It is because of the incredible work of the Cretan Animal Protection charity that I am able to save the life of "princess" a beautiful little stray kitten who stole my heart on a recent holiday to crete. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought this was possible, and how the charity actually do it is mind blowing.

Being entirely self funded, the charity is literally run by less than 4 volunteers, between them they manage to navigate through the complexities of pet passports, planes, trains, cargo,customs and cars to get the little babies transported safely to their forever homes in the UK. With the phenomenal help of a local foster mum, who takes all the strays in for free, multiples at a time, getting them vaccinated and chipped, de wormed and socialised ready for their new lives. They save hundreds of kittens, cats, pups and dogs and are a non profit greek registered charity with approved pet transport facilities. A small but phenomenally executed operation.

"Princess" crossed my path on our first day here in crete, soon crying at me with her wee baby scream, i got told off from the hotel for feeding her and heads were turned when she started sunbathing with me by the pool, following me to dinner and yes I am guilty of sneaking her into our apartment :D Searching for someone to take her, i asked the hotel, the staff, the local vet, the waiters up the road, I offered to support her every need but nobody wanted her. My heart was broken learning of what happens when the tourist season ends and how these wee babies face a harsh winter, from reports of poisoning and being dumped in the bin or down drains. Many greeks love their cats but there are simply just too many to save...She was underweight (although 5 months old) riddled with worms, dehydrated and just a baby. However she was luckily one of the better cats on the island because some were in a really terrible state :(

I spent days researching approved routes for entry into the UK, quarantine, cargo containers, speaking with greek airlines and felt completely lost in my efforts to be able to adopt her. The price was into the £1000s and my heart broke watching her chasing wasps from out balcony and diving into shadows lol. Through a mainland greek charity i was put in touch with the Cretan Animal protection who unbelievably agreed to take her last minute. She is now waiting in the safe home of an incredible woman, ready for her flight into Paris.

From the UK palettes of food, litter and containers are sent over every month to look after these wee strays, you can donate anything via their website for that too.

If you are an animal lover then your heart will know how it feels when you make that connection, one that means more than what we can even comprehend. The Cretan animal protection make miraculous things happen and i would like to fundraise to support their incredible work <3

Www.cretananimalprotection.eu

Wee princess (the wee pest that she is)