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SPAZ Events …. … learn about what SPAZ is doing |
CAR BOOT SALES ARE CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE - SEE LEFT MARGIN OF THIS PAGE. THANK YOU.
For up to date information about SPAZ car boot sales, contact , Joanna Doulakis joanna_spaz@live.com
6948 011572
Christmas Bazaar – SPAZ holds an annual Christmas Bazaar in the Cultural Center in Voula. This is a handicraft
bazaar and if you wish to rent a booth to sell your creations, contact Nikki Clainos at nikki_spaz@live.com or 6988
690493 . If you wish to donate something to SPAZ’s white elephant table or international food café, please contact
Joanna Doulakis (see above).
This year the bazaar will take place on Saturday and Sunday December 4th and 5th.
Volunteer work is always needed and appreciated. If you can help out by working at the bazaar, helping to set up and
clean up, etc. or can help at the SPAZ car boot sales, contact either Nikki Clainos or Joanna Doulakis.
Raffle – SPAZ usually holds a raffle at Christmas Bazaars. For this we need good new items. Contact Nikki Clainos
(see contact details above) if you have something to donate or are willing to solicit stores for gifts.
Regular Events with SPAZ |
SPAZ IN ACTION! |
SPAZ/ΣΠΑΖ GREECE Society for the Protection of Stray AnimalZ Σύλλογος Προστασίας Αδέσποτων Ζώων |
CLICK ON THE DONATE BUTTON BELOW TO HELP US HELP THE ANIMALS YOUR DONATION IS SECURED BY THE PAYPAL® SYSTEM - YOU NEED NOT HAVE A PAYPAL® ACCOUNT TO HELP US, JUST A CREDIT CARD AND A LOVE FOR ANIMALS |
SPAZ Members & Supporters Please send ANT an email to urge them to maintain the program about animals - SYGKATOIKIDIA - to a one-hour program and not reduce it to 30 minutes. Copy & paste the letter below....... Subject: SYGKATOIKIDIA Email: spiropoulouk@antenna.gr Dear Sir, I am writing to protest about the decision to reduce the time of "SYGKATOIKIDIA" presented by Argyro Morou from one hour to 30 minutes. Ms Morou has done a wonderful job and should be applauded for the effort she has made to support the animals. The situation with regards to animals in Greece is of great concern to us and this program was a very good way of informing people and also getting support for the animals. I am writing on behalf of many other listeners and ask you please to consider reinstating this program to the full hour again. Thank you, |
SPAZ is organizing an event in Glyfada to celebrate World Animal Day October 4th. Watch this website for more details. If you would like to help, contact Joanna Doulakis. 6948 011572 joanna_spaz@live.com |
Next SPAZ committee meeting - TO BE ANNOUNCED |
Click here to send us your ideas for World Animal Day today!! |
Would a SPAZ member like to suggest and organize something special for World Animal Day in October? You can look at this website to get some ideas about what others are doing. www.worldanimalday.org.uk |
Ali, Kalinga, Jacqui, Asa and Nikki – monkeys given a second chance When Lucille Morin phoned me a year ago and suggested I do something about the monkeys living at the Hellenic Wild Life Center in Aegina (EKPAZ), I was taken back. I’m a SPAZ member; I work with stray cats and dogs; my home is full of ex-stray cats and dogs; I know nothing about monkeys. But Lucille is a very forceful person and convinced me to consider it. And then, one of those coincidences occurred. Eva Spyridis, a volunteer working at the EKPAZ center, phoned me; she remembered me from Athens some years ago when she was a SPAZ member, and she asked me to help her re-home the monkeys! Fate seemed to be calling me and I had to respond. Eva had made some preliminary inquiries about sending them to a Primate Rescue Center but needed help to continue. I needed help too, so contacted David Barnes, who we worked with to rescue the two caged lions from Salonika about 12 years ago (they eventually went to Born Free in South Africa). David agreed to help. As it turned out he had organized the re-homing of more than 65 monkeys from Greece to Primate Rescue Centers in Europe over the last ten years so he was familiar with the official steps that needed to be taken. And we started. AAP agreed to find homes for all the monkeys, and some of the other animals as well, but said it would take time to find places for all of them. We notified the Ministry, started the paper work, got the cages ready and waited. In June 2009, a representative came from AAP and David Barnes from the U.K. and Katharina Anni from the Ministry and three monkeys were transported to the airport and flown to Holland. From there, two of them went to a Primate Center in France and Ali, the baby monkey, was placed with a surrogate mother at AAP, where he is growing up in comfort. All of the monkeys have their stories. Kalinga lived in the women’s prison in Thebes with her mate for 7 years. When he died, she was transferred to Aegina. Ali was bought in a market in Morocco, lived on a yacht for a while, then in Rhodes, then came to Aegina, all before his sixth month of life. Jacqui was confiscated from a bar in Athens. Asa lived with a gypsy for some years and at some point, all her teeth were removed, probably because she bit someone. Nikki was confiscated from a Bulgarian in Salonica who had brought her into the country illegally. EKPAZ is set up as a wild bird sanctuary and does not have the proper facilities for monkeys. Nevertheless they were brought there and languished in cages for years. Unfortunately, they could not share cages as they were all from different species. My first impression of them was that they were lonely and depressed. They touched my heart. After Ali, Kalinga and Jaqui left, we waited. I hoped that Lola, Asa and Nikki might leave before the winter, as it gets really cold at EKPAZ, which is located in a mountainous area of the island. But AAP (which had a waiting list of about 500 animals waiting to be rescued) had no place for them to go. I just kept sending AAP emails, reminding them of the monkeys. Unfortunately, by January of this year, they were still here and it was cold. Lucille and Bill bought meters of heavy plastic to wrap around Nikki’s cage (she was in a large aviary in an outside area). And then Lola died. David, Eva, Lucille and I were so sorry and angry and discouraged. I begged AAP to give Nikki and Asa some priority on the list or they would die too! Then Asa was offered a new home. Hurrah, we thought. Then another problem occurred. The Ministry did not have the proper papers for her. Since their officials had confiscated her and brought her to Aegina, this seemed unacceptable. So I emailed Prime Minister Papandreou, Minister of Agriculture and Vice-Minister of Agriculture begging them to clear up the paperwork. I never received a response; I suppose I didn’t expect one. But five days later, David emailed me from London and said the paperwork was in order and Asa could leave. Maybe it was a miracle? Alas, in the meantime, AAP had given Asa’s place to another monkey in need, but they promised to bring both Nikki and Asa (and the two coatis) to Holland as soon as possible. And they made good their promise. The four animals left Athens on April 8th, with EKPAZ personnel Yianni and Pavlos, Katharina Anni from the Ministry, and Joanna Doulakis and Tzela Pagoni from SPAZ all at the airport to complete the paperwork and pay for the ticket. AAP covers the cost but the tickets must be paid in cash in Athens so SPAZ lent them the money, a total of almost 1500 Euros (the Ministry was unable to do this). All the monkeys are now gone from EKPAZ and the team of people who worked to get them out are so happy for them. In the final analysis, it was the team effort that accomplished this and the cooperation of Katharina Anni from the Ministry was an important factor. Thanks to everyone who helped; thanks to SPAZ; thank you AAP. Elizabeth Koubena for SPAZ |
SPAZ helps Machmuga fly to Holland SPAZ helped another monkey move on to a new life at AAP – the Primate Rescue Center in Holland. His name is Machmuga and SPAZ members Bill Holz and Lucille Morin loaned the money for his KLM ticket to Amsterdam. AAP covers the cost but the tickets has to be paid in cash when the animal is brought to the airport animal transport center. As you can see in the photo taken by Fofi Dimitriadou at the airport, Machmuga was calm and comfortable in his cage and arrived in good shape. He was picked up at 8pm at Schiphol airport and was driven to the center at Almere, a 40 minute drive. He was calm and interested in everything around him. When he arrived in the quarantine he was a bit agitated but when his pillow and toys were handed to him, from then on he relaxed. The new situation must be strange for him but he will be kept busy with all sorts of enrichment. After the quarantine time he will be introduced to Niki, the green monkey that has also arrived from Greece in 2008. AAP thanked SPAZ for making this transport go as smoothly as the last one . If you are interested in learning more about AAP, go to their website. |
ATTENTION! Car Boot Sales have been cancelled because the venue at the former Olympic Airport is not longer available for us to use. SPAZ is trying to find a new location and will inform our members and post it on this website when we have succeeded. Wish us luck! If you have any ideas for a new venue, please contact us!! |
For more information on SPAZ, our work, and how we can help you help the animals, contact the appropriate person listed below. General Contact Details: PO Box 70213 Glyfada, Athens Greece 166-10 spazgreece@hotmail.co.uk Individual Contact Details: Joanna Doulakis (President) 6948 011572 Tatiana Papamoschou (Vice President) 6944 221297 210 895 8582 Fofi Dimitriadou (Treasurer) Tzela Pagoni (Secretary) Nikki Clainos (Member-at-large) 6988 690493 Lucille Morin (committee member) Sue Green (committee member) 6977 939137 Vasso Clainos (committee member) Elizabeth Koubena (website) Sia Hurst (website) Click here to go to our Facebook Page |
What have you done for a stray today? We know that our members are busy rescuing strays, feeding strays, neutering strays, looking after strays - what we don't know are the details! So we are asking our members to tell us. Send us a few sentences about what you did for a stray today (or yesterday), and we'll post it on our website! Perhaps reading about what you did for a stray might inspire someone else to do the same. Let's celebrate all the great things we are all doing for the animals!! Click here to add your story to our Facebook page |