One year ago two sweeties arrived: Julia Jr. from Animal Rescue Kefalonia (ARK) and Despi from the streets of the Greek island Kefalonia.

by Katerina Lorenzatos Makris ~

First chase around the orange trees

A year ago today, two beautiful young ladies came to stay with me at our old place on the island of Kefalonia in Greece. They weren’t the first needy angels to find their way to that crumbling house and jungle of a garden for refuge. Nor, I think, will they be the last. It’s hard to visit that beautiful isle—my family’s ancestral homeland—without encountering numerous animals in desperate trouble.

But in many ways, the arrival of foster dogs Julia Jr. and Despi marked an important personal turn in the already serpentine path of my three decades of animal rescue.

More important, on this anniversary it occurs to me that these two pooches’ tales, when added to the story of Agapi, the other foster I had at the time, perfectly illustrate the necessity for creative, flexible, multipronged approaches to animal protection.

We need to do it all

There’s no simple or single answer to the complex problem of companion animal suffering. We can’t do only private rescue/foster/re-home of dogs and cats. We can’t do only public sheltering. We can’t do just spay/neuter. We can’t depend entirely on law enforcement. Nor can we hope that even education, as crucial as it is, will fully and permanently solve everything. We need to do it all, which is what makes helping animals such a challenge.

But humans have a long history of facing moral and practical challenges, and of overcoming them, and even of transcending them. Because we are human, and because we possess something we like to call humanity, “the quality or state of being kind to other people or to animals,” as defined by Webster’s, many of us feel compelled—perhaps obligated—to overcome and transcend the enormous challenge of assuring that animals worldwide be treated with respect and compassion.

Small picture, big picture

In the coming days here at Spicy Stories Save Lives I’ll describe how Agapi, Julia Jr. and Despi came into our home and our lives—the “small picture” of rescue, if you will. Also I’d like to explore the insights that I believe these stories might provide on what we need to do to improve the “big picture” for animals.

Agapi, eager to meet his new friends, but kept separate for the first couple of days to give the girls, who understandably felt a little nervous and confused, a chance to settle in.

For now, I’ve posted here a few photos from that day a year ago, when in some ways these two ladies and their gentleman friend Agapi turned my life upside down, then in other ways helped me see it from right side up.

Here at Spicy Stories Save Lives, we depend on sales of our romantic fiction stories to help create more real-life happy endings like those of Agapi, Julia, and Despi.

When we have a new Spicy Story  available (soon we hope!), won’t you please use a couple of bucks to enjoy a fun read, to spice up your life, and to replenish our rescue fund? 

Please FOLLOW Spicy Stories Save Lives by clicking the ‘SUBSCRIBE’ button above. You’ll receive email notifications of our new Spicy Stories as well as our nonfiction articles. We will NEVER give your email address to anyone else. And it’s free!

We, the animals, and our fellow rescuers thank you kindly for reading!

Spicy Stories Save Lives proudly sponsors needy animals in the U.S. and around the world.

For example we help Kefalonia Animal Trust (KATs) provide free spay/neuter for hundreds of animals per year, which is one of the best ways to prevent the abandonment and misery of puppies like Noah and Kyla. Please give to KATs via PayPal or bank transfer. Spay/neuter and education are the animals’ best hope for a better future.

Also please consider Animal Rescue Kefalonia (ARK), another group on the Greek island of Kefalonia who run a shelter  and work miracles with terribly few resources. 

Spicy Stories Save Lives and the author of this article have no affiliation with the rescue groups mentioned above, other than as a friend, volunteer, and donor.

Seen our book?  Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need, by Shelley Frost and Katerina Lorenzatos Makris, available through Amazon.com.