Understaffing puts Sirius dog sanctuary on the brink
THE SIRIUS Dog Sanctuary at Moni in Limassol is in danger of closing down due a steep drop in volunteer numbers. Housing over 115 abandoned dogs, the shelter is now full, while the last remaining volunteers are struggling to maintain the centre, its adoption programme and the increasing number of abandoned and mistreated dogs and puppies arriving on a daily basis.
“If we don’t find more volunteers, we will face many problems. First, we will not be able to give the best care to the homeless dogs we shelter, which is a priority in our mission; then we will not be able to re-home them successfully as there are not enough people to spread the word,” explained Marianna Philippidou, Volunteer at the Sirius Dog Sanctuary.
“The worst case scenario is that no volunteers will mean no shelter.”
“Volunteering is about devoting your time to these poor souls. Without doing much, you actually gain a lot: you get a sense of satisfaction, you meet people from various backgrounds who also genuinely love animals and you work as a team,” Philippidou added.
As Philippidou explained, in better times the shelter had 20 volunteers, many of whom were from the UK, but some of them returned home, leaving the shelter short-staffed.
“We now have ten volunteers, but need many more for the shelter to function adequately. There are a variety of tasks that need to be done, from cleaning, admin support and dog walking, depending on each person’s preferences,” she said.
The shelter volunteers have called on animal-lovers to devote some of their time to dogs in serious need of care.
“Firstly, we need at least five people in charge of cleaning the premises – the cages, the feeding bowls and common areas.
“We need a lot of people to do this because of the large number of dogs and the fact that not all of them get along so we cannot open all the cages at the same time. We clean cage by cage because otherwise there would be chaos,” Philippidou said.
The shelter is also in serious need of a person to deal with office administration, particularly with the filing, which ensures the smooth running of the dog adoption process. Handymen are also in demand to repair the daily wear and tear of the building.
“There are other ways people can help. For example, we always need dog walkers and groomers, people to deal with the duty mobile phone, as well as fundraisers.”
n For more information visit www.siriusdogsanctuary.com, or call the duty phone at 97-780779
