取り残された動物救う有志の獣医師ら　ギリシャ山火事

【アテネＡＦＰ＝時事】やけどを負った犬猫たちの脚に薬を塗り、包帯を巻く獣医師たち──ギリシャ・アテネ近郊に設けられた急ごしらえの保護施設では、山火事でけがをした動物の治療が行われている。避難の際に取り残されたペット、野良犬や野良猫もいる。（写真は山火事が迫る中で犬を抱く女性。ギリシャで２番目に大きな島であるエビア島でも山火事が発生した）
　ボランティアの獣医師らは、アテネ郊外の古い採石場に防水シートを張って作った仮設の「集中治療室」で動物たちの手当てを行う。
　獣医師らが携わる動物救護非営利団体（ＮＰＯ）「ＥＤＫＥ」では、これまでに２３０匹以上の動物を手当てしており、グループの代表は「毎日２０匹ほどの動物を受け入れている」と話す。
　軽傷の場合は、２～３時間ごとに水で患部を冷やす。若いボランティアスタッフが「水に入る時間だよ」と子犬２匹を抱きかかえ、小さな容器に優しく入れた。
　今月初め、アテネの北方約３０キロの地域で起きた山火事では多くの住民が避難した。
　被災地域でＡＦＰの取材陣は、取り残された動物を探す複数のボランティアグループに出会った。地域には野良犬や野良猫が少なくない。最初に被害に遭うのは置き去りにされたペットはもちろん、こうした野良の動物たちだと獣医師らは指摘する。
　ＮＰＯ「ドッグズ・ボイス」は、これまでに２０００人以上がボランティア活動に参加していると話す。その多くは、シェルターの負担軽減のため、動物を自宅で数週間預かるという。また、動物の餌の寄付は約１０トンに上っている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/08/17-14:32）

With balm and bandages for scorched paws, volunteers at a makeshift animal shelter north of Athens are doing what they can for cats and dogs, whether strays or left behind as their owners fled advancing wildfires.
The volunteer vets have organised an intensive care area to monitor severely burnt animals under a tarpaulin in an abandoned quarry on the outskirts of the capital.
So far we have taken in 233 animals, Yannis Batsas, president of Action Volunteers Greek Veterinarians, told AFP.
And the animals keep coming. We receive about 20 every day.
The less severely affected four-legged survivors get baths every two to three hours to cool their burns.
It's time for a bath, one young volunteer said as she took hold of two small puppies, easing them into a small basin of water.
- First victims -
Many in the Athens area were evacuated at the start of August as advancing wildfires ravaged pine forests and homes some 30 kilometres (19 miles) north of the capital.
Along roads lined with the charred husks of pine trees, AFP reporters met groups of volunteers collecting abandoned aminals in Efnides and other affected villages.
With strays common in the area, the animals are the first victims of the fires, the vets say, not to mention the many domesticated animals left in gardens as their owners fled.
The volunteers at the shelter do what they can to comfort the animals, circulating among cages where dogs with bandaged paws await their owners.
In a cacophony of barking, the dogs, burnt on their paws or on their bodies, joyfully welcome the volunteers whenever they approach.
Settled on sheets filled with ice cubes, about 20 of the canines are waiting for their owners to come and reclaim them or, failing that, a family to adopt them.
So far, nearly 90 animals have found their families, said Elena Dede, founder of nonprofit organisation Dogs' Voice.
Dede said more than 2,000 people showed up to volunteer, many agreeing to take dogs home for a couple of weeks to ease pressure at the shelter.
Instead of having 200 animals all in one place, you'll never have more than about 50, and that's because of the shelters and adoptions, said Batsas.
- Outpouring of solidarity -
Dede said the group had received donations amounting to about 10 tonnes of dog and cat food.
That will be distributed all over Attica, in areas affected by the fires and here of course, she said.
The outpouring of solidarity in Athens is encouraging volunteers to open another centre on the island of Evia, where wildfires continued to rage on Thursday.
A team left for Evia to go and see the farms, the goats, the sheep that were burnt, said Batsas.
Evia is a different story. We have to be sure that we?ll have the capacity to respond with the same efficiency that we have here, said Dede.
Evacuating injured animals from Greece's second largest island is complicated.
They have to be transported by boat, which lengthens the journeys, said Irini Tapouti, director of the Chalkida veterinary clinic on Evia.
On the beach at Pefki, where deckchairs are now covered with ash, Roula Papadimitri and her daughter Eva are bringing first aid and comfort to a dozen dogs they saved from the flames.
They were forced to abandon their house in the adjoining village of Artemisia on foot.
There is no way I'm leaving without them, Eva said.
How can you abandon dogs, asked her mother, incredulous.
Slowly, Roula poured water into the animals' thirsty mouths. A small cat rescued from the flames weaves in and out between the trembling dogs.
Three dogs have been caged to stop them running away and endangering themselves, said Roula.
I'm not going to let them go and be taken by a wolf.