Healing Paws Animal Rescue

We are a small family and volunteer and run animal rescue on the Greek island of Zakynthos (Zante), dedicated to saving the lives of stray and abandoned animals on the island. Healing Paws Animal Rescue was founded by a British expat Sue Deeth in 2011. Sue started by rescuing a few stray and abandoned dogs and cats on the island and, through her network of friends and supporters across the UK, Holland and Germany, she was able to find loving homes for these unwanted animals. From these humble beginnings, support has grown and to date, over 2,000 dogs, puppies and cats have found their forever families. Sadly, there is no national or local government funding for animal welfare and in fact there is no authority in Greece that accepts responsibility for this issue, The Municipality on Zakynthos does not support or conduct a sterilisation programme, and many Greek owners do not feel it is important to have their animals neutered. Due to this, Sue and the other charities on the island have been unable to address the never-ending growth of the stray animal population. Therefore, the suffering of the stray cats and dogs continues. Unwanted puppies and kittens are frequently discarded in plastic bags in rubbish bins and some of the islanders, around the main tourist resorts, use poison to control the stray animal population. Unwanted animals are taken up into the mountains in the centre of the island by their owners and abandoned by the roadside without any water, food or shelter, leaving them to starve to death or be killed on the roads. Sue and her son Oliver have a loving and healing home environment on the island along with with their own resident cats and dogs. The dogs for are kept within a home environment, so they become very well socialised with other dogs and cats. The cats and dogs all live together in a large pack and each new member is welcomed like a long-lost friend. They all groom each other, play together, and sleep together!  Sue and Oliver have dedicated their lives to rescuing stray and abandoned animals and, in April 2018, were successful in registering Healing Paws Animal Rescue as a UK Charity. This provides a more structured framework to support Sue in relieving the suffering of animals on the island.  Sue is supported by a dedicated team of UK volunteers including an adoption team who match potential adopters with their perfect new family member, arrange home checks and provide post adoption support. Other volunteers ensure that our social media and fundraising activities are up to date and promoted and we also respond to hundreds of contacts from tourists visiting the island who see stray, sick and injured animals and want to help.  The charity has purchased a plot of land and we are now fundraising for the construction of a purpose-built animal rescue and rehabilitation centre. This is in addition to the constant need to raise funds to support Sue’s work on a regular basis, by funding food and vet treatment for the animals. We continue to support and promote the sterilisation of 'owned animals' and work with local volunteers in the resorts, locating stray cats and dogs and sterilising these when funding allows.  We are very hopeful that our dream of building the shelter will become a reality and we will be able to rescue and rehome more animals in the future. As mentioned, we receive no Greek government funding, so we ‘are entirely reliant on the financial support of our followers, adoptive owners and supporters. Without their khelp we simply could not do this desperately needed work. We are always happy to provide more information about the charity and our work and welcome any ideas for fundraising or other support. Please contact us if you would like to know more about our work. Thank you! The Healing Paws Animal Rescue Team