May I introduce myself: Michael Hiemann
My name is Mich
ael Hiemann from Aalen and I am a freelance communication designer and animal lover. Here I would like to report on my experiences with the MELIOS animal shelter in Githio, Greece. Above all, I would like to provide information for those who are thinking about adopting a dog from the animal shelter. I visited the shelter for the first time in 2015. Since 2016, I have been coming to Githio 2–3 times a year to spend my holidays there in connection with animal welfare. I have been able to see the great work that the MELIOS team does on a daily basis. The battle they have to fight “against windmills” of bureaucracy and people's ignorance. Below is my story of how I came to MELIOS. Under the link “Projects” I would like to gradually present further experiences that I was able to make there.
I had my first dog from the Dreherhof animal shelter in Aalen. I had “Arcibaldo” for over 11 years. He died in January 2010. In May 2010, we got “Golfo” from an animal shelter in Germany, who had been rescued from a killing centre in Spain. "Toby" also came from a killing centre in Romania in April 2014.
Golfo died unexpectedly of a tumour in June 2015. I informed Petra and Andreas Eichler, who had rescued Golfo from the killing centre in Spain at the time. Both are very committed animal welfare activists and go on holiday to Greece every year in connection with active animal welfare. This is how the contact with the MELIOS animal sanctuary in Githio, Greece, came about.
In September 2015, I spent 10 days there with my brother to help out. There is a lot of work that the volunteers simply can't do. During our stay, for example, we screwed USB plates onto pallets. Most of the kennels were not cemented on the inside and the dogs lay on the bare floor. They were crawling with vermin and ticks. On the pallets, the dogs could at least sleep on a reasonably clean floor.
The walls broke apart and had to be repaired. We also built temporary roofs.
We returned to Germany with three additional dogs. Two (Nico and Ferry) stayed with us and Rex (Orfeo) found a great home. Nico had been in a car accident before he came to the MELIOS shelter and was wandering the streets in pain with a twisted foot that was open to the bone. The operation was his only hope for a better life.
