everyone who has voted for CDR in the Pavo poll. The poll closes on 14th March and results on 15th.

Spring is on its way, the blossom is out and things look good for the donkeys future…………thanks for your continued and much needed support.

I hope everyone had a great New Year and good holidays. Thanks to everyone for your continued support and for all the cards, parcels and donations over the Christmas period. Donkeys, dogs and cats all got special treats.

We have been lucky so far with the weather. OK so the rain and storms have brought their own problems but importantly the temperatures have been mild. I notice from CNN news how cold it has been in Northern Europe. Still, winter is not over and in February last year we had temperature of minus 7 degrees. The donkey’s internal thermometers are confused and already they are starting to rub their coats and several already have bald patches, even those who have not worn rugs all winter. One, Viraq, who has a very sore back leg, bursts into a gallop when she sees me approach her with a rug! She makes it quite clear that she is hardy and no wimp needing protection. So I am having to take rugs off as many donkeys as I dare, but when it rains they go straight back on as the donkeys do chill very quickly in the heavy rain. Though it has to be said every donkey can get inside a shelter when it does rain and all apart from about three do run in the shelters when it rains and then as soon as it stops they emerge one by one outside.

Dave who arrived mid December is still with us, despite the extreme living conditions for humans! So between us we have coped through the Christmas break which has been very hard emotionally. Ekplixi was put to sleep just before Christmas, she suffered from a fall and this brought on a very severe COPD attack from which she never recovered. A few days before Christmas, Caitlin was continuing to suffer from COPD from which I could see she would not recover from. Unfortunately the vet was away over Christmas. Caitlin died peacefully on Christmas Day. Hoping for a better New Year, we were to see more misfortune. On New Year’s Day, two donkeys fell ill. Sounia seemed to have all the symptoms of colic and COPD. We treated her for both. And Shine our well known blind donkey could not swallow her food. After five days Sounia showed slow signs of improvement but Shine never recovered. She had a swelling on the side of her neck that was pressing on her oesophagus. This was stopping the food going down. Due to the fact of its position next to the jugular vein, we could not operate. Our vet Dino said he had neither the experience nor the facilities. We had no choice but to put her to sleep to avoid further suffering. Shine was probably our most well known donkey and a great ambassador for the shelter. All the donkeys are much missed.

It is unfortunate and unusual that we have lost three donkeys to COPD in the winter months, fortunately Sounia now seems fully recovered. The mild weather has been bizarre and the allergies that usually disappear in the winter are still being suffered by the affected donkeys. A few days ago I found a live tick (blood sucker) on one of the dogs and the flies are still about with the odd wasp and bee surfacing!

We have six other new mouths to feed. In the storms the rabbit cage was blown over and shunted several metres. The result was that the top storey of the cage collapsed into the bottom storey and therefore male bunny on top floor had a night’s access to the females below!! Good homes needed for 6 dwarf Old English rabbits.

I have two photos of the Memorial Day held at The Ezelsocieteit shelter in Zeist. They always include our donkeys that have passed away too. Thanks to El and Nadia from Holland who are regular volunteers here for being there and doing the posters for us.

One more note. A young girl from Switzerland came with her brother and parents last summer. The girl came back to do a day’s volunteering for us too. Later in the year she sent us a parcel containing bandages for the donkeys for which we were very grateful. However, I lost the address and have been unable to thank you. So I add a photo of you here with our donkey Sky, and hope you accept my apologies.

I want to do a big board of photos of tourists who have visited here. So if you have a favorite photo of your visit here please could you send it to me. Box 5210, Liapades, Corfu. The photo must have people on it AND a donkey. This is for publicity and to show the authorities just how much people want to see and help the donkeys and what it means to tourism in Corfu. This may encourage them to help us at the new shelter! We can but try.

And for those of you that remember him, our lovely wild and gormless dog Shoco finally got himself adopted in Germany before Christmas. We miss him so much but we couldn’t deny him his own very special home with new owners. Here he is. I hope he is still behaving.

Brigitte has booked her flights for 13th February and although she hasn’t enough sponsorship money yet to stay a whole year we will keep raising funds while she is here.

We have taken in two abandoned donkeys in the last week. One from Skombu area and one from Roda. Both donkeys were reported to us by Greeks. We are very happy that they are showing an interest and helping the donkeys! A great start to the New Year.

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!!!

The hospital - a sea of mud

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.

Thanks to Albert and Sue in UK who raised 230 pounds with this festive fun.
We must try this in Corfu Town next year and see what reaction we get!!

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.

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,

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.
( Please Note: Directions to CDR can be found on our How To Find Us page )

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.

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
'Make a Donation' button at the top right of each page on this website.

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
So much has happened in the last few weeks, where to start………

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?
Please write an email to the Mayor and also to the Governor of Corfu, addresses below. A polite email please, just a couple of sentences showing your support. Mention it’s about tourism, the good reputation of the Island, helping the economy. Or simply just ask them to give us 6 months!

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.

Already we have had a great response from Belgium, Germany, UK, Holland, USA, Austria

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.

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.

13 June 2008
June has been a strange month weatherwise. One minute boiling hot and the next storms. It meant that much hay that was cut on the Island got wet and is useless. There will be shortages again this year and prices high. We will try to continue to buy our hay from the mainland, it is dearer with the transport costs but generally they know how to make hay there and the quality is far superior. Economically we are better off with this hay – no wastage.

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 have taken in a few donkeys the last couple of months. Yesterday we collected a nice strawberry roan female from Pelekas. We had met her before as she was one of our outreach clinic patients. Her owner no longer needed her for work and asked us especially to give her a good home. We were very pleased to do this, she is a healthy donkey and just needs her feet trimming.

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!

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.

Since the 23 donkeys left it has been quiet. It seems very odd to have a little time to sit and relax during the day. Less poop to pick up helps! And to have time to get all those jobs done that can wait, and did wait and wait and wait. Now slowly we are getting through them. The weather is super, the grass is growing, the flies are back!!

17th February 2008
I have some good news about the dog mentioned in Jan. For some reason I don’t know what, the owner covered his rusty barrel with polythene. It didn’t work. A week later the owner had made a polythene tent and nailed it to the tree the dog always lay by. He was even given a blanket to lie on. But the rain ran into the tent and onto the blanket. A few days later, I was delighted to see that they had made the dog a proper type of kennel, raised off the ground with sloping roof to run off the rain and plastic covered too. The dog was cosy inside on his blanket. He came out of his kennel reluctantly when I arrived. I reached over the fence and could just stroke his head. He lifted a paw up and placed it on my arm and left it there. I felt quite touched but also a little unhappy that I could not take him away from there. But on the bright side, he is no longer a skinny wretch, he looks good, he has shelter, someone somewhere does care – at last. I shall keep an eye on him always but we can all relax a little.

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.
One thing is for sure, I received no official help with problem. No-one will get involved. And I am constantly reminded that should I make it public here, I will receive retaliation of some sort. This puts my donkeys and the future of the shelter in jeopardy. I regret I am powerless. That is why tourists must not support these ventures exploiting animals.

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
Happy New Year to everyone. Last year was not an especially good one for us at CDR. Problem after problem was encountered. But one thing we can say is that we saved many many donkeys, which is what we are here for. And the problems did not deter us from this aim, just made us more determined to get through to the other side.

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!

Wed 9th December
It is over a month since the last report. I can’t believe where the time goes and how close we are to Christmas. Another year nearly over – what happened and what was achieved? I will save that for January!

Well, so far the 25 donkeys have not left to go their new homes. BUT trust us, we are still working on it and with the help of our many friends and contacts, it may happen yet. Maybe not in time for Christmas but as a New Year present to them. After all it was a year ago come January 19th 2008 that they were first destined to depart.

Circa came into the shelter in October to have her teeth checked by Alec. She was very poorly so we told the owner and he was happy for us help her get better. She is now much improved but her twisted neck would make it impossible for her to work again. The owner has told us to keep her.

Kroma and Xioni were given to us by the dealer. Kroma had appalling twisted hooves and Xioni was deemed too old to sell. They are both very sweet and contented little donkeys now.

Lieke arrived at the end of October and was given to us by a friend of one of our members, Panayotis. The owner was adamant the donkey came to CDR and did not end up at the slaughter houses. Lieke is blind in one eye, has a twisted neck and very old, but she has a great appetite and strong will. After an escape attempt, we found her 2 km up the dirt track. She was then given her own private stable and has obviously now decided there was no place like CDR and only leaves her stable reluctantly in the morning if we insist.

Dina came from Krini. She is almost blind and was being used to give donkey rides to tourists. She ended up back at the dealer’s yard. He was more than happy to sell her again as a working donkey. Fortunately an organisation heard about her plight and purchased her and then gave her to us. She is very pretty and is a great favourite with Julie who helps us here. She is rather too noisy for my liking. Why is it that the blind donkeys make the most noise?

Panyotis often comes to visit us. In November on his way home he called me. He had found a donkey wondering free south of Kastallanoi. Enquiries revealed nothing, she was another ‘statisitic’ - thrown out. This new donkey called Anixi is very large. She has a respiratory problem which needs investigating. She has not responded to normal treatment. However she is eating well and seems quite bemused by all the activity going on around her.

Tomorrow I collect one more from an elderly lady in Ermones, who has been waiting patiently for 6 months for me to take her donkey in. She also is concerned that her donkey doesn’t end up at the slaughter houses.

It is so good to know that so many owners do care about their donkeys. They had no choice in the past but to send them to the dealers knowing where they would end up. 2 nights ago I was invited for a Name Day supper at a neighbours house and listened as the granddaughter told me the tale of their family donkey being sold when she was a child. Tears came to her eyes as she told me the family knew where the donkey would end up. But they had no choice.

It is thanks to your support of our charity that these stories will become a thing of the past. In Corfu, the donkey owners do have a choice now. Let’s hope, for their donkey’s sake, the owners choose to make their old donkey, a gift to CDR.

5th November 2007
So much for a weekly weblog! To be fair to myself, I have had to move house in the last few weeks, to temporary winter accommodation, my ‘secretary’ Julie has abandoned me for a long deserved rest for 4 weeks and it is Winter!

We have had so much rain in the last three weeks and that makes the work much harder. Just walking through the mud at the shelter is hard enough, walking while pushing wheelbarrows full of donkey poo or bales of hay is somewhat harder for the likes of me, who is aging fast. All my foreign volunteers have returned to home countries so us stalwarts who live here are all that remain. My thanks go to Susan and Colin and Cheryl, who helped me out in the summer and much to my surprise, are still turning up on their days, despite wind, rain and mud! Believe me, it is not easy here. A few hundred tons of concrete would help matters.

Life was supposed to be easier with the departure of the 25 donkeys in the first week of October. This has not happened. Due to many problems too complicated to go into, the donkeys are still here and the last transport this year is 15th November. We are pulling everything out of the bag to ensure their departure, but success remains to be seen.

The eviction on the other hand, leads me to good news. On the appointed date, 1st November, I was up at the shelter at the crack of dawn to feed the donkeys and tidy up before the promised demonstrations and arrival of the police. Nothing happened! Why, I am not sure. I believe that the media interest in our work and support shown by Mr Poulimenos the Governor of Corfu, may well have stalled the locals. We have made it clear that we are doing our best to find new premises and move. It is obvious we have outgrown the shelter and need more space. In fact, for the first time in over a year, the neighbours walked past the shelter and me and said a ‘Kalimera’ - good morning, only 2 days ago. Perhaps they have finally realised that I am not in business to make money fattening up donkeys to sell to the Italian meat market but am genuinely here to help the old, injured and abandoned donkeys on the Island. Whatever has made them more patient, I can only say ‘thank you’ and reiterate my promise – we will leave to pastures new as soon as we have suitable premises for the donkeys.

What is new on the donkey front? Well, believing that 25 donkeys were leaving in October I took in more donkeys as and when the need arrived. Fortunately the ones that came in were not so sick but are old and had foot or limb problems that meant they were ‘worthless’, also 2 have come in that are severe sight problems bringing our total of blind or nearly blind donkeys to 5.

We took our Bob to a celebration and release of wild birds in conjunction with EKPAZ (Hellenic Wildlife Centre based on Aegina, who rescue and rehabilitate injured birds and wildlife). Mr Poulemenos was present and the Mayor of Achilleon. 50 school children all wanted to sit on Bob and they did. Bob behaved perfectly. All the children were Greek and for some it was their first experience with wild animals and donkeys. I am delighted to report that I have never seen so many wild birds of prey in central Corfu as I have since the release in September. Yesterday a kestrel flew in to the shelter olive tree and took out a sparrow. It was horrible to see and hear but a delight to know the release was a success and the birds have not all been shot within weeks as the sceptics forecast At least they have a second chance.

On World Animal Day in October we were asked by our vet Dino Burloyannis to take Bob to the Old Fort for the children to see. It was great publicity for the shelter and great news that the Greeks recognised this special day.

Last week we were visited by 20 mature students from IEK school. The visit was part of their studies in biology and ecology of animals. They are all training to be forest rangers. They were very enthusiastic and surprised to see there were so many donkeys. Like so many locals on the island, nobody realised there was a problem with donkeys on Corfu. Before our existence, the old and injured donkeys were simply shipped to the slaughter houses in Italy. Nobody was aware of this. The students have to write a report and the best one is published – more great publicity for the shelter and the work we do. And the more awareness, the more help we can receive.

That’s about it. In a few weeks I should have some good news about the new shelter.

I make an apology here for any of you that have emailed or sponsored a donkey and are waiting for information etc. My secretary has been away for a month and will return at the end of November. I am doing my best to keep up with the admin but as I said, we are short staffed at the shelter so I am working a lot there as well. Julie will get us back on track as soon as she is home.

October 10 2007
Welcome to the first weblog, and apologies for the delay. Life at the shelter has been very hectic this summer, despite having more volunteers than ever, and one full time paid member of staff (thanks go to Animal’s Angels – see links, for funding this).

We have taken in many donkeys with various problems this year. Some serious, others just related to old age and neglect. We have had our successes and unfortunately we have had to let some go. But be assured all was done to that possibly could be, on this Island, and they had a peaceful and comfortable few weeks or months at the shelter, at the end of their lives.

Last week, The Ezelsocieteit – see Link, organised a visit from Alex Chatwick and English dentist living in Holland. He gave his valuable time for free and the Ezelsocieteit covered all the expenses. So, the outcome was a hectic week but all the donkeys that will remain at the shelter this winter all have a ‘new set of teeth’. Alex was quite staggered by some of the problems – rocky mountains and sharks teeth, were just some of the comments made. But he handled everything with quiet professionalism and a super job was done. We also managed to fit in some outreach work on some working donkeys that had severe dental problems.

We are sending 25 donkeys to shelters in Austria, Holland and UK on 27th October.. These are super places and the donkeys will receive the best of everything on arrival. Although I will miss the donkeys I am happy for them that they will have a good life. The bonus for us left in Corfu means we will have more room at the shelter to take on other needy cases. We have a waiting list!

On Saturday I went to collect a donkey that was in very poor condition. The owner had brought 10 donkeys in the summer to use for children to ride to make money. One donkey broke his leg and was put to sleep. At the end of the season the donkeys were sent to their winter quarters and there they have remained. Telephone calls from tourists and local Greeks asked me to investigate. Their condition had deteriorated very much since their sale in the summer. Only 2 donkeys were up to weight. The remaining 7 were totally undernourished and one I discovered was almost blind. When Alex the dentist was here, we went and did the teeth of 7 of the donkeys. This would help them to get the most nourishment from what little food there was. I spoke to the owner about the worst case, not mentioning the others – diplomacy is paramount – and asked if I could take her, as she would surely die this winter. He agreed. So I went with Spiros to collect her. We were not a moment too soon. She had fallen and got her feet trapped, she could not get up. I managed to release her and persuade her up and slowly she walked to the trailer. That afternoon the heavens opened like it can only do in Corfu, and we had the worst thunder storm this year. The donkey, now named Krini, would certainly have died that night. However, she was tucked up in a nice warm stable with plenty of food and hopefully she will make a full recovery from her ordeal as a ‘working donkey’ aged 30! I will be watching out for the other donkeys.

That was Saturday, yesterday, Sunday I was called out by a British couple to come and help their Greek neighbour’s donkey. Apparently she had just been returned from her summer grazing area to her owner on the Saturday and after a few hours grazing, had collapsed. That night, as mentioned earlier, we had the storm. By the time I was called on the Sunday and arrived to help the donkey, (within 2 hours) it was too late. I could see immediately she was dying, which she did, within minutes. What made her ill in the first place we will never know. But being ill and out in Corfu storms certainly was disastrous for her. Valantina was her name, no more than 10 years old.

Tomorrow the vet is coming to take samples of blood from the travelling donkeys so we will be sure they are free from notifiable diseases and they can get the all clear to travel.

On Friday I fly to Athens then by boat to Hydra for the Mule and Donkey Conference. I have been asked to be one of the speakers and talk about our work here in Corfu. I think I will feel a little lost amongst a most distinguished group of speakers, 90% Professors from Universities scattered world wide. However, I shall do my very best. I have been so busy I haven’t even had time to worry about it. But I am now – only 3 days to go!

For more info www.geocities.com/DonkeyConference

Hope all this is of interest to you. If you want to know about particular donkeys or any other topic of interest to you in the next weblogs, email me.

Thanks to everyone for your support, we can’t do the work without you,
Judy