Humanitourism Offers Travel with a Conscience

by Sarah Wyatt
– USA –
In a largely neglected crisis, dogs and cats in Greece are struggling to survive due to overpopulation, apathy, and abuse. Sterilization is underutilized and sometimes rejected, and education about and support for the humane treatment and care of animals is lacking.

• Strays in Greece fend for themselves, like this litter of puppies living under an abandoned truck. Photograph courtesy of inside/out •

This June, professional guide and outdoor skills teacher Zoe Katsulos is leading an innovative “humanitourism” trip to address the situation. The Greek American will lead the expedition through inside/out, a global travel organization she founded to link humanitarian work with outdoor adventure.
“Our trips are designed around volunteer work and are combined with sustainable eco-adventure travel in the local area of the project,” explains Katsulos. “These programs are designed to create longer-term relationships between communities and travelers. The emphasis is on this connection between land, culture and people that takes sustainability to a much larger scale – the connection of humanity with a sustainable world.”
Katsulos plans to center the June trip in Ioannina, located in the mountainous Zagoria region of northern Greece. Here, in this remote area rarely visited by foreign tourists, her group will assist a small contingent of Greek animal welfare workers with education, care and feeding programs.
“There are a handful of small animal rescue organizations within Greece, all of which seem to work independently rather than cooperatively. There are no national organizations of any sort,” Katsulos notes, adding that “it is very primitive and most just do the best they can with what they have.”
“They make every effort, from feeding strays to bringing injured or sick animals in for vet services – often paid for out of their own pockets – to doing some sterilizations when possible, a challenging task in a country that is opposed to it. Some protect or shelter dogs however they can, [including] re-homing of dogs both [within and outside of] Greece since there is not much possibility within Greece.”
Animal rescue groups in Greece report encountering an inherited cultural belief that dogs are dirty, spread diseases, and should not be touched.
“Obviously, when dogs are not cared for, they are more prone to diseases,” Katsulos explains. “People abandon their pets when they get sick, or just because they are going on vacation or are tired of them. When the dogs receive no care, it is entirely possible that they can become ill. That is part of the education we hope to provide – to communicate that dogs are not inherently diseased, but it is the lack of human care that causes disease to develop and spread.”
Athens resident Anita Papassarandis contends that rescue groups, already challenged to provide for stray animals, are virtually powerless to fight animal abuse.
“The animal welfare organizations try to care for the basic needs of the strays -vaccination, nutrition, sterilization, medication – but they cannot bring criminal charges for the animal abuse. Sometimes when the groups try to take action, they fail to bring the abusers to justice because no one will come testify as a witness.”

• Perceived as diseased, many strays in Greece are abused or simply neglected. Photograph courtesy of inside/out •

Joanna Siokou, who lives in the Athens suburb Kryoneri, faced resistance from her neighbors when she began rescuing animals.
“In trying to rescue as many animals as possible from the dangerous streets and lack of a municipal shelter, I turned my house into a little shelter five years ago. Tragically, even in my own yard my neighbors have thrown poison baits in my absence and killed six of our lovely strays. Of course, nobody saw anyone do this, so as usual you cannot sue.”
Unfazed, Siokou continues to organize to help the animals in her community, but receives little assistance from her municipality.
“I established an animal welfare organization and I’ve asked for the city government’s help since they were responsible for stray animals, according the law,” Siokou says. “Unfortunately the city gave us very little help, only paying some of the veterinarian bills after a big delay. They are indifferent to our struggle, denying the problems.”
Both local animal rescue volunteers and Katsulos blame traditional attitudes toward companion animals as being apathetic at best and cruel at worst. Papassarandis further points to government corruption as a challenge for animal rescue advocates.
“The European Union gave 12 million Euros to our Ministry of Agriculture for the animal welfare organizations in Greece,” Papassarandis explains. “This money has never reached even a single animal welfare organization. The Vice Minister of Agriculture, Konstantinos Kiltidis, who is responsible in this matter, was asked about it and he answered that he doesn’t know where the money went.”
One of the more highly criticized issues is the systematic poisoning of stray dog and cat populations, which sometimes result in the deaths of animals that have homes.
“There is no way to know how many Greek animals die annually – thousands, millions,” Katsulos says. “The killings are widespread, mostly undocumented, many done undercover by municipalities. It is not like the situation we have here in the US where we have humane societies and organizations that provide facts and figures.”
Recently, one such incident in Ioannina triggered a small demonstration from area locals.
“The protest represents a notable departure from previous Greek attitudes and indicates that this area is ripe for a shift in consciousness, which was previously unthinkable,” Katsulos notes. “It is the ideal location for our educational work.”
In determining locations for humanitourism trips, Katsulos awaits appeals from persons in challenged areas who are interested in receiving outside assistance. For the Greek itinerary, Katsulos was first approached by members of the Animal Welfare Association of Imathia in Veroia, a small town in the north. A similar invitation followed by Friends of Animals in Athens.

• Katsulos’ trips provide time for exploration – offering a balance of volunteer work with travel. Photograph courtesy of inside/out •

“We are not in the practice of randomly assigning ourselves to projects that we think need fixing,” Katsulos explains. “We spend a great deal of time researching, listening and communicating with people to find out what they need. The Greek project has taken a year and half to develop. Being ‘invited’ by the government will never happen in this case. It is the individual societies and ad hoc groups that have requested our assistance, in fact begged, for help.”
While the humanitarian portion of Katsulos’s trip will attempt to address the animal overpopulation issues, she believes the participants will equally benefit from the cultural immersion aspects of the itinerary.
“This trip will give people the opportunity to view Greek culture in a more authentic and intimate way,” offers Katsulos. “We also hope that it will provide a needed awareness of the problems with animal welfare that exist in Greece.
While she has clear intentions to help the animals of Greece, Katsulos sets a broad range of activities for volunteers.
“We will be working within the community to provide education, distributing educational materials, letting people know about other ways to deal with overpopulation, how to help prevent it, how to humanely care for an animal, responsibilities of a pet owner and so on,” Katsulos says. “We are also building feeding facilities for the people who are trying to feed and care for the strays of the region.”
Optimistically, Katsulos is partially utilizing her own funds for her efforts in Greece. While endeavoring to improve the situation with localized approaches, she acknowledges that setting concrete goals is extremely difficult in a grass roots project like this.
“This is a grass roots effort,” she explains. “We do not plan to change the entire country in one visit, but we do hope to be able to return and continue the work. More importantly, we want to empower those that we can reach to make change from within. And ideally, we’d love for people to return home and continue a relationship with the volunteer project and people visited, either with support, mentoring or even return visits.”
Stephanie Downs, a volunteer from Newport News, Virginia, plans to be on the trip.
“I was drawn to the uniqueness of the project. It is not a mass-produced tourist event with cheesy projects that have volunteers coming through on a conveyor belt every month,” Downs says. “I have traveled to volunteer with groups such as the American Humane Association to do spay and neuter clinics, and I traveled to the Grand Canyon with Hike for Discovery to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, but neither of these experiences will really compare. This program is a cool combination of giving back, experiencing the local culture, and wrapping up with some adventure travel to unwind before heading home.“
Katsoulos sees her trips as a way to connect with something larger. “It isn’t just about tourism or contributing to a project,” she concludes. “[It’s about] really making a difference in the big picture and promoting understanding and world community.”
– For a complete list of how you can get involved and help, visit www.theinsideandout.com.

Sarah’s article is part of our focus on Sustainability & Responsible Stewardship. – Ed.

About the Author
Sarah Wyatt is a freelance travel and outdoors writer. A native of Iowa and a Native American, she holds a degree in Journalism and English. Wyatt has been a freelance writer for 11 years, with work appearing in Texas Monthly, Mother Jones and Theater Magazine.