Through our volunteer and KLM colleague Esther Jongerden, we got in touch with Abir Animal Shelter in Greece. Esther has been dedicating herself to this cause as a volunteer for years and travels to the shelter several times a year to help with the daily care of the animals. Thanks to her dedication, we, too, have had the opportunity to learn about the remarkable work being done there.
Abir Animal Shelter was founded about 15 years ago out of Abir’s love for animals. She couldn’t bring herself to leave sick, injured, and abandoned dogs and cats on the street to fend for themselves. As more people heard about this, animals were dumped at her shelter with increasing frequency.
An organization from Greece offered Abir assistance. Kennels were built on the property where she was living at the time, and the organization promised to contribute monthly toward the costs of food and the animals’ care. After only three months, however, the organization withdrew its support, and Abir was even advised to release the dogs back into the wild. By that point, she had already taken in about thirty dogs.
For Abir, that wasn’t an option. She decided not to abandon the animals and continued to care for them, despite all the financial and practical challenges. This laid the foundation for the shelter as it still exists today.
About six years ago, her current colleague joined the shelter. From the Netherlands, she helped find adoptive families, which led to about 30 to 40 dogs finding new homes in the Netherlands. Three years ago, she moved to Greece, and they have been running the shelter together ever since.
There are currently 34 dogs at the shelter. In addition, they care for 50 to 60 stray dogs and about 250 stray cats every day at various feeding sites in the Keratea, Lagonisi, and Lavrio areas.
They are also committed to TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return). Because spay and neuter campaigns rely entirely on donations, they can only carry them out when the necessary funds are available. However, they always have a pregnant stray cat that’s easy to catch spayed or neutered, even if they have to cover the costs themselves.
The shelter is not run by a board or a large organization. Two regular volunteers run the shelter, and they have recently been joined by a third volunteer. In addition, they occasionally receive help from people who come to lend a hand on a temporary basis.
Every day involves feeding dozens of stray animals, cleaning the kennels, caring for and walking the dogs, and providing medical care. Many dogs have been at the shelter for years and are getting older, causing medical costs to keep rising. Veterinary bills and cat food, in particular, pose a major challenge. To keep the shelter running, they both also hold down other jobs.
Met enorm veel toewijding blijven zij zich iedere dag inzetten voor dieren die nergens anders terechtkunnen. 🐾
