When it comes to having pets, Manolis Spatharakis of Gouves is most certainly the king.

"I have 70 dogs and 30 cats at the moment," Manolis told us. "But that number changes daily."

Of course, all those dogs and cats are residents of the animal shelter he runs on the old base in Gournes, but to this gentle and kind man, they are his "pets," too. Unbelievably, he has a name for every animal that passes through the kennel, whether for a short visit or a long-term residence, and he remembers them! It’s interesting to see him walking through the 1,000-square-metre facility introducing his visitors to Yianni or Blackie or Baby.

Although each and every township in Crete is required by EU law to maintain an animal shelter, the Gouves Township has never complied with the ordinance, claiming a lack of necessary funds.

So, about two years ago, with the stray animal problem seemingly getting out of hand, Mr. Spatharakis took matters into his own hands and started a shelter with his personal money. About the only help from the township was to allot a parcel of land of about 1,000 square metres, behind the town hall, and to lend him the equipment and manpower to clear the site. Also, they piped in a water line and donated most materials for fencing and doors and tin scraps for roofs.

Since that fateful day, Mr. Spatharakis has received help from some organizations, like Cretan Animal Protection, as well as from caring volunteers, but most of the actual day-to-day work is supervised by him.

"It's amazing the hours he spends here," said volunteer Farina Waver of Holland, who tries to stop by everyday. "My husband, Sap, and I do what we can to help out. There are so many stray animals that need help, it's a shame. We even take some of our work home . . . we have 12 cats and two dogs at the house."

We asked Mr. Spatharakis just how all these animals are fed everyday.

"It's always a struggle, a daily struggle for all of us," he said. "But, thank God for some of the volunteers, and for certain caring people in the community who stop by with food and supplies."

While we were there for this interview, Kalia Kokkinaki, a Gouves resident, came with some cans of food. She had seen a dog with eight puppies nearby and came back to feed them. She drove around looking for them, and heard barking and that's how she discovered the shelter. And, sure enough, the puppies were already there.

"This is really wonderful what is being done here," she said, meeting up again with the mother and her pups and handing the food over to Mr. Spatharakis. "I'll be stopping by now on a regular basis," she promised.

When we asked Mr. Spatharakis if he expected more from the Demos, it was like opening a floodgate.

"Of course, we need more help from the Demos, it's their responsibility in the first place," he said. "We want our local government to help us with money. We need money for food, medicines, medical expenses and neutering. We need money for additional structures. We have done all these structures so that the animals keep dry and relatively warm in the winter, but we need more, and in the summer we must fix it so that the animals don't suffer from heat exhaustion with the strong sun beating down on all the tin structures. We must insulate the structures against the heat…

"At this point I want to emphasize again the tremendous job that Mr. Pete is doing for us. He is a great fixer-upper and has a golden touch. He has played a decisive role in the entire building phase of the shelter. Everything you see around here, the kennels, the dog houses, the storing facilities, he has done them all. Also, decisive roles have been played by Mmes. Evelyn, Perine, Josette, Miranda, Messrs. Yiorgos from Theriso, Kostas from Gouves and so many more. Without their help we don't know what we would have done. Unfortunately, there's still so much more that has to be done."

Mr. Spatharakis said that he is discussing with some volunteers various programmes to gain support and to help raise some much-needed funds.

"We've started putting out our own donation boxes in various shops, and the initial response seems to be very good," he said.

 While all at the animal shelter encourage people to stop by with food, they request that it be regular pet food.

"When people come in with table scraps, bones or raw meat, they shouldn't just give them to the animals without consulting with us first," volunteer Farina said. "Some of these animals have been starving on the streets for long periods of time and we introduce them to regular food gradually. If you just give them a plate of bones or scraps they can get really sick."