More than 100 animals rescued from the wildfire that devastated Western Attica have been gathered at a temporary shelter in Vilia, set up inside the locker rooms of the town's football stadium.
The effort was organized through close cooperation between the Municipality of Mandra-Idyllia, the organization Dogs' Voice, the local animal welfare association of Mandra known as Adespotes Psyches, or Strays' Souls, and individual animal lovers from the area.
From the first moment, residents donated food and medicine in large quantities, while many volunteered to take shifts walking the rescued dogs. Cats that were rescued were gradually transferred to the nearby town of Megara.
Deputy mayor describes the rescue effort
Dimitris Pagonis, the deputy mayor of Mandra-Idyllia responsible for animal protection, described the facility as a temporary shelter built in recent days in cooperation with Dogs' Voice, other animal welfare organizations, animal lovers from the region and the Adespotes Psyches association, with the goal of collecting as many animals as possible from the fire-hit areas.
Pagonis said volunteers managed to gather roughly one hundred animals, dogs and cats, along with about 30 to 40 breeding animals now being kept in stables until their owners can retrieve them. He called it a major undertaking and said the presence of all the volunteers was genuinely moving, adding that without them the effort could not have had a good outcome.
Animals being reunited with owners
Pagonis said the operation was now nearing its end. He said several animals had already been reintegrated, with owners coming to collect them, while some strays had been adopted.
He said a number of animals remained at the shelter and would need to be carefully reintegrated into the affected areas, since officials first had to locate the people who had cared for them before the fire so the animals could return to their previous environment.
Caution over animals found alone
Asked about animals that were found alone in the evacuated areas, Pagonis said officials do not know the exact conditions residents faced during the fire and said it would not be right to draw conclusions. He said he could not use the word abandoned, because doing so risked blaming someone without reason.
He said that in a disaster of that scale, a real catastrophe amid chaos, he did not know whether everyone would have had the composure to act a certain way. He said he believed that in some cases people had gone out toward the fire and afterward could not even approach their own homes, not having considered that this might happen. He said an animal should never be left behind, because it is not an object but a living creature, and that people must always plan to take it with them at any moment.
Veterinary care for injured animals
On cases requiring veterinary care, Pagonis said there had been daily attention at the municipality's veterinary clinic, with the help of a veterinarian from Dogs' Voice. He said injured animals were treated at the municipal clinic and that the Dogs' Voice veterinarian also came to assist.
He said there had been no severe cases, though some animals had suffered burned paws. He said those animals were receiving the necessary treatment and that he expected them to return to a normal life before long.
