In the hills near Athens, 18 dogs are clinging to life in broken, rusting enclosures, open to the icy winds and pounding rain of the Greek winter that has just begun.
The dogs were taken in by an elderly woman who has lovingly cared for street dogs in this semi-rural area for more than 15 years. Every dog in the shelter owes their life to her – but time and increasing poverty have left the dogs in desperate danger.
Maria Chouli is now 80 years old, poor and frail, and the makeshift shelter she created to house the dogs is collapsing. She is too weak to even take the dogs food.
Without help, 18 street dogs in Greece face death this winter.
When our partner, Ghost Dogs of Aspropyrgos, called to tell us about the situation, we rushed there immediately. What we found broke our hearts: shivering, frightened and vulnerable animals living in awful conditions. It is no exaggeration to say that without help, many of these dogs could die this winter.
Many of the dogs are the unwanted offspring of sheepdogs and because they are larger than most, they are expensive to feed, need a lot of space and are unlikely to find forever homes. Others were rescued from shockingly abusive situations in nearby camps.
Right now, these animals have no protection from the cold, no safe place to sleep, and no-one else to help them except animal-lovers like you. We must help them – if we don’t, they are likely to run away and be killed by cars, die of disease or starvation, or wind up back in another camp where they will face even more abuse.
One gentle, aging mother dog is already in the early stages of what appears to be breast cancer and desperately needs veterinary care. All of the dogs were hungry and stressed, but they still wagged their tails when we arrived.
The Ghost Dogs team was already feeding the animals when we got there, probably the first square meal the dogs had in a long while – but even while eating, they were in danger. The shelter was literally falling apart around them, with collapsed, rusty wire fences posing both a security threat and the risk of injuries from jagged edges.
The dogs must not go on living like this. We have to fix the shelter and work to rehome the dogs.
If we can raise $5,000 (£3,800) we can:
🐾 Roof and weatherproof the enclosures so the dogs can stay dry and warm.
🐾 Repair broken fencing to keep them safe.
🐾 Provide veterinary care for the dog battling early-stage cancer.
These dogs are sweet-natured, loving and so happy to see human beings. Please, if you can, donate now to help us protect them from the cruel Greek winter.
