Unfortunately, those like Wee Stumpy who have been stung several times due to their acts of kindness have now realised that unless you are prepared to take the stray dog you have found on board as a permanent basis - don't rescue it in the first place.... Sad, but very true!
The rescue centres and pounds are almost always at the point of bursting and many do take on more than they should rather than turn them away but they cannot always do that and under those circumstances, they just have to say "no"..... And that's where you have to think "if I take this dog to the rescue centre and they cannot take him, can I keep him until they have room or I can rehome him elsewhere?"
If the answer to that question is "no" then the kindest thing you can do is turn a blind eye.
I've had to block so many of the Cypriot facebook animal groups as the number of postings published hourly were too many to deal with. Unfortunately, some of the well known animal sanctuaries milk the horror stories for all they are worth to get into the limelight when they want more funding sources whereas those running along on their own steam just get on with the job and deal with it.
I'm friends in person with both British and Cypriot people who run the non-charitable rescue services and pound helpers and seen them run ragged. One particular friend of ours could never come out for a lunchtime or evening meal without receiving a phone call from either another helper or someone wanting her to take in a dog they had found because a well meaning person had given them her number. After 7yrs, she had to say enough was enough.....
Dogs are being flown out of Cyprus on an almost daily basis to new homes in Europe including UK - some permanent and some to foster families and the rescue and rehoming groups just literally run by the skin of their teeth to keep these dogs moving to make way for the next ones.
Our dogs were kenneled at a rescue centre for 2 days before they followed us to UK and that lady and her sister had almost 100 dogs in their care.
In Paphos, perhaps there
are more British run societies - but, this is
not the same for the rest of the island, there
are big groups of
Cypriot supporters.
Things have changed over the years!
And yes, Pickles also hit the nail on the head with her post about expats going "on holiday" but never coming back. I know
just what I would like to do with those people if I ever met up with them