Irene van Klinken from Geldrop receives a lot of support after the devastating fire that put her animal shelter on the Greek island of Kythira on Saturday. Others have started three or four crowdfunding actions, which has already raised around 13,000 euros on Tuesday. But despite that support, the sadness is great. “I’m afraid that I was lost a lot of animals. Those animals couldn’t do anything about it, they couldn’t leave. Really terrible,” she says emotionally.
Irene has been living on Kythira for eighteen years and in her shelter housed about three hundred animals that people had renounced. The fire destroyed a quarter of the island on Saturday (284 km²). Her entire animal stay went up in flames and almost all cats are missing. A sea container with things, a water tank, water pipes and all animal feed can also be considered lost. “It is black to the wall and inside is only ash.”
When the fire flared again on Sunday afternoon, the second stay with disabled kittens was also in danger. “Other people opened the runs so that they could flee. But three are so heavily disabled that they couldn’t just leave.” She now misses two blind cats. “We are still searching them, put them down food and the door is open. I hope they will be there again tomorrow.”
Burnt
No more animals of the missing animals during the burned stay has returned. “I’m afraid I was lost a lot.” Of the 25 cats, she saw six more around. “And I found a burnt kitten,” she says emotionally.
Irene now spends the days on the grounds of the stay next to her home, where she brings water to her horses, which stand on a burnt piece of land. “The water tanks will be filled tomorrow, so I will no longer have that problem.”
Hay remains a concern: “That was all burned down. But we are working on it. We have now received hay from people who also have horses.” The animals are doing a little better again. “They are a bit quieter, even though four fireplaces flew over today. Then they have a little stress again.”
Rebuild
According to a Greek priest, Irene and her partner were lucky and still live thanks to the fact that they were not with the animals during the fire. “He was right about that, because we had not left the animals,” she says resolutely.
Although people from the Greek government come to watch the damage on the island on Tuesday, Irene does not expect much of it. “It’s Greece, not so much happens in that area.” Other victims of a fire elsewhere in Greece received an allowance of 5000 euros per person. “With crowdfunding, more has already been brought in.”
The aid actions give her hope and gratitude. “Because I need help. Only we can’t do this.” Everything must be rebuilt. “If I want to hit a nail in the wall, I have to buy a hammer, because I don’t have a hammer anymore.”