Welcome To The Filozoikos Website
Friends Of The Animals - Elounda - Crete
The official site of Elounda's Local Animal Welfare Group Crete is a beautiful Mediterranean island and like its climate the people are warm and friendly. However, kindness and friendliness does not exist for many of the animals here hence the reason for creating our organisation a few years ago.
Who Are We and What do we do?
We are a small animal welfare organisation and registered charity, formed in 1998, dedicated to helping those poor animals who are suffering and unable to help themselves. We rescue stray dogs from the streets and it is very often the case that these strays have been cruelly treated, injured or abandoned and are often starving. Life for them on the streets is hard and dangerous as they run the risk of poisoning or becoming a victim of the traffic. We put them into one of our few, temporary foster homes and ensure that they receive whatever veterinary treatment they may need.
As with all animals it is a natural instinct to reproduce but this only adds to the problem. We have a sterilization programme which receives support from the Greek Animal Welfare Fund. This is the only long term solution to controlling the numbers!
Abandoned dogs and puppies are our daily work, fostering, vaccinating and sterilizing them but our work is all the more difficult because we don't have a sanctuary. We rely on people offering their homes and fostering these animals until they are ready to travel. When this time arrives, we fly the dogs out to Holland where, with the help of the Mirtos Animal Project they are found loving, new homes.
Most of the stray dogs here on Crete are very sweet natured - they have to be to survive! A piece of our heart goes with every single one of them but there are always more to help. Expenses are many; food, vets bills, drugs, collars, airline carriers - every single animal needs its own. Of course other expenses include our very much used car and the airline tickets that will take them to their new lives.
We also respond to any calls for help involving all other animals. If we can’t handle it ourselves, we probably know someone or another welfare organisation who can.
Everyone in our group is a volunteer and most of us are working hard in our own jobs during the summer. Winters are spent fundraising and helping with the sterilization programme. Even with our limited funds and the few regular helpers, we manage to send almost 200 dogs to Holland each year.
Some of our group are wives and mothers who have homes to run in addition to their summer jobs and yes we all get tired and emotional especially when we see the condition of some of these poor animals. We realise that we can't save them all but that will not stop us trying! Despite the numbers of strays and the problems we face, what we promise is to always give our very best efforts!
