ARK Rescue stories

Every one's a winner

In a sense every animal at the ARK Adoption Centre is a rescue story because they have all been taken from the dangers of the streets and removed to a place where they are safe and cared for.

Often working with KATS to ensure they are neutered, vaccinated & passported, hundreds of dogs have already been rehomed on Kefalonia and across Europe (in Austria, Germany, Holland and the UK). Some have even ended up as far afield as South Africa.

In the early days a German magazine provided a welcome boost. They sent over a photographer and reporter to document ARK's progress in 2011. The resulting 3 page spread immediately found homes for all dogs featured.

Since then another valuable ally has been found in Dutch charity Gaia Dogs. In 2014 the charity offered to re-home a number of dogs from ARK and donated €1,000 towards neutering costs. (Legally the dogs have to be neutered before they can travel to their new homes.) KATs matched the donation and the dogs were successfully rehomed.

Gaia Dogs has maintained a close relationship with both charities and continues to rehome dogs in Holland whenever circumstances permit.

Hundreds of lucky animals have found forever homes but ARK is always full to bursting and it's a constant battle finding places for the rehabilitated animals to go so room can be made to help more strays.

But word is spreading about ARK and islanders of all nationalities are now choosing to go there to find a new pet instead of buying one elsewhere. Tourists go to visit and end up coming away with a new member of the family. Volunteers go to help and fall in love with a particular animal they can't resist. Every one rehomed is a win.