Introduction:

Alex Kiriakidou was only 17 when she started saving stray, abandoned, abused dogs and caring for them in her parent's home. Knowing and seeing her love and dedication to the animals it didn't take long for people to ask her if they could leave the dogs that they had found, with her. It did not take long for the number of dogs in her care to rise to 30.

In 2012, using the personal money she had, she was forced to rent a field and build shelters where she could keep and care for the dogs in a loving, safe environment. With no help, at that time, she opened the doors of Alex's Farm of Strays Animal Rescue.

In 2015 she met a kind man who had saved 10 dogs that were about to be euthanized in a pound. He put them in a fenced field and asked for her help in caring for them and re home them. From that time Alex's Farm grew and now we have 150 dogs

Current Situation:

The Shelter has been taking care of and finding kind Foster Carers and "Forever Homes" for stray, abused, abandoned and neglected animals for the the past 4 years in our current location. It has now come to light that the kind man who let Alex build the shelter to what it is now, has reached the point that he needs to sell the land for his own reasons. So this has put us into a panic. The reason is that we have to move 150 dogs that we care for, love and protect to a new location. The upheaval alone will be stressful for our furry friends as well as our volunteers. So we cannot stress enough, the importance of finding a piece of land to purchase and build a new Animal Rescue Center , with all the Boarding, Training, Grooming, Medical Care, Rehabilitation and Re-homing facilities in one area. Also to construct an on site Coffee Shop and Charity Shop, to generate much needed income to help pay for all the Vet bills and food costs. On average each dog that we rescue, if in a good state of health, costs €150.00 for the Vet health check therefore you can imagine the costing for €150.00 x 150 dogs without including the on going costs of food and other health vaccinations, worming, tick & flea medication, neutering, micro chipping, Health Books and then flights and registration costs if we find a "Forever Home" out side of Cyprus. We, on an average, re-home with our English, Belgian, German and Cypriot contacts 8-10 dogs per month but we are sad to say we receive, find or take on more dogs than we can re-home. So the Vet's bills are always in arrears. We do however receive public donations and also organize Charitable events to do two things -

1. To raise awareness to the public about the problem of animal abuse and neglect here in Cyprus.

This is Teddy in the top picture in the left hand side. He came to us again abandoned, starved, dehydrated, full of ticks and very scared of people. We found out that he was chained up outside with no water or food and left to die. He also has Leishmania which is lifelong virus. He was then taken to a Foster carer who told us that Teddy was that low when they gave him his own warm bed to sleep in he did not know what it was and decided to go in the garden and dig a hole and lay in it. This brought tears of sadness to the carer and so he picked Teddy up and showed him that the bed was his and that is was clean and warm. Teddy after realizing what was being done for him rolled over onto his back for a belly rub and licked the carer in thanks. From the other pictures you will be able to see that in just 6 weeks of being in a loving and caring environment with regular food and water, in the company of Berni they both now are full of life, playful and trusting of people again.

This Is Berni, An all too familiar state of abuse. Berni was abandoned, starved, dehydrated, full of ticks and very scared of people. She had very little fight left in her when she was passed on to the foster carer in just 8 weeks her true personality started to come through. She is a very loving your girl, and loves to cuddle and fall asleep feeling safe on your lap.

Some more sad stories

Meet Willow

2. To help pay the ongoing costs

Capital and Budgets:

The Capital of €250,000.00 would help us to construct the following:

1. Purchase of Land Budget - €50,000.00

2. Lawyers Fees - €2,500.00

3. Title Deed cost - €5,000.00

4. Construction of Rescue Pens x 4 x 25 dogs in each Block - €100,000.00

5. Boarding Kennels x 1 x 25 dogs - €25,000.00

6. Medical Centre - €20,000.00

7. Grooming Area - €1,000.00

8. Reception / Coffee Shop / Charity Shop - €20,000.00

9. Outside Play areas €5,000.00

10. Parking - €5,000.00

11. Medical Stock / Equipment €2,500.00

12. Water / Electrical Supply - €3,500.00

Future Planning:

1. Training Centre

2. Recycling Centre

Conclusion: