Our philosophy in a nutshell: No animal in our area should have to suffer. Most unnecessary suffering can be avoided if dogs and cats do not have unwanted offspring, babies that are then neglected and left to fend for themselves. Sterilisation is therefore one of our main con-cerns, and we try to convince as many pet owners as possible of the necessity of this procedure. However, that is not easy in this country, because many Greeks think that you deprive cats or dogs of their purpose in life if they cannot reproduce. Also, many are not aware that now-a-days it only requires a minor surgical procedure from which the animal will completely recover the following day. It is part of our philosophy to spread knowledge about the benefits of sterilisation as widely and as often as possible.
Our philosophy: No animal in our environment should have to suffer.
We want to make the very young understand that animal welfare begins with avoiding over-population. Visits to primary schools are part of the programme we would like to realise, as are information meet-ups in village pubs. And al-ways talking, talking, talking, because we want to act together with the animal owners and not against their will.
To help prevent unnecessary suffering, we are always available when someone finds an in-jured animal. The same applies if someone comes across cows whose legs are so badly hobbled that the animals can hardly move. This practice has long since been banned, but is still common because in this country cows graze in olive groves and, without hobbling, cause great damage to the trees.
And again and again conversations, conver-sations, conversations, because we want to act together with the animal owners.
Pferde und Esel, alleine unter sengender Sonne und ohne Wasser irgendwo Horses and donkeys, tied up alone somewhere under the scorching sun and without water, are also among the animals whose suffering we want to avoid; or harmless snakes, which peo-ple kill because they don’t know better, and we try to protect hem from this fate. Small song-birds that are shot “because it’s tradition”, magnificent birds of prey that suffer the same end because the hunter wants to adorn himself with their feathers – sea turtles whose once pristine spawning grounds have tturned into tourist beaches, and fish that are caught and killed en masse before they are fully grown and could provide for offspring – they are all our “clients” that we would like to represent ac-cording to the simple philosophy that instead of spreading more and more suffering, we hu-mans had better put an end to it.