Cattitude - Episode 296 From New York to Athens: A Global Mission to Rescue Cats

<v Speaker 1>This is Pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets.
<v Speaker 2>Hello, cat levers, and welcome to Cautitude. I'm your show
<v Speaker 2>host Michelle Burne. You know here in the US, you know,
<v Speaker 2>we love our cats. I mean they're like are you
<v Speaker 2>know there are babies, are for babies, and you know,
<v Speaker 2>T and R is very important to us, and we
<v Speaker 2>have such a wonderful view of you know, how we
<v Speaker 2>respect cats for the most part. You know where cats
<v Speaker 2>being euthanized has gone way down over the years and
<v Speaker 2>so forth. But it's really interesting when you step back
<v Speaker 2>and take a look at how another country views cats,
<v Speaker 2>because it's not the same. Feline views are not the
<v Speaker 2>same all over the world. We're going to talk to
<v Speaker 2>our guests today who's done some remarkable things, will be
<v Speaker 2>right back.
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<v Speaker 4>Let's talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com.
<v Speaker 5>Wecome back, everyone.
<v Speaker 2>I'd like to introduce Julie Kelly. She is a cat
<v Speaker 2>rescuer by day and a businesswoman by night. She owns
<v Speaker 2>a construction company in New York and also owns a
<v Speaker 2>nonprofit called Let's Be Smart. And I'm so excited to
<v Speaker 2>have you on the show.
<v Speaker 5>Welcome Julie, thank you, Thank you for having me. Michelle,
<v Speaker 5>I'm so excited.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, so I didn't go into but Let's be spart
<v Speaker 2>actually stands for something, the smart part, right.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, successfully managing animal rights today. I love that.
<v Speaker 2>You know, for my introduction, people are probably thinking, okay,
<v Speaker 2>so it's like your superwoman, you're cat rescuing and then
<v Speaker 2>you're a Brismith woman, you know, right, doesn't that how
<v Speaker 2>one of the superheroes goes you know this by day,
<v Speaker 2>this by night? And so you have this successful business
<v Speaker 2>in New York and you decided to go to Greece
<v Speaker 2>and rescue cats. Yes, how in the world did that happen?
<v Speaker 2>Because because it's a huge change.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, well it started with business and I had some
<v Speaker 5>business with Greeks in New York. And you know, once
<v Speaker 5>you're in with the Greeks, it's like my big fat
<v Speaker 5>Greek wedding. So you know, so you have to go
<v Speaker 5>to Greece. So I started going back in nineteen ninety eight.
<v Speaker 5>I think my first place I went was the island
<v Speaker 5>of Rhodes. And I felt very comfortable because I started
<v Speaker 5>learning the language because I was business partners with the
<v Speaker 5>Greek They were always speaking Greek in the office in
<v Speaker 5>New York. So I said, I'm going to learn Greek.
<v Speaker 5>So I know what you're saying. So I took some
<v Speaker 5>classes at NYU Modern Greek, and then I just felt
<v Speaker 5>very comfortable, and I was coming every year, and then
<v Speaker 5>I would come several times a year, and every time
<v Speaker 5>I would come, of course, I would see all the
<v Speaker 5>stray animals and a lot of them, you know, unfortunately,
<v Speaker 5>very sick on the streets. And I just said in
<v Speaker 5>my head one day, I'm going to move to Greece,
<v Speaker 5>since I heave the animals. And I kind of was
<v Speaker 5>on the airplane one time coming from Greece back to
<v Speaker 5>New York and I said, you know, after seeing the
<v Speaker 5>mentality over here, which is a little bit different, which
<v Speaker 5>their strays are kind of a nuisance, or they're not
<v Speaker 5>really able to take care. It's also economic issues, or
<v Speaker 5>they just don't care. You know, there are many that care.
<v Speaker 5>I don't want to say that, but I said, I
<v Speaker 5>need to educate, like I want to give some education.
<v Speaker 5>I want to tell them how great the animals are
<v Speaker 5>and how they can you know, be of help to them,
<v Speaker 5>especially medically. You know, it's therapy and just positive energy
<v Speaker 5>and all that. So I said, I need to come
<v Speaker 5>up with a name, not that you know that we
<v Speaker 5>can be smart, we can stay smart, get smart, be smart,
<v Speaker 5>whatever it is. So then I was on the airplane
<v Speaker 5>trying to figure out what smart would stand for. So
<v Speaker 5>then I came up with successfully managing emalits today. And
<v Speaker 5>I actually started I created like a brochure because I
<v Speaker 5>was I actually study natural medicine just as a hobby
<v Speaker 5>because I like natural kind of natural things and exercise.
<v Speaker 5>So I started speaking and putting together a brochure at
<v Speaker 5>the Greek American University here because I was taking some
<v Speaker 5>classes too, just for the heck of it, some business
<v Speaker 5>classes to see what international was about. And they loved it,
<v Speaker 5>and then they would ask me to come back and
<v Speaker 5>talk to the students. And it was really surprising that
<v Speaker 5>I put together like a whole PowerPoint presentation and I
<v Speaker 5>put about all the benefits for the animals and even
<v Speaker 5>about animals at retirement homes and how nice it is
<v Speaker 5>for the older people and for depression and loneliness, and
<v Speaker 5>it was amazing that they all had no idea. And
<v Speaker 5>these are twenty year old students.
<v Speaker 2>So obviously this is all in Greece, at the Greek
<v Speaker 2>American University in Greece.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, it's called the Hellenic American University, Okay, And so
<v Speaker 5>I just got kind of got inspired by that, and
<v Speaker 5>that's more what I was planning to do. But then
<v Speaker 5>you know how it goes the pregnant cat and the neighborhood,
<v Speaker 5>and I see dead kittens all the time, and I said,
<v Speaker 5>I can't let you have your kittens anymore outside, and
<v Speaker 5>so I rented an apartment. It was the cat tory.
<v Speaker 5>Let her have her babies at the VETS office, and
<v Speaker 5>when they were old enough that they came to this
<v Speaker 5>apartment and the shelter kind of started like that was
<v Speaker 5>back in two thousand and eleven. So then, okay, one
<v Speaker 5>by one by one by one, and there was a
<v Speaker 5>lot of cats in there, and I ended up needing
<v Speaker 5>a larger space, which is now the shelter. We're at
<v Speaker 5>the main main shelter out by the Athens Airport, which
<v Speaker 5>is a huge villa. It's about three thousand square feet,
<v Speaker 5>three levels, and now we have over there. We have
<v Speaker 5>over fifty some cats, and I wanted something that would
<v Speaker 5>be very professional, so we have two managers, Ellie and Amber.
<v Speaker 5>That Amber lives there full time. Ellie comes there on
<v Speaker 5>a full time basis, just setting it up also as
<v Speaker 5>a an open environment so that the cats feel like
<v Speaker 5>they're at home. And we do have bedrooms because that
<v Speaker 5>we house volunteers, which I can tell you all about
<v Speaker 5>that later. But and then we have another foster home
<v Speaker 5>which is near where I live, which I live in
<v Speaker 5>a different area of a different part of Athens, more
<v Speaker 5>by the sea, and that grew now and now we
<v Speaker 5>have like twenty something cats there, but a lot of
<v Speaker 5>them are special needs or temporary. So we have about
<v Speaker 5>eighty cats altogether at a given time, and we have
<v Speaker 5>medical books we have you know, it's just it's just
<v Speaker 5>run very professionally scheduled. Like I say, volunteers coming from
<v Speaker 5>all over the world. We have a VET internship program.
<v Speaker 5>Now for our second year, we have our first US
<v Speaker 5>student is with us right now. Actually she's staying at
<v Speaker 5>the shelter, Ashley from Minnesota. So we're excited and she's happy.
<v Speaker 5>And I just tried to create a whole program because
<v Speaker 5>I knew that it's not just feeding a stray cat
<v Speaker 5>on the street, because that's not going to help. You know,
<v Speaker 5>they're still going to be sick, get killed, not have
<v Speaker 5>the right care. You know, yes, you can sterilize them,
<v Speaker 5>which I agree with that as well, and especially for
<v Speaker 5>cats that don't really want to live indoors, because there
<v Speaker 5>are feral cats that don't want to live indoors unless again,
<v Speaker 5>you teach the people to like the animals. They can
<v Speaker 5>put poison here and things. It's illegal, but that doesn't matter.
<v Speaker 5>They poison animals, and you know, they reckless a little
<v Speaker 5>bit the way they drive, so if they see a
<v Speaker 5>cat with a clip, dear, they don't really know. So
<v Speaker 5>the whole important thing is education. So I'm trying to
<v Speaker 5>make a global view of let's be smart. It's not
<v Speaker 5>just one thing, it's many things put together, you know,
<v Speaker 5>in order to have the community be more involved and
<v Speaker 5>like I say, be more educated, target the children for
<v Speaker 5>education and then take care properly of the cats around
<v Speaker 5>our area. And then the girls at the shelter have
<v Speaker 5>strays that they also help manage and sterilize. So and
<v Speaker 5>we started several programs like we created I don't know
<v Speaker 5>if you've seen, but we created our own video series
<v Speaker 5>for animated video series for children, and I created the
<v Speaker 5>Smart Family, so everything they do is smart when they
<v Speaker 5>adopt a cat, and then we teach people how to
<v Speaker 5>take care of their pets in these videos. We have
<v Speaker 5>six right now in our series and we're writing a
<v Speaker 5>special number seven one for the guests that you mentioned before.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Julie, what done is amazing. I just I just
<v Speaker 2>want to go back to the beginning and ask you
<v Speaker 2>a question. Why do you think there is such a difference.
<v Speaker 2>You know here in the US and catitude is heard globally,
<v Speaker 2>but mostly in North America. And in North America, you
<v Speaker 2>know US, Canada, even like I know UK, I don't
<v Speaker 2>know France, you know, not all of Europe, but there's
<v Speaker 2>a viewpoint there are fur babies. But then Greece, like
<v Speaker 2>you said that, you know their cats are thought of
<v Speaker 2>this almost like rodents, and you're working like just so
<v Speaker 2>diligently and like you said, very smart, very very smart
<v Speaker 2>to make the change. Why do you think that is?
<v Speaker 5>I mean, I think it comes from an older culture
<v Speaker 5>where it was very agricultural as well, so I think
<v Speaker 5>they're used to the animals being outdoors. I mean, there
<v Speaker 5>are a lot of people that love the animals. Now
<v Speaker 5>it's getting better and better, I have to say, and
<v Speaker 5>there's many great women and other organizations start trying. I
<v Speaker 5>don't think anyone really has a shelter like ours, but
<v Speaker 5>there are many, and I collaborate. I like to collaborate,
<v Speaker 5>so I try to share whenever I can help someone else,
<v Speaker 5>and then we share for different resources such as maybe
<v Speaker 5>flights for adoption things like that. But overall, yeah, there's
<v Speaker 5>still a lot of education to be learned. And it
<v Speaker 5>starts with the children because I think a lot of
<v Speaker 5>the parents still have a little bit the old school
<v Speaker 5>mentality and they don't like the hair in the house.
<v Speaker 5>That's one thing, and they say the hair. But actually,
<v Speaker 5>in one of our brochures that we give out because
<v Speaker 5>we've tried to encourage smart yards and put like those
<v Speaker 5>cute outdoor wood homes if they're going to at least
<v Speaker 5>have animals at the condo, because there's a lot of
<v Speaker 5>condo buildings here, you know, it's not so many suburbian
<v Speaker 5>homes like we have in America. It's a lot of
<v Speaker 5>condo buildings. So and then in our brochure we try
<v Speaker 5>to say, why are the cats good for the building?
<v Speaker 5>They can help keep the road and population down, they
<v Speaker 5>can help for the cockroaches, you know, things like that,
<v Speaker 5>and okay, you can keep a smartyard, you can keep
<v Speaker 5>it clean, because that's the other problem. We do have
<v Speaker 5>people that want to try to feed the cats, but
<v Speaker 5>they don't realize that throwing their half eaten food on
<v Speaker 5>the sidewalk is the right thing. I give them credit
<v Speaker 5>for trying, but then the problem is people complain and
<v Speaker 5>they're like it's disgusting or you know, they think right,
<v Speaker 5>ants and bugs, and so they're kind of a lot
<v Speaker 5>of them are halfway there. And I feel that more
<v Speaker 5>and more, like with one mayor, he let us put
<v Speaker 5>twenty smart houses all over this one town, and now
<v Speaker 5>they're organized and people can put food and water in
<v Speaker 5>a an organized cap state feeding station because they just
<v Speaker 5>don't really have so many. There's some here and there,
<v Speaker 5>but not really so organized, and people throw them away,
<v Speaker 5>they destroy them, they throw garbage on them. So unfortunately
<v Speaker 5>it doesn't you know, not in ours, but in other
<v Speaker 5>places that I've tried. But we're trying to show the
<v Speaker 5>community the hey, we can all live together and we
<v Speaker 5>can be clean and neat, and the cats can eat,
<v Speaker 5>you can eat, you know, then we can see if
<v Speaker 5>they're sick, we can take care of them. We can,
<v Speaker 5>you know. That's the other thing too, is economically okay,
<v Speaker 5>some people just can't. The retired people here don't hardly
<v Speaker 5>get any money, so that's probably a problem. Where the
<v Speaker 5>ladies want to feed, they can only afford to feed.
<v Speaker 5>And that's about it.
<v Speaker 2>Well, let me ask you this, what is tn R
<v Speaker 2>Rescue like there for you guys? I mean, I'm sure
<v Speaker 2>it's a whole different kind of thing than it is
<v Speaker 2>in the US.
<v Speaker 5>They are doing it. There are some people that are
<v Speaker 5>more active. In fact, again, when we talk about the
<v Speaker 5>other person, we're going to be honoring one female and
<v Speaker 5>male TNR King and Queen here in Greece. One of
<v Speaker 5>them is actually a police officer and so he is
<v Speaker 5>saving the people by day and trapping cats by night.
<v Speaker 5>His name is Alexis. Yeah, he's really nice. And then
<v Speaker 5>there's a lady named Maria, which we're also going to
<v Speaker 5>be doing an event with her when when everybody comes,
<v Speaker 5>and she's pretty active. But there's a you know, some
<v Speaker 5>people in northern Greece. There's a girl and you know,
<v Speaker 5>there's a few that are known and they're trying. But again,
<v Speaker 5>nobody has funds here. That's the other problem. The government
<v Speaker 5>doesn't really even help. Nobody gets help, so everybody's trying
<v Speaker 5>to do what they can on limited resources. This is
<v Speaker 5>the other big, big problem. So they know about it.
<v Speaker 5>It's starting to get more popular. There's also a couple organizations,
<v Speaker 5>like there's one called nine Lines. She doesn't have a shelter,
<v Speaker 5>but she's also British so she knows more about that.
<v Speaker 5>And they do a lot of tn R in downtown
<v Speaker 5>Athens where we do it in my area and out
<v Speaker 5>where my shelter is, which are completely different areas from
<v Speaker 5>downtown Athens. So it's getting there and they're starting to realize.
<v Speaker 5>And the more you educate the public, like in one
<v Speaker 5>of my video series, we talk about how one cat
<v Speaker 5>can end up you know, there could be two thousand
<v Speaker 5>cats from one pregnant mom. So once you show them
<v Speaker 5>these charts and they get a perspective, nobody's taught them
<v Speaker 5>this before. Nobody has really explained this to them. So
<v Speaker 5>it's just they need more awareness. I think about giving
<v Speaker 5>the animals a little bit more important, Like I say,
<v Speaker 5>there are people with pets. There are people walking a
<v Speaker 5>lot of dogs. Even in my area, I see a
<v Speaker 5>lot more dogs than I've lived here sixteen years. So
<v Speaker 5>definitely there's an improvement, but it still needs more education.
<v Speaker 5>And yeah, the younger kids exactly.
<v Speaker 2>It also sounds like what you're describing, and when you
<v Speaker 2>know mentioned that, you know. The government's entirely different of course,
<v Speaker 2>and limited resources for so many folks. Is being a
<v Speaker 2>pet parent kind of like a bit of a luxury in.
<v Speaker 5>Greece maybe, I mean it depends if they want. Some
<v Speaker 5>of the people want only breeds, so yes, like sometimes
<v Speaker 5>they feel that the stray is dirty, huh, and then
<v Speaker 5>they want to get the breed. But I think, again,
<v Speaker 5>little by little that's changing. And I saw a couple
<v Speaker 5>of our stores the pet stores stop selling puppies and
<v Speaker 5>cats from their stores. So I don't know if that's
<v Speaker 5>a law. I know in some of the European countries
<v Speaker 5>they've changed that so that you have to go to
<v Speaker 5>like a shelter or a registered breeder. Yes, I know
<v Speaker 5>some of these states have done it. California, I know,
<v Speaker 5>and I think New York not all, but right so
<v Speaker 5>I think, you know, so some do want that, But
<v Speaker 5>like I say, I think little by little, and I
<v Speaker 5>think it's interesting because I think when they see what
<v Speaker 5>we've done with the cats and how we've nursed them,
<v Speaker 5>because some you can't even imagine the way they looked
<v Speaker 5>before we're half dead, and you know, we turn them
<v Speaker 5>into these perfect beautiful kittens or cats, I think they
<v Speaker 5>feel when they get them from our organization they've had
<v Speaker 5>the proper care that they wouldn't have known what to do,
<v Speaker 5>you know what I mean, yes, exactly, and they wouldn't
<v Speaker 5>have probably taken it to the vet because they don't
<v Speaker 5>have the money to pay the vet bills, and that's
<v Speaker 5>the other problem. So they leave them. They can tend
<v Speaker 5>to leave them more on the street sick because they
<v Speaker 5>can't afford to take them, and no government really helps
<v Speaker 5>very much.
<v Speaker 2>There's no humane society that has lower costs in Greece.
<v Speaker 5>Nothing, not really, I mean there are some vets that
<v Speaker 5>will help, and like say, they'll give us a special price,
<v Speaker 5>and they'll give some other organizations a special price, or
<v Speaker 5>you know, maybe if you were friendly with them, they'll
<v Speaker 5>give you something. But there's not really anything organized like that.
<v Speaker 5>They don't really have a lot of shelters either from
<v Speaker 5>the city, which is probably better because I don't think
<v Speaker 5>it would be in the best condition. So yeah, so
<v Speaker 5>a lot of people are on their own. A lot
<v Speaker 5>of people are trying, you know, with dogs or cats,
<v Speaker 5>and it can be very difficult.
<v Speaker 2>We're going to take a short break and come back
<v Speaker 2>and talk about some exciting things that you have been
<v Speaker 2>coming with smart so I'll be right back.
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<v Speaker 2>Welcome back everyone. We're talking with Julie Kelly, the founder
<v Speaker 2>of Smart. I am so excited because now Smart, from
<v Speaker 2>looking at your website, I know you have various fundraising
<v Speaker 2>events since we talked about one earlier in the show,
<v Speaker 2>but you have one coming up called Wrap to Trap,
<v Speaker 2>and you have who if I could do a drum roll,
<v Speaker 2>you know, like a I don't know, maybe Mike right,
<v Speaker 2>not musical anyway. The Trap King Sterling Davis, who is
<v Speaker 2>a big proponent of T and R, is going to
<v Speaker 2>come to Grease to do this event. So can you
<v Speaker 2>tell us about this event and then overall just an
<v Speaker 2>overall snapshot of your events that you have.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, so we're super excited. We saw him in some
<v Speaker 5>probably some YouTube videos or something like the beginning of
<v Speaker 5>twenty twenty one, and we said, let's contact him.
<v Speaker 2>Sorry, the Cat Rescuers on Amazon? Was he in that one?
<v Speaker 5>Not The Cat Rescuers? But interestingly I know the producer
<v Speaker 5>of that documentary. Yeah, he's really nice. A Sassy is
<v Speaker 5>in that one right on.
<v Speaker 2>Si has been on this show.
<v Speaker 5>I'm mew Sassy. I met her or she'd have her
<v Speaker 5>over to Grease too.
<v Speaker 2>She's amazing.
<v Speaker 5>Well, I can get back to the Trap King quickly.
<v Speaker 5>But actually, Rob, the producer of Cat Rescuers, was going
<v Speaker 5>to come to Greece and we have it all scheduled
<v Speaker 5>in April of twenty twenty. We had his ticket and
<v Speaker 5>he was going to also we were going to show
<v Speaker 5>it a different university called Deri, but he was going
<v Speaker 5>to come and we were going to show the cat
<v Speaker 5>documentary here and he was going to stay for a
<v Speaker 5>couple days, and then it all got canceled because of
<v Speaker 5>COVID because it was April twenty twenty. And I met
<v Speaker 5>him in New York when he had his rollout of
<v Speaker 5>the documentary and I just started talking to him and
<v Speaker 5>we became friendly. So he knows that the Trap King
<v Speaker 5>is coming as well. And I met Sasse because she
<v Speaker 5>was there. So it's a small world because Sassey knows
<v Speaker 5>Trap King and he has her in one of his songs.
<v Speaker 5>Oh my god, that's great. It's so funny. The world
<v Speaker 5>is just so small.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, And he's worked with Nathan Oh, I can't think
<v Speaker 2>of his name, The trap King and Nathan the cat
<v Speaker 2>Dude or something. Have you met him.
<v Speaker 5>I haven't met him. I've met Sterling because I met
<v Speaker 5>him in October of this past year. He just happened
<v Speaker 5>to be near where my mom lives in North Carolina,
<v Speaker 5>so I was able to meet him and we met
<v Speaker 5>in person and got along really well. He's amazing and
<v Speaker 5>he's going to stay at our cat rescue and staying
<v Speaker 5>for ten days and we have a whole schedule planned
<v Speaker 5>the majority is in Athens, but in different parts of
<v Speaker 5>Athens and different events. But we are going to do
<v Speaker 5>a lot of different days of trappings in all different areas,
<v Speaker 5>so he's going to get to meet the different people
<v Speaker 5>that work in those areas. We're going to do some
<v Speaker 5>events with children so he can talk to the children,
<v Speaker 5>and then we do a lot of arts and crafts,
<v Speaker 5>which also kind of corresponds with our video series that
<v Speaker 5>we can now show in all the Greek schools because
<v Speaker 5>we have that approved from the Ministry of Education. That's
<v Speaker 5>kind of the superhero comes in and superhero we try
<v Speaker 5>to make the kids superheroes. So, as I was saying
<v Speaker 5>with the trap King, we're creating our video number seven,
<v Speaker 5>which is going to specifically be about T and R,
<v Speaker 5>and we've created a trap King figure that's going to
<v Speaker 5>be the superhero for that for that particular video, and
<v Speaker 5>we're going to have it ready so when he comes
<v Speaker 5>we can show that.
<v Speaker 2>I haven't met him in person. I hope to one day,
<v Speaker 2>but he's so relatable from what I've seen on his
<v Speaker 2>Instagram and everything. He's so positive and he's you know himself,
<v Speaker 2>made so many changes and he's done so so.
<v Speaker 5>Much for t and R.
<v Speaker 2>So he's such a great person to represent all of
<v Speaker 2>this now.
<v Speaker 5>He's amazing. He's well spoken, he's clear about his mission,
<v Speaker 5>he knows exactly what he's doing, what he wants to do.
<v Speaker 5>He truly loves the animals. I've met his own cats,
<v Speaker 5>so he loves them. And that's just somebody that's real,
<v Speaker 5>you know. It's it's very difficult these days, and you
<v Speaker 5>can find someone pure and when they're pure, it's you
<v Speaker 5>just get chills when you meet my people. So, yes, yes,
<v Speaker 5>we're really excited with him. He's going to get to
<v Speaker 5>go on a special trip to meet some monk seals
<v Speaker 5>that are endangered and there's only like six hundred in
<v Speaker 5>the world or something, and we're going to go take
<v Speaker 5>him and Mary is coming, his publicity manager, and we're
<v Speaker 5>going to take him on a trip for there. We're
<v Speaker 5>gonna take him in downtown so you can see the
<v Speaker 5>Acropolis and work with some of the girls that feed
<v Speaker 5>the strays around the Acropolis and also Nine Lives that
<v Speaker 5>they take care of a lot of the animals around
<v Speaker 5>the Acropolis. So yeah, so it's going to be interesting.
<v Speaker 5>We have a tough schedule. It's actually on the website
<v Speaker 5>raptotrap dot com. We have an event page and we're
<v Speaker 5>updating it with we have more details, and I'm hoping
<v Speaker 5>that it also, I think the important thing because in
<v Speaker 5>Greece there are good, there's good and bad, and I
<v Speaker 5>think every country has a percentage of something good at
<v Speaker 5>a certain rate and let's say bad at a certain rate,
<v Speaker 5>and everyone has problems. And I think that's very important
<v Speaker 5>for him to share problems in America too, because sometimes
<v Speaker 5>I think the difference I see is that there's more
<v Speaker 5>animals on the streets here, but in America we have
<v Speaker 5>more shelters that they're stuck in cages and then they
<v Speaker 5>get euthanized and all if they're not adopted in a
<v Speaker 5>certain time. And I know they're trying more to get
<v Speaker 5>rid of all those kill shelters, but we still have
<v Speaker 5>a big problem about that. So sometimes I'm not sure
<v Speaker 5>what's worse, you know, seeing why cat sick on the
<v Speaker 5>street or someone bringing in their cat because they moved
<v Speaker 5>thinking it's going to go to a home and it
<v Speaker 5>gets euthanized, like it's all a problem.
<v Speaker 2>Their cat, my first cat outing their cat, yeah, on
<v Speaker 2>the streets and we knew he was he knew the
<v Speaker 2>sound of refrigerators, so he knew what being in a
<v Speaker 2>home was. So there's by no means do I think
<v Speaker 2>here in North America were perfect. But you're right, we
<v Speaker 2>have a lot of advantages when it comes to we
<v Speaker 2>have so many shelters, We have a lot of you know,
<v Speaker 2>people that are taken upon themselves do ten or and
<v Speaker 2>are fortunate to be able to do that or or
<v Speaker 2>mix it in with their day job. You know, like
<v Speaker 2>you said, there's just challenges both ways, you know, And
<v Speaker 2>it's right, it's just nice I think for people, you know,
<v Speaker 2>our listeners to get a perspective of what happens in
<v Speaker 2>other countries exactly. You know here and you know, you
<v Speaker 2>think about one thing in the US because that's what
<v Speaker 2>you're used to, but that's not you know, cultural differences
<v Speaker 2>are everywhere, including with our animals. Okay, you have a
<v Speaker 2>lot of great information on your website. So can you
<v Speaker 2>share your website so that people have a chance to
<v Speaker 2>go to your website and you know, see what you
<v Speaker 2>have going and they can donate or you know, educate themselves,
<v Speaker 2>educate their children.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, So the website is Let's be Smart dot org
<v Speaker 5>and that's the main US site, and then you can
<v Speaker 5>click on the Greek campaign which takes you to the
<v Speaker 5>Grease site which is Let's be Smart dashgrease dot org.
<v Speaker 5>And on the Grease site you can see a lot
<v Speaker 5>of our missions with our the education, more of the
<v Speaker 5>educational programs and the all the sheltercats and their stories.
<v Speaker 5>And you know something interesting we do here, which it's
<v Speaker 5>it's very interesting that the people love it is every
<v Speaker 5>month we try to honor a business over here that
<v Speaker 5>is somehow animal friendly if we find out maybe they've
<v Speaker 5>they're feeding some strays or or they help us with
<v Speaker 5>let's say the print shop that loves printing all our
<v Speaker 5>T shirts and they're really nice guys and they give
<v Speaker 5>us a good price because they know what we're doing.
<v Speaker 5>And every month we issue a Smart Award and then
<v Speaker 5>we put it on their window of their business and
<v Speaker 5>give them like some gifts, and they're really excited to
<v Speaker 5>get these awards. And I think it's really great for
<v Speaker 5>the community, you know, because then I think, because what
<v Speaker 5>I'm trying to do here is get communities more involved
<v Speaker 5>where they're not just going, oh, the government has to
<v Speaker 5>pay for that, you know what I mean. That's kind
<v Speaker 5>of more here.
<v Speaker 2>It's very clever, Julie, And it's such a great idea.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, and they like it. In fact, we gave one
<v Speaker 5>to one business. I think it was a photoshop. Yeah,
<v Speaker 5>it was photo store because we had to get some
<v Speaker 5>photos for something there and they had a couple of
<v Speaker 5>cats kind of in there inside the store. So then
<v Speaker 5>when we gave them the award, the pharmacy people next
<v Speaker 5>door said, oh, we take care of some strays too.
<v Speaker 5>They so like they wanted an award too. So it
<v Speaker 5>was really cute because then we you know, then we
<v Speaker 5>gave them an award and we you know, and then
<v Speaker 5>we promote them on our website, you know, social media,
<v Speaker 5>and every month we do a new business. So it just,
<v Speaker 5>like I say, brings the community more involved, and I
<v Speaker 5>think when they see there's more help, it just makes
<v Speaker 5>it easier. They don't mind pitching in more. A lot
<v Speaker 5>of people have no idea what to do. They see
<v Speaker 5>a sick cat, they have no idea who to call.
<v Speaker 5>There's municipality, maybe we'll answer, maybe won't. We're trying to
<v Speaker 5>work closer with both municipalities of where I live, where
<v Speaker 5>the Foster Hume is and the other is, and we're
<v Speaker 5>in touch with both mayors. They're really really nice, but
<v Speaker 5>they have so much bureaucracy. It's not just them, it's
<v Speaker 5>like who's in in their board, you know. So we're
<v Speaker 5>hoping actually the mayor will roll out our cat welfare program,
<v Speaker 5>which we actually wrote for the mayor. I wrote it
<v Speaker 5>as a consultant. I didn't want to do it through
<v Speaker 5>let's be smart, so it wouldn't compete with any other,
<v Speaker 5>you know, organizations that might be in the area. So
<v Speaker 5>I did it as my own self and they love
<v Speaker 5>and they basically are starting a cat welfare program and
<v Speaker 5>giving fifty thousand euros for the year here in my area.
<v Speaker 5>So we implemented that. Now it's getting it going. That's
<v Speaker 5>the next step.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you've done Wonders. It's amazing, I mean just amazing.
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to definitely I can't like to see the
<v Speaker 2>information that's posted with Sterling Davis. That's going to be exciting.
<v Speaker 5>What people have to realize in is that, like I
<v Speaker 5>said before, here in Greece, there's very very limited resources.
<v Speaker 5>I work, That's why I work all the time, and
<v Speaker 5>in order to be able to do this over here
<v Speaker 5>where in America, I think you get a little bit
<v Speaker 5>more help. But that's not really understood over here. So
<v Speaker 5>because we're also trying to bridge kind of a lot
<v Speaker 5>of us with the VET internship program and volunteers coming over,
<v Speaker 5>it will help us, I think, get us more exposure
<v Speaker 5>because they don't realize because we're not in the US.
<v Speaker 5>But you know what I'm saying that we're trying to
<v Speaker 5>think globally but act locally here. So I'm acting locally
<v Speaker 5>over here, but you know, the resources can be limited
<v Speaker 5>over here. So we're hopefully going to get more exposure
<v Speaker 5>through our programs, and I think that's the biggest challenge.
<v Speaker 5>It's a challenge for everybody over here. I think for
<v Speaker 5>a lot of the foreign countries it's more difficult, whereas
<v Speaker 5>the UK and America people are more used to being
<v Speaker 5>philanthropic and donating. It's a different mindset a little bit
<v Speaker 5>over here. So I think those are some of the challenges.
<v Speaker 5>I do have a cool story I could share with
<v Speaker 5>one special cat. I'd love to hear it, I just
<v Speaker 5>because it involved me personally and it's just interesting. I
<v Speaker 5>was going to read something but anyway, so what happened
<v Speaker 5>is I always go to the tavernas to get my
<v Speaker 5>Greek food and I bring it home to eat because
<v Speaker 5>I'm always working. So I had just picked up my
<v Speaker 5>food and I'm sitting at the traffic light and I
<v Speaker 5>noticed next to the curb a cat and I thought
<v Speaker 5>it was dead. In my mind, I was like, oh,
<v Speaker 5>another dead cat, you know. And then all of a sudden,
<v Speaker 5>because I'm still waiting, I thought I saw the eyes move,
<v Speaker 5>you know. So I'm like, am I imagining that? So
<v Speaker 5>I get out of the car and she was alive.
<v Speaker 5>She just couldn't move, so she hissed at me. I
<v Speaker 5>was like, oh my god, you're alive. So I rushed
<v Speaker 5>her to the vet. Of course, my food was pulled them,
<v Speaker 5>that didn't matter. Took her to the vet and she
<v Speaker 5>was completely paralyzed, like I don't know if she got
<v Speaker 5>like a severe whiplash. It Fortunately, after an MRI, you know,
<v Speaker 5>later on, she didn't have any broken bones or spine.
<v Speaker 5>But we kept her at the vet. Of course, they
<v Speaker 5>gave her cortison right away whatever to take down any swelling,
<v Speaker 5>and I got her reiki acupuncture and she was getting rehabilitated,
<v Speaker 5>and little by little she started to get a little
<v Speaker 5>strength in her front pause, you know, I could push
<v Speaker 5>against them, and she would push a little bit back,
<v Speaker 5>and again, little by little by little, she could start
<v Speaker 5>to get up. She would fall over, she would walk
<v Speaker 5>in circles. But after after probably eight months of rehab,
<v Speaker 5>we brought her to our foster home. She could walk perfectly.
<v Speaker 5>She did have some poly ups, so we operated those
<v Speaker 5>out of her ears and she basically recovered ninety nine percent.
<v Speaker 5>She has a little bit of a wide spread of
<v Speaker 5>her front pause. But anyway, I called her Missy because
<v Speaker 5>she was almost missed on the road and now she's
<v Speaker 5>been adopted. She's been living in the UK for probably
<v Speaker 5>I would say a year. So we have a community group,
<v Speaker 5>let's be smart community group on Facebook for our adopters
<v Speaker 5>and our volunteers so that they can follow cats maybe
<v Speaker 5>they slept with or hung out with, and then our
<v Speaker 5>adopters can share photos and we can all see how
<v Speaker 5>our cats are daying. So anyway, just the other day,
<v Speaker 5>a couple of days ago, the girl Carrie, who was
<v Speaker 5>adopted Missy, had an older cat, and that older cat
<v Speaker 5>just passed away Muffin. But she wrote this is what
<v Speaker 5>she wrote. She said, I've always known that Missy is
<v Speaker 5>a very special cat. But over the last forty eight hours,
<v Speaker 5>I've truly seen just how incredible she really is. Yesterday
<v Speaker 5>was a tough day. My eldest kiddy, Muffin, crossed over
<v Speaker 5>the Rainbow Bridge. The twenty four hours leading up to this,
<v Speaker 5>Missy did not leave muff inside. He was even sick
<v Speaker 5>on her, and she still stayed snuggled up to him,
<v Speaker 5>knowing that he needed her. I've been broken since he passed,
<v Speaker 5>and Missy has not left me for a moment. She
<v Speaker 5>has been licking the tears from my face and cuddling
<v Speaker 5>me constantly. And she said, Missy, I don't know what
<v Speaker 5>I would do with you. You're honestly a cat in a million.
<v Speaker 5>So it's like magical, like she just sensed everything, and
<v Speaker 5>it's for me to like just know that this cat
<v Speaker 5>is like so happy in an amazing home, and that
<v Speaker 5>she just did that is like just gives you that
<v Speaker 5>whole you know, positive. Yeah, it just.
<v Speaker 2>Looks like it was meant to be and just you
<v Speaker 2>hear the thing and being there at the right time
<v Speaker 2>the right place.
<v Speaker 5>Aftly, it's amazing. Yeah, it's just wow, it's really amazing.
<v Speaker 5>We did make a video for her too, before she
<v Speaker 5>was adopted. So you can actually go to our website
<v Speaker 5>and under our adoption page we have success stories and
<v Speaker 5>on her page you can watch a little video and
<v Speaker 5>see how she looked, and it gives a lot of
<v Speaker 5>the photos when she couldn't move except for her head.
<v Speaker 5>That was the only thing she can move. But they're
<v Speaker 5>so it's just amazing, like how incredible they are and
<v Speaker 5>how they just don't complain and they just keep trying
<v Speaker 5>and trying and trying.
<v Speaker 2>When you let them in. When you let the cats in,
<v Speaker 2>or you know, the dogs in were catted, so cats
<v Speaker 2>let them in. Animals they give you so much that
<v Speaker 2>just can't even be disguised.
<v Speaker 5>Thanks spiritual. It's something spiritual. They're like little angels. I
<v Speaker 5>feel like they're little angels and they can stay with you.
<v Speaker 5>I had a cat come into my dream and warn
<v Speaker 5>me about my other cat. I can't even it's just
<v Speaker 5>I've had incredible stories about cat. Or I think of
<v Speaker 5>a cat that I haven't seen alsodden. The next day
<v Speaker 5>I see it walking on the street. I'm like, that's
<v Speaker 5>so weird. I was just thinking about that cat. It's
<v Speaker 5>just and you know, I've had cats my whole life,
<v Speaker 5>so I've had me. I'm on like my third round
<v Speaker 5>of cats. You know, so I grew up with cats.
<v Speaker 5>My family had cats, and I love them so much.
<v Speaker 2>Let me ask this, did you ever think while you
<v Speaker 2>were even okay, let's say past growing up, but when
<v Speaker 2>you were studying Greece whatever, that you would be over
<v Speaker 2>there in Greece and have with this amazing organization that
<v Speaker 2>is doing so much for.
<v Speaker 5>Cats in Greece.
<v Speaker 2>Did you ever think that would ever come to fruition?
<v Speaker 5>I mean when I first wanted to come to Greece,
<v Speaker 5>or when before I knew about Greece.
<v Speaker 2>Maybe you know, while you had you said you had
<v Speaker 2>cats all your life, and did you ever think you'd
<v Speaker 2>be in another country doing these amazing things?
<v Speaker 5>I have to say I can tell you, well, not
<v Speaker 5>necessarily Greece, because I wouldn't have known too much about Greece.
<v Speaker 5>But when I was younger, probably eighteen or nineteen, and
<v Speaker 5>I first started a job at the accounting firm which
<v Speaker 5>ended up becoming mine. But anyway, what it was in
<v Speaker 5>my mind, I wanted to win the lottery so I
<v Speaker 5>could have something for the animals. So that was my
<v Speaker 5>very youthful It's funny because I say today I kind
<v Speaker 5>of won the lottery in life, you know what I mean.
<v Speaker 5>I didn't physically win the New York Lottery even though
<v Speaker 5>I play, But I feel like I won the lottery
<v Speaker 5>of life in order to be able to have a
<v Speaker 5>business that I'm able to thrive and work very very hard,
<v Speaker 5>and be able to dedicate most of my resources to
<v Speaker 5>these cats because they're they're just so amazing. And the
<v Speaker 5>whole education thing. I feel like I want to leave something,
<v Speaker 5>you know, not just feeding and rescuing the cats. I
<v Speaker 5>have the whole educational programs and getting people involved and
<v Speaker 5>all these things that go together, you know, with the
<v Speaker 5>municipalities and yeah, doing all of that, it is like
<v Speaker 5>the lottery, Like I've won the lottery of life.
<v Speaker 2>So I think you're right, and you know, I think
<v Speaker 2>everyone should go over to your site and just see
<v Speaker 2>some of the pictures and things that you've done. It's
<v Speaker 2>let's be smart dot org.
<v Speaker 5>Yes, and they can come volunteer. We have a lot
<v Speaker 5>of American volunteers. Like I say, if if anyone is
<v Speaker 5>a veterinary student, we have a special program where we've
<v Speaker 5>sent our program to all the universities in America. We
<v Speaker 5>have students coming from Auburn, University of Minnesota, Virginia Tech,
<v Speaker 5>Tess Goodgie. I can't never see that name one coming
<v Speaker 5>from Tufts. I think actually after Sterling did a speech there,
<v Speaker 5>a vet in turn wrote to us, and I believe
<v Speaker 5>she's scheduled to come ready. So a lot of people
<v Speaker 5>vacation in Greece. So if you want to come, you
<v Speaker 5>can stay for a few days and then do other things,
<v Speaker 5>you know, and you can stay at our cat rescue.
<v Speaker 5>It's we have full amenities, you know, bedrooms and you know,
<v Speaker 5>if you volunteer, we give breakfast and lunch, and there's
<v Speaker 5>some local things sites you can see. We're near the
<v Speaker 5>Temple of Poseidon and near Sunio. We're not too far.
<v Speaker 5>We're close to the airport. We can get you to
<v Speaker 5>a metro to go to Athens. That takes about an
<v Speaker 5>hour or so more. But you know, so I think
<v Speaker 5>it's kind of cool that you can combine a trip
<v Speaker 5>and do something philanthropic as well, and come and help
<v Speaker 5>a little bit for the strays while you're here.
<v Speaker 2>You know, you know, I really mine of my goals
<v Speaker 2>and it's for next year, for our big birthday, is
<v Speaker 2>to go to Grooves. So Rince if that happens, I
<v Speaker 2>will definitely contact you and say I'm trying to schedule.
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes I could spend at least a day my partner.
<v Speaker 2>We can never go for too long because our animals,
<v Speaker 2>so it gets him upset.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so at least a day just absorbing everything and
<v Speaker 2>you know, have a lot to share in another.
<v Speaker 5>Episode for sure.
<v Speaker 2>I want to thank you so much for coming on
<v Speaker 2>Patitude and sharing all of this wonderful information in your story.
<v Speaker 2>You are an amazing woman and what you've done is incredible.
<v Speaker 2>I mean it's mind boggling because there's so much involved,
<v Speaker 2>so many roadblocks, then it sounds like you've just blasted
<v Speaker 2>over most of them. You know, huge congratulations for everything
<v Speaker 2>you've done. And I know you're not stopped. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>this is just part of where you're headed. You know
<v Speaker 2>their path is still going. So I wish you lazing
<v Speaker 2>up and any luck we might meet in twenty twenty three.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, thank you.
<v Speaker 2>I want to say, Yugene, thanks to Julie Kelly for
<v Speaker 2>coming on Catitude and best of lots of Sterling Davis
<v Speaker 2>with his trip to Grease. I can't wait to see
<v Speaker 2>that that's going to be in May. Check out the
<v Speaker 2>Let's Be Smart dot org website. There's a lot of
<v Speaker 2>wonderful information there. I'd like to thank my producer, Mark
<v Speaker 2>Winter for making me my guests sound amazing, and thanks
<v Speaker 2>to my cat crew that's taught me more about cats
<v Speaker 2>than anything else, and that is Dennis, Mollie and Charlotte.
<v Speaker 2>And remember always to hey, lose the attitude and have cattitude.
<v Speaker 4>Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on petlive
<v Speaker 4>radio dot com, The tid