This blog aims to give a personal and totally biased view of the Greek islands I have visited. It is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to the islands. Two aspects of Greek islands that I love are seeing goats wandering around and the dawn chorus of cockerels crowing. Accordingly, each island I have stayed on will have a Cockerel Count and Goatiness rating.
Unless otherwise stated, all images are my copyright and may not be reproduced or copied. Should you wish to purchase a license for commercial use of my images please follow the link to my stock photography blog www.shootingstock.blogspot.com where you will find details of my agents. Comments are welcomed but reviewed before publication. Enjoy your visit. Regards, David.

Monday 14 October 2013

Alonissos animal welfare:

Mother and kittens on the donkey track near Patitiri
One of the many features of Greek islands which visitors encounter is the number of stray and feral cats. It's not unusual for holiday makers to adopt a cat (or cats) during their stay and provide some food for them -despite some tour operators attempts to discourage this. The long gone specialist holiday company Laskerina even went as far as warning against putting out milk for cats on the grounds that it would attract snakes "snakes love milk". I like a challenge and felt obliged to trawl the internet for some evidence of that but failed to find anything to back up that assertion at all. It's not even good for them. That said, milk is often not good for cats either (or hedgehogs for that matter) so if you are going to feed strays give them what they need -meat (and water, of course). Cat food is readily available in Greek mini markets just like anywhere else.
But what about the ones you can't help and the winter months when there are few visitors? That is where organisations such as ASAP (Alonnisos Society for Protection of Animals) comes in. Providing year round care and help for all animals (not just cats) this local charity carries out a range of activities including feeding programmes, re-homing for cats and dogs, and importantly bringing in vets to the island to provide medical care and spaying and neutering.
Of course, many islands have similar organisations so if you have a favourite Greek island and want to help the animals there try doing an internet search under "animal welfare" (or similar) to find the
Regards, David.
Edit on 25/1/2018: I have removed the previous links to ASAP as they are no longer valid. It seems that due to changes in Greek law ASAP no longer operates in an "official" capacity. I have been assured, however, that supporters on the island continue to work to help the animals there -look out for them if you are visiting the island.

1 comment:

  1. I found this family of cats on the Donkey Path from Patitiri to the Old Village -just the sort of animals ASAP help!

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