Cretan Animal Welfare Group

You read the news and saw the photos…

Now it’s time for you to see the Movie!!!

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Thursday
29 April 2010
Lassithi Plateau Psihro-Magoulas-Avrakonta

We are always looking forward to this day on the Plateau. Here the people know us and our project longer and everyone knows each other.

We always start at the caves of Zeus where traditionally we start with coffee. Today Julie will join our team for the first time as Gayner needs to work. Julie lives for years on Crete and is very interested in our equine project. This is very nice and she knows how to transfer her enthusiasm to the people on the Plateau.
As we weren’t sure if the project would be able to go through due to the volcano on Iceland, we didn’t spread any posters this time beforehand. So we had to work with the phone numbers we had.  The people at the caves were informed the day before so a lot of them were waiting for us. The owners are asking us all sorts of information and clearly enjoy our visit.

On to the next village where we treated the last time 5 donkeys. This time 3 appear, the others are working in the fields. The same happens in the last village of the day and one donkey is sold. Then we come to a donkey that we missed in October, so it is one year ago that we treated it. We have a pleasant conversation with the owner. He shows us a postcard of about 30 years ago with him on a donkey, a card that went all over the world.  The lady of the house can’t resist saying that he was then looking a lot handsomer and younger.

A woman which was present during this conversation has a donkey as well but she is too tired to walk over there. So we take her in the car on the front passenger seat and the four of us squeeze on the back seat on our way to the donkey.
It is a donkey that we have never seen before. It is a sad old donkey, cold and sweaty. We fear that we won’t see her again in October…She is taken out of her stable and treated. In front of her stable grows a lot of green and she quickly starts to eat. The poor donkey is starving. We say that it is better to let her graze.
In the meanwhile the husband of the women has arrived and explains that the donkey escapes and then runs away, something he obviously doesn’t like. We pick some grass for the donkey and tell the man that he can do this himself, as the straw the donkey gets now is too hard for her to grind as she hardly has any teeth left. If he does not do that then the donkey will die, well, the man said, then she dies. His wife tells us that she will take care of the donkey. Let’s hope that she has the power to do so.

Our last donkey of the day, how sad….
Thankfully the advertisement for our visit the follow day in the next village cheers us up. What a warm welcome; hoppa, hoppa…We don’t have to end our day bad. This project is a project with a smile and a tear.

Friday
30 april 2010
Lassithi Plateau Agios Georgios-Psihro-Koudamalia-Lasinthos

The day started pleasantly with  warm sunshine. We arrived at the home of the donkey with the goat. The owner had another two little goats, which were not allowed to run away so they were shut in the oven. Something they were obviously used to as they got in easily.

Afterwards we went to a donkey with skin problems (old winter coat and from the saddle rubbing). The owner said that she always rubs herself at a tree. I got a brush and started brushing her. After that I wanted to give the brush to the owner but he said that he wouldn’t do what I just did. She can rub herself from a tree was his answer…so brush was taken back…

The next owner told us that the donkey with the head collar grown into the skin had died in the winter. She was found dead in her stable. Sad as we would have loved to see what had become of her. That’s life…

To the next donkey, a molar needed to be removed, which was all askew. The owner wanted to give his donkey to us as a present as he didn’t need him anymore, he has a bicycle now…

On our way to lunch we ran into another donkey, one we had never treated…so our lunch had to wait! The donkey was packed to leave, so if we wouldn’t treat it straight away it would be gone. There was another person present, of whom we had treated the donkey three times already, so as soon as the owner agreed to let us treat his donkey we started straight away. While helping the donkey his wife came…screaming from her house. She obviously didn’t agree with it. She was scared the hooves would start slipping and that the donkey wouldn’t be able to eat anymore…which of course wouldn’t happen. The hooves looked bad and were treated but not too much at once as this might cause problems, so the rest will be done in October.  Also the molars could use a good treatment, so work for Olav too.

The owner was satisfied and we continued our way to our lunch, which we gladly delayed for this donkey.
After the lunch we treated another couple of donkeys and then tired, but satisfied in the direction of Malia…Tomorrow already our last (half) day of our outreach….

Saturday
1 May 2010
Stalis-Mohos

Our last day brought us to Nikos of Amarillis stables in Stalis. He has two new donkeys, one was not in a very good condition, with swollen eyes and severe abrasion. We do know that Nikos takes good care of them, so we started on their hooves and teeth.

Afterwards we went to our last two donkeys in Mohos. Also there they know us, so we went  there with the four of us and I had to depend on my best Greek. Both donkeys weren’t on their usual place, so best to go to the square of Mohos and ask the owner of the restaurant where we had a coffee before if he could call them. They were home so we went first to Kiri Yorgos, he join us in the car as his donkey was close to Kiria Georgina. We had to shout as she is little deaf. She was happy to see us, so we could start our job. Also Kiri Yorgos returned and both donkeys were seen to. We got raki and peanuts (if we had accepted them every time during our project, we couldn’t have done much work!).

We said cheers to a good summer
and see you again in October.

And this is how our 3^rd project came to an end,
tired…satisfied…successful.

The preparation was less, as we arrived late on Crete, worried whether all flights would be carried out and the team would be in time on Crete. Therefore we couldn’t hang posters on Lassithi and some people were not aware of our visit. Because of this we couldn’t see to 12 donkeys as they were in the fields.

Nevertheless we treated 76 animals:
56 donkeys
14 horses
1 pony
4 goats
1 bird

And we are proud of that…thanks to your support…we are able to do this….

Special thanks goes to:

Hans Signer – Farrier
Olav Fränzel – Equine dentist

Tsapakis Apartments for the free overnight in Lendas

Kristalli Apartments

Julie – volunteer

And of course all the others which donate, buy from our webshop ia, buy books at Bol.com or which support us in any other kind of way.
Help us to continue this project…..as we will be back in October 2010…will you keep supporting us?

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Tuesday
27 April 2010
Peri-Platanos-Petroskefali-Tyllisos-Gazi

We have an early start this day as we needed to drive some distance to find a place to have breakfast.

We visited a couple of villages but no donkeys to be seen, however we did see a horse which needed our help. She didn’t eat very well and had a foal, so equine dentist Olav began his work.

The owner led us afterwards to another horse in the same village where we had just ate breakfast. He first offered us a drink while they fetched the other horse, a stallion. He received his treatment on the square and as always the citizens were fascinated to see us at work.

The horse owner was asked to feel in the horse’s mouth before and after the treatment. This made him realize the need for Olav’s work.
While busy with the horse a little bird has fallen from tree and the man who offered us the coffee gave it to Hans, who of course took pity on the little creature.

We went to the little shop next to the kafeneion to ask for a box. They were very helpful and even made holes in the box,. so the little bird joined us on our trip. We gave it water with a syringe and in the evening it was picked up by Margaret (volunteer of CAWG). She fosters birds and wildlife and does this with a lot of love and care.

We followed our road to the rescue center in Petroskefali, which had taken in another donkey which needed treatment by us.

From here we continued through several villages but unfortunately no more donkeys were found.
We did meet a lot of very friendly people. At the bakery in Petroskefali we asked for a man with a donkey and horse but he was unavailable however his mother sent us on our way with  2 bags of lovely, fresh cookies.

After having driven around for a while, unfortunately without results, we went back to the north. Here we visited of course Tyllisos where Stephanie and Stephanos are.

Their sweet owner wasn’t there but we were helped by a friend of his who also takes care of them. He had good news for us. Stephanie is probably pregnant, so within a year…

Afer this we went to have a look at a stable with horses and of course Hans wanted to visit the “shop” of the old man who makes hand made head collars etc.

Wednesday
28 April 2010
Vathi-Kritsa-Kalo Chorio-Vlahides-Kokkini Hani

First we went to Vathi where the owner and his daughter were waiting for us,

continuing to Kritsa.

First it looked like the owners weren’t home, one went to the market in Agios Nikolaos and the other was busy refurbishing a house but finally we were able to treat them. A lot of tourists came to have a look at our work.

In the meanwhile we got a phone call from Rebecca and Kerenza, they were on their way towards us when they saw a women with a donkey. As she wasn’t going to wait for the team, they decided to follow her…When we arrived she was just having a rest at a bus stop together with her donkey. This donkey was never seen by us and could certainly use a service! So there we were, standing next to the road at a bus stop. The owner was very distrustful, but nevertheless let us do what we needed to do and asked if it wasn’t hurting her donkey. The donkey was packed with herbs and vegetables on her back. It has its charm to give help in this way.

It is on moments like this that I am wondering how we would react when somebody knocks at your door or stops you on the street and tells you that they will give you a free service treatment to your donkey or horse if you want to. Would you do it? Let people you don’t know touch your animal? People on Crete might think differently about their animals than we do, but for them the animal is very important for the transport or work on the field.  So when the animal is not treated well it could lead to big problems. So it is on these moments that I always have a lot of respect  and am very thankful that they allow us to do this.

Today we could add two new donkeys to our database.

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25 April – 1 May 2010

Sunday April 25^th Olav, our Equine dentist arrived, completing our team so we could start another outreach. Hans, our farrier had thankfully arrived 2 days earlier but we had been very worried that our outreach would be cancelled due to the ash cloud from Iceland.
Sunday afternoon Olav started with our “Flowers of the Haven”. All four underwent the treatment meekly. Hans had already treated their hooves a few days before. Marigold had a loose molar which needed to be removed. It was so loose that it could be removed by hand. This could be the reason Marigold finds it difficult to put on weight, although she looks a lot better after getting her extra food all winter.

Monday
26 April 2010
Rotassi-Harakas-Vagiona-Krotos

Rotassi is a new village for us in the Messara area which we visited last October. We went to the kafenion as instructed by our contact. We had been told to expect 10 donkeys waiting for our visit, but in fact we needed the help of a local young man to find 4 donkeys needing treatment.

A man on a donkey arrived first and was treated on the village square, which attracted a lot of attention. Our helpful Adonis, brought us to other donkey owners. The villagers were asking us why we were taking photos and filming.

We explained that this would be used for publication on the internet to show people where the money they had donated was used. As soon as they heard that they were happy for us to continue taking photographs and filming as much as we liked.
Finally we treated only 4 donkeys, as the rest were already in the fields, but we are sure that on our return in October they will all be ready for our visit.

On our way to Vagiona we went through the village Harakas. Next to the road there was a donkey which definitely needed some help but we had to search for its owner. The lady living in the house opposite was very helpful and went together with Gayner to the owner. After some discussion and disbelief that our work is really for free, we were allowed to treat the donkey.

At the beginning she was very wary about what we were doing, but afterwards she was really happy with the treatment given to her donkey. The donkey was tethered so we gave her a new head collar with a clip to fasten the rope more easily. These will be handed out more during this trip.

We continued on our way to Vagiona which were visiting for the 2^nd time. They were very happy to see us again. One owner said that when we return in October he will give his donkey as a present to me, isn’t that nice? Now I just have to find a piece of land for this sweetheart!

We arrived late in Krotos but we were expected and because we knew the owners the job was quickly done. We did have to drive from field to field, even landing in the bed of a pick-up to be brought to the last land as the sun was going down. This was another experience.

As we returned to the village, it was already dark, and there was our last donkey waiting for us. From the kafeneion and street lamp we got extra light so we could give this donkey the help it needed.
Finishing here we drove on to Lentas for a free night’s accommodation. Although the complex wasn’t open yet the owner came to bring us the keys. Isn’t that fantastic?!

Filed under: Equines | Tagged: Equines | Leave a Comment »