Feb 14th

Dear supporters

The old shelter has been completely cleared now and Silke has about 30 dogs at the old Nerokouro shelter (illegally) for now, a few puppies and the cats at her own house in newly built pens, donkeys on the land where Gundi (Silke's main helper) lives plus recent rescues, youngest pups and kittens at the information shop in town. The staff are being kept on as there is much to do with the storage of equipment from the old site and as the animals are now widespread helpers are required at the different locations and to travel back and forth. Also Silke is still carrying out rescues on a small scale.

A meeting with the mayor, late last week, resolved nothing. Silke intends to run a basic shelter from the Nerokouro site for now and hopes that the land she has in mind for purchase will eventually become available for a shelter. The German association Arche Noah have been very active in transporting large numbers of the animals to Germany for rehoming and of course will need to continue to do so if she is going to rescue injured animals in the future. If you understand German they have a website giving everything in finer detail. With financial assistance from supporters Silke will continue the strays sterilisation programme and the animal welfare education programme in schools. She was sounding quite positive last time I spoke with her but the strain of it all must be tremendous.

Lobbying of the authorities is the best anyone can do just now, although it has all been done before, to no avail. According to Silke all of the authorities apart from the local mayor are supportive of what she is doing. They offer no financial assistance of course but their sympathy and agreement with the cause is very important. Unfortunately, the key person for the continuance of an animal shelter is the local mayor, and he is totally intransigent in his views. In case you care to send e mails asking those in authority to press the Mayor of the Akrotiri, Chania, Crete to take action I give below a few e mail addresses.
Prime Minister of Greece
Konstantinos Simitis Kostas Simitis
Maximos' Mansion
Athens
Greece
e-mail: mail@primeminister.gr
Fax: +30-1-6715799

Minister of Agriculture
Georgios Drys
Ministry of Agriculture
Acharnon 5
Athens 104 32
Greece
e mail: drys@otenet.gr

Mr. Dimitrios Georgorakis,
General Secretary
Greek National Tourism Organization

Jannis Pantelis
President
Greek National Tourism Organization

Amerikis 2
P.O. Box 1017
Athens 10564
Fax: +30-1-3234-593
Email: president@gnto.gr (gnto.gr)

Mayor of Chania
Georgios Tzanakakis
dimos@chania.gr
Fax: +30-8210 -93300
(Comment from Regina Schmid, strong supporter of Silke: As a mayor he could
not offer new land, but as the chairman of T.E.D.K.
(assembly of all mayors of the prefecture of Chania) it was his task and he
neglected it. Furthermore he told lies about Silke in public (TV). So he is
to blame in the first place for the current situation.)

Mayor of Akrotiri
Antonios Giannakakis
dimosakr@otenet.gr
Fax: +30-821-69459
(Comment of Regina Schmid, strong supporter of Silke:He behaved very badly
two times in our presence: During a meeting of the
council of Akrotiri two years ago he said Silke should not dare to set the
dogs free or he would find a "solution" within two days only. That meant he
would shoot or poison them. Last week he closed the road to the new land the
ETN will buy for a new shelter with his rubbish truck to prevent Silke
bringing at least the donkeys to the new land.)

Vice Prefect of the Prefecture of Chania
Alexandros Tzatzanis
Prefecture
Chania/Crete
Greece
Fax: +30-821-30204 or -30205 (I was told only one of them is working.)
No e-mail address known.
(Comment from Regina Schmid, strong supporter of Silke:
Important: The Vice Prefect should be thanked for
his support so far and encouraged to support re-building the shelter also in
the future.)

Also:
try the Greek Embassy, Greek National Tourist organisation, Greek Consulate and so on in your own country.

On behalf of Silke and all at Noah's Ark many, many thanks for your support. If you do not wish to receive updates on the situation please let me know as I don't want to pester anyone!

Dawn.