The APAA dog shelter this week received a large shipment of about 2,500 kg of food for both our dogs and stray cat feeding program from the Germany-based VETO Association of European Animal Welfare Organizations. The donation was made through Aegean Dogs, APAA ‘s sister organization and major financial supporter, also based in Germany. We thank them both for this very valuable contribution.

The shipment included about 80 sacks of dry food for our dogs (including puppies) as well as pallets of canned food, used in special cases for elderly or sick dogs. The sacks of dry food should last about 1.5 months. VETO also covered shipping costs to Athens.

VETO coordinates donations from multiple sources and diverts them to carefully vetted animal welfare organizations all over Europe. APAA supporters can visit the VETO website (VETO | Wir bewegen Tierschutz (veto-tierschutz.de)) and take a look at the ways they can help. Specifically, under the ABOUT US section, there is a “Where we help” page with a map. By selecting Greece on the map, a list of animal welfare organizations pops up. Select “Aegean Dogs” to see a short description of the organization and a wish list of needs for the Aegina dog shelter. Or click on this link: Wo wir helfen | VETO - Wir bewegen Tierschutz (veto-tierschutz.de)

Donations are secure.

For more information on VETO, write to kontakt@veto-tierschutz.de

#veto-tierschutz.de

The show 'Pantou Yparchei', or 'It's everywhere', aired its first episode last night on ANT1 TV and featured the APAA dog shelter in Aegina. The show, hosted by Chrysa Katsarini, included an extensive interview with Elena Foudouki, shelter admin, who talked about the importance of caring for animals and giving them the best care possible. She summed up at the end with her response to the question, 'What is the shelter's goal?' by saying, 'Empty cages. That's the goal.'

You can watch the video here (in Greek) 

Elena Foudouki and dog-trainer Andreas Fournarakos, from the APAA dog shelter, visited a local school on Thursday, 4 April - World Stray Animals Day - to talk to the youngsters about the importance of caring for animals.

Elena and Andreas also talked about how the children can help at the shelter by walking dogs. The shelter team will be visiting three more schools in Aegina and Mesagros this week.

Malou came along to assist and enjoyed the attention from the pupils.

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(click on the arrows to see some of the items)

A privately owned nursing home in Athens, which was forced to close, made a very generous donation of equipment to the Animal Protection Aegina Agistri dog shelter, even paying to have the things shipped to the island earlier this year. The donor wished to remain anonymous.

The items include outdoor garden furniture, a huge amount of kitchen utensils and serving platters, stainless steel worktops and a sink, and a wooden kiosk requiring some assembly, among other things.

The shelter was very happy to receive the items, which will be put to good use.

Thank you to the generous donors!

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(click on the arrows to see some of the items)

We are very thankful for the generous support  given to APAA by Stichting Buitenlandse Asieliencoornherstaat (SBA) in the Netherlands, which just last week made a donation of  EUR 4,000 to help with shelter repairs and cat neutering.

Over the past few years, they have helped our cat neutering program, paid for the clearing of the area around the dog shelter to give more protection in case of fire, paid for the emergency exit we put in at the back of the shelter and a few other projects.

SBA has closed its charity but we will be forever grateful for the help they have given us and the cats and dogs of Aegina.

Mayor of Aegina Yannis Zorbas generously donated 11 sacks of dog food for the APAA dog shelter's needs  shortly after the arrival of the new year.

Here is the mayor (right) loading the food onto APAA's new vehicle with Andreas Fournarakos from the shelter on 5 January 2024.

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Thank you, Municipality of Aegina!

The very much-needed purchase of a new (used) car was made possible by a generous donation from our German support association, Aegean Dogs e.V.

The car is now in the hands of shelter staff and will replace an older Suzuki that has been in use for more than 20 years! The road to the shelter is quite rough and the poor car has taken quite a beating.

We are very grateful to Aegean Dogs and all the people who made donations to make this purchase possible.

-APAA

The end-of-the-year APAA holiday bazaar to raise money for the stray dogs and cats of Aegina was proclaimed a huge success! It was held on Thursday, 21 December, and, under threat of rain, was moved from the area in front of Surlulu second-hand shop to the very hospitable Bakalogatos restaurant just down the street.

We are very grateful for all the donations from Germany and Greece of hand-made goods for sale; to Christos from Bakalogatos who did not hesitate to offer his premises for the bazaar; and to the shops in Aegina for their donated items for the raffle.

A very special thank you to Alexandra Danezi, owner of Surlulu, for always helping to run these events with laughter and hard work, and Antonia Chaldeou for her help and support in organizing.

And of course, thank you to the gifted cooks who donated their sweets and lovely eats for the cause.

Last but not least, a big thanks to the crew from the shelter – Elena Foudouki, Laurie Qoku and Andreas Fournarakos – for their constant hard work and assistance.

Happy New Year to all from APAA!

The Mayor and Municipality of Aegina generously donated 12 sacks of dog food for the dogs at the APAA shelter on 10 December.

APAA is very grateful for this assistance!

APAA regretfully announces that Aeneas, the dog that was shot twice last Tuesday died yesterday, 20 November.  He had been taken to orthopaedic vets in Athens, who examined him under anesthetic, took x-rays and found that one leg was completely destroyed by a bullet, the other badly broken, his body full of infection and that he would never survive the surgery and would die painfully from organ failure.  Therefore, with our permission, the vets did not revive Aeneas and put him to sleep. 

The police are investigating the case as a result of the complaint we have filed. 

We are very grateful to the people who responded with donations to help Aeneas. These donations covered the vet bills, the pet taxi that carried Aeneas and the cost of burying him in the pet cemetery in Athens.  We would like to use whatever is left to help pay vet bills for the many other dogs in our shelter that need medical care. 

APAA sponsored a seminar on 28 October 2023 led by Eleni Gkikakis, Founder of Interspecies Peace, entitled “Practical Tips of Intuitive Interspecies Communication for Animals in Shelters”.

It was a wonderful learning experience day for all 18 participants. Many thanks to  Eleni Potnia of Amforeas Wellness Retreat in the Plakakia area of Aegina for the amazing venue for the seminar and to Elena Foudouki for organizing it. Most of all, thanks to Eleni Gkikakis for sharing her knowledge of animals with us and giving us some tools to better understand the animals in our dog shelter as well as the animals we live with.