Wednesday 21 December 2016

Newsletter No 5


WE WISH YOU AND YOUR ANIMALS 
A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY GOOD 2017!


Here you can read our newsletter.






Tuesday 29 November 2016

Collars and leashes

Sometimes it is not easy to find the right words, especially if it is about donations that we need for the animals on Thassos.
But however well meant, sometimes the quality is not very good and we like to explain this further.

It is about collars and leashes for dogs that we always need for small and bigger dogs and for puppies. We are always very grateful when you send us a parcel with collars and leashes, but unfortunately some are of poor quality.
Leashes of which the fastening clip simply breaks, or the loop at the end is glued (instead of sewed) en soon lets loose.
Collars with plastic click clasp that gets loose very easy, or adjustable collars which widen again.

Until now nothing serious happened, but you can imagine how dangerous the situation can get when a dog gets loose on a road with traffic or when a fearful dog runs off.

We are sorry to say that we had to throw some of your donations away, which of course is a waste.
That's why we want to ask you to check the quality of the collar/leash you want to donate. We prefer to use synthetic leather collars with holes. This proved the safest.


In short, better one good dog collar/leash than 10 of poor quality. Nothing feels as bad as throwing away lovingly donated items.

We hope for your understanding and look forward to new sound collars/leashes. The animal's safety is simply our priority.

Saturday 29 October 2016

Monthly supporters

Having a bigger enclosure means room for more dogs, means more costs for food and medication.

We are very happy with the fact that we have 6 supporters who donate monthly a certain amount of money, which at least cover the costs for the rent of the plot and the dog food for the dogs that are in our care now.

Taking in more dogs brings the responsibility to take good care of them and you can only do that if you are sure you have money for that.

And besides that we want to go on with our neutering project of the feral cats, which also costs a lot of money. Last year we spent 4,650 euro on castrating cats and dogs.

So how nice would it be to have some more financial supporters!
Please help us to get a stable financial base and be one of our monthly supporters. And we are not necessarily talking big money here. Remember if only 10 of you donate 5 euro a month, it gives us the certainty to buy 2 big bags of dog food.

For the sake of the animals we hope to persuade you to be one of our monthly supporters.




Thursday 25 August 2016

Bigger enclosure

In the last 4 years ACT has slowly grown bigger and better known. More and more people on the island know about us, which results of course in more cries for help.
With the few foster families we have on Thassos and the restricted space in our enclosure we sometimes had difficulties to offer a dog in need help. Until now we could manage but we were afraid that in the future we would have to turn a dog down.

So after long discussions we decided to build a bigger enclosure. We found a great plot we could use, but it needed good fencing.
Again we asked the Dutch organization Stichting Wereldasielen for financial help and again they gave us a huge donation towards the building materials.
And we may not have enough foster homes but we do have a lot of friends to help us with other works. So with many volunteers we cleared out rubbish, cleaned the place, fixed doors, put up secure fencing and doors and managed to almost finish the work in three (very warm) days. And this is the result:



We want to emphasize that it is not our intention to have a permanent shelter for any unwanted dog. We believe that people need to take responsibility for their pet and if they cannot keep it anymore it is their responsibility to find it another home. Of course we are willing to help them with that, but our enclosure is not meant for those dogs.
Our help goes to dogs that are left on the streets not able to survive there because of sickness or other problems. And we will try to rehome each one of them after they are recovered.

First of all we want to thank Stichting Wereldasielen. Without their financial help this would not have been possible.
But the same applies to our volunteers. Peter, Hannelore, Grant, Arno, Gitty, Sascha, Lutz, Dirk, Karem, Jürgen, Gisela, Tanja, Sabine, Marcus thank you all for your tremendous commitment!

Sunday 7 August 2016

Oliver became Mio

However hard you try, sometimes something goes wrong ...

In March 2016 Oliver moved to his new family in Germany. Everything seemed to be going well, until a photo on Facebook alarmed us and Klaus and Claudia: Oliver, now 8 months old, looked shockingly thin and dopy.


Klaus immediately contacted the family, but only met incomprehension: the dog was fine, he just does not absorb fat and on the advice of the vet he gets special food. On July 16, Oliver was taken away from the family and taken to a veterinarian. Her comments left no doubt: "That was just in time, much longer Oliver would not have survived."


Once back in the loving hands of Klaus and Claudia and on a special diet, Oliver grew in less than three weeks from 13 kg (with a height of 60cm!) to 20 kg and he is slowly starting to see the fun of life again. He is not there yet, but he's on the right track and fortunately he has not suffered any permanent damage.


Claudia decided to start the way to his new life with a new name: MIO, Croatian for lovable. A name that suits him.

His detailed story can be read on the website of Klaus and Claudia (in German):
Part 1 - http://www.wuestenwolf.de/?p=11841
Part 2 - http://www.wuestenwolf.de/?p=11923

How could this happen?!? I hear you thinking. Was it the fault of Klaus and Claudia, who ignored their own rule, not to home dogs in families with children under 3 years? No. Was it the fault of mother (in law) Marion, who insisted and promised to assist the young family with advice and help? No. The only one to blame is the young family itself, refusing all help and not wanting to see that Oliver's condition was getting worse.
Sadly, animal welfare is not an exact science and there is always a chance that something does not go as intended.

We thank Marion very much for her resolute and courageous action, and Klaus and Claudia to handle all this on behalf of ACT.

And Mio? For Mio we wish the very best family that exists, and a long and happy life.



Tuesday 2 August 2016

Last week we had a lot of new arrivals…

First Dutch rep Jolien found a dog in a very bad condition in the Skala Potamia area. It was skinny, had infected eyes and wounds on her ears. She contacted ACT and was so kind to take the dog to vet Dina in Limenas. Dina was shocked by the state of the dog and also it had hundreds and hundreds of fleas. It was so bad she even had to bath her. Furthermore a speed test showed that the poor dog has Leishmaniasis as well. Besides flea/worm treatment and antibiotics, she was immediately put on Zylapour tablets. When the lab results came we were relieved that all values were normal, but the Leishmania titter was very high. Good news was that we can start giving her Milteforan. A very expensive medicine, but it has to be done. She is a young dog, so let's hope she recovers soon.
Xara, as we named her, can stay for the time being with Jolien until we found a place for her to stay.



Second Jackie was asked for help by a Greek man in Theologos. He had 2 dogs to "guard" his chickens, but he couldn't afford to have 2 dogs anymore. We discussed with him that we could take the dog, if he was willing to contribute a little money towards our costs. Thus happened and we took the little, one year young setter to the vet for a check. He was skinny and had lice (probably from the chickens), but thank goodness the Leishmania test was negative. After the usual flea and worm treatment we brought him to our enclosure. After some time with good food, he will get his first vaccinations and will be castrated. We named him Woody.



A while ago a stray mother dog with puppies in Skala Marion was reported. People were trying to catch them, but that wasn’t so easy because they were quite scared.
Then suddenly a call: 3 of the puppies were caught! Jackie had already prepared her "puppy beds" and picked them up at vet Nikos. Two days later another 4 were caught. They are about 2-3 months old and their name will start with a Y. We will give Jackie some time to think of 7 nice names ;-)



So we are talking about huge vet bills again for medicines, vaccinations, castrations, microchips etc. It is clear that we would be very pleased with any donation, big or small.

With all these new dogs all our foster homes and the enclosure are totally packed.
Hopefully we won't get any more emergencies, because we won't be able to help them unless we expand…

Wednesday 20 July 2016

Behind the scenes

Running an animal organization consists not only of rescuing and caring for orphaned kittens, the castration of stray cats, rescuing (possibly ill) stray dogs and puppies, looking for a good home for the dogs, organizing transport if they are adopted abroad, organizing bazaars to generate cash or placing and retrieving the collection boxes.

There must also be spent a lot of time on the administrative side: accounting, tracking the status of each dog (vaccinations, medications, etc.), updating the website and Facebook, answering many emails.

Or, like now, in reactivating the ACT PayPal account.
If the monetary traffic at PayPal exceeds € 2,500 certain documents must be submitted in accordance with EU rules.
This is no problem, until you find out that PayPal is a slow organ, there are always new - or even the same again - data requested, and none of PaypPal's employees are really engrossed in your file.
But thanks to tenacity and perseverance we have now, 2½ month, 26 emails and 24 phone calls later, finally full access again to our PayPal account. And it was about time, because bills need to be paid.




Monday 11 July 2016

First Summer Bazaar 2016

Last Saturday we had our First summer bazaar of this year.
Although there weren't many tourists we still made a good result of € 339,45 on sales and donations.
We were very pleased to see that many Greek people visited us and are interested in our work.

We couldn't have done this without the help of our volunteers. We would like to thank them for loading and unloading the trailer, building up the stall, making the wheel of fortune and products, selling our products, polishing nails and then late at night breaking up again.

And of course we thank all the shops that donated the prizes for the wheel of fortune.

We hope to see you all again on our next bazaars at the 6th of August and the 3rd of September!



Saturday 18 June 2016

Jasper and his servant

Sure you remember Jasper the cheerful, boisterous, but friendly dog who has found a home at the Dutch author Gerbrand Bakker and unfortunately died suddenly this year.

http://act-thassos.blogspot.gr/2016/03/jasper.html

We were very shocked by Jaspers death. Now we are pleased to report that not only Jasper lives on in our hearts, but also in a book. Gerbrand Bakker has written a book about himself and his faithful companion, which appears also as E-book in the Netherlands and will be released in Germany in September.

He describes how he bought an old house in the Eifel and moves in with his dog Jasper, what they experience there and how Gerbrands past comes back to life by living in the Eifel with his Jasper.
But see for yourself (in Dutch):

https://www.bol.com/nl/p/jasper-en-zijn-knecht/9200000058907374/?Referrer=ADVNLPPcef8f800cdbf929700dcb6aed9030014940 

or here at his former foster family (in German):

http://www.wuestenwolf.de/?p=11533

We are very pleased with this humorous book that shows the soul of man and dog, and it proves once again that it is worth to help the animals, because they teach us more than we think.



Thursday 19 May 2016

Alex Wilson * RIP 17-05-2016

To our great grief we had to say goodbye to Alex yesterday.
After a year of fighting the cancer, he finally lost the battle…

Alex was one of ACT's founders and most involved members. Nothing was impossible.
He was the driving force behind the construction of the enclosure, he built us a beautiful stand for our bazaars - which will always remind us of him - and was always willing to be a loving foster for puppies in need. Even in his last weeks he insisted to take in 2 puppies. Life goes on, he said…

Our thoughts are with Jackie, his children and family and we wish them strength in these difficult times.

Kalo taxidi, dear Alex, you will be missed.




Tuesday 19 April 2016

Car Boot Sale in Limenas

We had a really nice day at the car boot sale in Limenas last Saturday. There were about 30 stalls, so it is getting a big thing now. (Thanks Sue!)

It was quite warm and the sellers got sun tanned from risky red to beautiful brown. We really should have been selling hats and sunglasses ;-)
But even without that we made a nice € 303!

Thanks again to our super team (they are getting better and better): Gerry, Val, Jackie and Tanja. And of course the men loading and unloading the trailer and setting up the stands: Peter, Grant, Alex, Joop and special guest John.



Monday 11 April 2016

Annual meeting members

Yesterday the members of ACT had the annual general meeting in Stelios' tavern in Limenaria. W would like to thank Stelios very much for his kind hospitality and free use of his tavern.

The finances of 2015 were approved by the audit committee.
We would like to share the totals with you:

IN           
€      2.533,01 - Balance 2014                      
€      5.411,83 - Donations              
€      2.846,60 - Car boot sales/selling goods/events      
€      3.765,00 - Adoption money              
OUT
€      4.653,00 - Castrations/sterilizations                          
€      3.781,80 - Vaccinations/medical treatments/chip/pass                  
€      2.525,96 - Tickets + transport dogs, boxes                  
€      1.411,50 - Dog/cat food etc.                          
€         190,90 - Costs sales/making products                          
€         978,95 - Other costs                          

Every two years there are new elections for the board and audit committee.
President (Tanja van Egmond), Vice President (Jackie Wilson) and Secretary (Joop van Egmond) will stay the same. New Treasurer is Peter Woolley.
Audit Committee will remain Grant Taylor, Val Taylor and Gerry Woolley.

Also thanks to the donation of 500 euro of the Dutch organization Stichting Dierennood we were able to neuter exactly 100 cats last year and 9 dogs.

We will go on with our castration project, but we need more money for that.
So please help us with donations on our bank account, Paypal account, in the collection boxes or by buying our products at the car boot sales and summer bazaars!


Saturday 2 April 2016

Annual General Meeting


On Sunday, April 10th, 2016 at 11:00 the annual general meeting will be held in Taverna Stelios in Limenaria.

All members have been invited by email.

Tuesday 29 March 2016

Ingo

With great sadness we had to say goodbye to Ingo last night.

This giant but very friendly pointer was found on the streets last summer in a terrible condition. We treated him for leishmaniasis and although he was getting a bit better, he didn't put on enough weight. New blood tests showed that he was suffering from a blood parasite. After he was treated for that, he seemed getting stronger, which was confirmed by the results of another blood test.

Now that his "room mate" Donald had left, Tanja and Joop decided a week
ago to take Ingo to their house, hoping that more human contact would do him good and help him to fully recover.
Then, after just a few days, he suddenly got weaker, couldn't even stand on his legs sometimes. The vet concluded that he was suffering from severe anemia and heart problems. Even though there was only a small chance, we put him on a drip.

Before we could make the decision for him, he died peacefully last night.
We are comforted by the thought that at least he didn't die alone, but in the company of Tanja who was with him in his last moments.

Kalo taxidi dear Ingo, you are free now.



Tuesday 15 March 2016

Jasper

To our great sadness we received the news that one of our dogs, Jasper, died.

In summer 2013 Jasper was wandering around in Skala Potamia and was regularly chased away by tourists (sometimes in a cruel way), seen by Dutch tourists, who brought him to ACT.

Cheerful, boisterous, but very gentle Jasper ...

He found a good home at the Dutch author Gerbrand Bakker, partly living in Amsterdam and partly in the German Eifel. That way, for 2 ½ years Jasper could enjoy the free nature where he could run around, as well as the urban life and the lectures of his owner, where he was always present.

In February Jasper had problems with his health, was blind and had seizures. On March 13, 2016 Gerbrand had to make the difficult decision to let go of Jasper.

Kalo Taxidi (good journey) Jasper, you now have peace.
We wish his owner who must miss him forever, a lot of strength.




Tuesday 1 March 2016

The roof of our enclosure is finished

On January 25th we launched this appeal for donations:

https://www.facebook.com/AnimalCareThassos/posts/960044017415378

and in a short time were a whopping € 580 donated, needless to say that we were very pleased.

We had even more luck: we found cheaper, but good quality materials and the DIY market in Potos "Rigas" had given us a discount. So the roof has become not only cheaper, we even have € 230 remaining, which we will certainly use well for the animals (castration, medicines, etc.).

Val and Grant, with a helping hand of Joop, have now built a weatherproof, stable roof. It was a bit tricky work, since the net (which was previously put on the top to provide shadow in the enclosure) had to be removed and also the grid, because otherwise the wooden slats could not be fitted, on which the roof had to be fixed. You can clearly see on the following photos.



All in all a wonderful result that we could not have done without their help.

Yet it is not very warm, so that the dogs can enjoy early morning and late afternoon, the sunlight in the enclosure. In summer, however, when it is very hot in the midday and the sun burns in the truest sense, our dogs now have a wonderful place in the shade. Apart from the fact that the space is not transformed in a muddy place on rainy days.
This is not only nice for the dogs but also for Joop, who now remains dry when he looks after the dogs.

We like to thank you very much for your quick donations and Val, Grant and Joop for the rapid construction of the roof.

Monday 25 January 2016

Please help us to build a roof!

Nearly 3 years ago, with your help and a generous donation of the Dutch organisation Wereldasielen, we were able to build a big enclosure for a few dogs.
At the time there was no money left for a proper roof, so we put a net on top to provide some shade.

But every time after heavy rain we feel so sorry for the dogs: the enclosure changes in a puddle and the dogs are wet and muddy, as you can see at the pictures.
So now we have decided that the time has come to make a roof.

But… big enclosure means big roof, means big money…
The costs will be around 750 euro and that is why we need your help. We know that a lot of people appreciate what we do for the animals and we have nearly 600 followers on Facebook. If only half of them would donate 5 euro we could easily pay for the roof and even castrate some more feral cats.
So please please help us to make the enclosure a better place for the dogs, it is sad enough that they have to stay there instead of with a loving family.

You can donate through Paypal: act.thassos@gmail.com
or on our bank account:
Piraeus Bank Limenaria - Thassos
GR06 0171 0620 0060 6213 6774 937 (BIC: PIRBGRAA).
The ascription is: DRASI GIA TA ZOA THASOU


THANK YOU!!!






Monday 11 January 2016

Newsletter No. 4


You can download our latest newsletter here:


We hope you enjoy!