HELP ANIMAL RESCUER AMANDA APPEAL DANGEROUS COURT PRECEDENT

Dear Friends,

Today I am setting up a Gofundme appeal to seek £3,000 financial help for Amanda Duddridge, one of Corfu’s leading animal rescuers, to enable her to obtain proper legal representation to appeal a court ruling because a DANGEROUS LEGAL PRECEDENT HAS BEEN SET THAT AFFECTS ALL WHO CARE FOR AND HAVE ANIMALS IN GREECE. IF WE DO NOT OPPOSE THIS DECISION WE COULD ALL BE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE.

Basically Amanda Duddridge, as we all know, takes in rescued animals and fosters them until they are adopted. She has even adopted the animals used in the filming of The Durrells TV series that we all love. I foster strays and so do many others of all nationalities. This is because the Animal shelters on Corfu are full and we are compassionate people. This court case impacts us all and has devastated Amanda who has only ever cared for and loved her animal companions. NB the quotations below in bold have been taken from the court documents of the hearing held on 17 July 2024 of the Court of First Instance of Corfu and have been translated by me using Google translate. I would be obliged if anyone can point out any errors in this translation.

These are some of the reasons alleged by the applicants to the court that have been given for Amanda to have her animals forcibly removed from her property:

• “Dogs barking at all hours!” I am sure many of us have something to say about this even though in this case it isn’t true. Many a night I have laid awake hearing the crying of a dog tethered up by its owner because its only function is to bark if there are intruders. Heartbreaking. AMANDA WOULD NEVER DO THIS. Amanda keeps her dogs secure yet many Corfiots let their dogs out to wander freely. How could the plaintiffs be sure the barking was caused by Amanda’s dogs?

• “Large puddles of stagnant water and mud are created, which constitute potential sources of contamination and favour the presence of insects, such as mosquitoes, midges and flies.” Most properties in Corfu have septic tanks and water cisterns to hold water where insects breed- not to mention swimming pools. In my village one road has been flooded for months. Nobody has attempted to drain the water away. Yet now if we allow a puddle to form on our property we can all be assumed by the court to be responsible for causing ‘discomfort’ to our neighbours! Mosquitoes have always been a scourge on Corfu. No-one can deny that. But blaming a neighbour’s puddle for it is unreasonable!

• “The Prefect of Kerkira under reference A.P./Δγπ/12903/07-09-1998, has decreed that the number of domestic animals that each family can keep in the community of Ano Korakiana amounts to ten chickens, two sheep and/or goats and one single pig.” So it follows that this applies to everyone everywhere on Corfu. So how is it there are flocks of sheep wandering around in every village? Are they to be culled too?

• “With regard to dogs, it is considered that in the case of keeping up to one dog per property, no noise is caused that is unusual for the specific settlement, given that it is a village” -so this means if you have more than one dog on your property you are likely to be sued and imprisoned if your neighbour takes exception to you owning/fostering and caring for them.

• “[Amanda’s] ownership of animals is limited to one donkey, two goats (or one sheep and one goat), ten chickens, one dog and two cats.” So if you care for and/or own/foster more than 2 cats and 1 dog you are in trouble with the law. We all try to help Corfu with its stray population problem yet now the Corfu Court is implying “forget the strays leave them on the streets”. It appears Amanda has also to get rid of her horses since this ruling implies as much. Where do they go?

I should point out that this is a court decision which does not appear to accord with EU Animal Welfare Law 4830/2021 although I am no expert on Greek law.

The consequence of this court case is that the bailiffs are going to enter Amanda’s property and at her expense remove from their home six dogs; two horses; one sheep; five chickens and one other dog- hard to say why this extra dog. If Amanda resists this she will be jailed for 1 month and fined 300€ for each offence. There is no mention what will happen to the animals they remove.

NONE OF THIS IS ACCEPTABLE, AND ALL OF US NEED TO MAKE SURE THIS CASE LAW IS DEFEATED BEFORE MORE OF US ARE TAKEN TO COURT ON TRUMPED UP AND UNREASONABLE DEMANDS.

THE LEGAL COSTS SO FAR ARE IN THE THOUSANDS. I AM HOPING TO RAISE £2,000 THROUGH THIS APPEAL. PLEASE GIVE WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO HELP AMANDA APPEAL TO THE COURT.

I am sorry this is in £ because Gofundme does not support crowdfunding in Greece. If you would like to donate in € please send me a message through Gofundme.

PLEASE HELP AMANDA MAKE AN APPEAL TO THE COURT AND GET THIS RULING OVERTURNED ON BEHALF OF ALL ANIMAL RESCUERS IN GREECE BY DONATING WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO SPARE.

Kind regards

Rosie