November Report

[Symi Animal Welfare]

Over the last few years, we have noticed an overall improvement in the general well-being of the street cats, much of this being directly due to the fact that so many of our Greek friends and neighbours are feeding the ones which live in their area. Working together in this way is certainly beneficial to the welfare of the island's feline population, but is also a very positive and encouraging sign illustrating that our past efforts have been worthwhile.

Recently the weather has started to deteriorate slightly, therefore plans for the imminent feeding programme have become a priority, we don't want the street cats to suffer. Armed with an extensive shopping-list, I personally visited 4 of our local supermarkets recently, to place large orders - pet pasta, biscuits and canned food . The shops have also been asked to donate any foodstuffs - Sotiris in the Village has already offered a large donation. Some of the items were delivered almost instantly, the remainder should follow within the next week and then it can be distributed amongst our volunteers. We have agreed upon the locations where large numbers of street cats head towards in the hope of finding food, so far, there should be 15 feeding stations at those points in both Yialos and the Village.

We would like to thank everyone who has donated money during the summer months, it is your kindness which allows the winter feeding programme to continue.

The FAROS vets from the University of Thessaloniki are expected on the island this weekend and will be holding a surgery for 3 days. Over the last few days, we have been informed that a group of vets on Rhodes are interested in visiting the smaller islands to hold surgeries especially Symi. This of course would be a fantastic opportunity, one of our volunteers had a lengthy discussion with one of the vets in question the other day when she took a very sick animal for a consultation.

Tasha who was introduced to you last month, continues to grow. She is the most delightful little kitten and is bulging with character. She gets along very well with her cat and dog family.

Melanie