Theresa Camilleri and husband Geoff are both avid dog lovers. The couple have been married for 15 years. Before they met, Theresa was a semi-professional squash player and worked full-time as an estate agent. After a few years, Geoff persuaded her to stop working and consider a relaxed retired life. Antoinette Sinnas shares their heartwarming story.
Therese and Geoff decided to adopt their first dog, Poppet followed by Lily a few months later, and Smudge the following year. “Smudge was a terrible dog,” says Theresa. “A cat and hen killer. He never stopped barking, and was extremely naughty. Funnily enough we still have him today and love him to bits despite it all!”
Their second dog Lily then got ill and while she was at the San Frangisk animal hospital, the 4th dog Spike turned up with a deformed leg and they adopted him too. Sadly Lily did not survive her illness and died shortly after.
Both Theresa and Geoff wanted a house with a big garden to house their dogs but found the real estate for something like that in Malta quite expensive so ventured off to Sicily where they found exactly what they were looking for. Whilst there, Theresa met Carlotta Caffarelli who runs the local kennels in Vizzini and she volunteered to help. “That was the beginning of the rest of our lives and Adopt A Sicilian Stray was born. Frankly, I had no idea what I was getting into. My nephew showed me how to set up a Facebook Page and today we have over 14,000 followers,” says Theresa.
“We turned our house in Sicily into kennels where we housed around 60 dogs on a continual basis. The dogs’ pens were situated all around our house, and I have wonderful vignettes of looking out of our bedroom window at the crack of dawn and seeing those adorable puppies frolic and play in carefree abandon. It was a total joy!
“We would have a happy hour in the mornings and evenings while their pens were being cleaned, when we would let all the pups out to play and run all over the place. Once clean we would put the food in the pens for the pups and amazingly, each pup would know which pen to enter in order to eat. The older dogs on the other hand were not penned, but had free access to the whole property together with our own dogs,” she adds.
By now the couple had around eight of their own. Amazingly enough, the dogs knew their place during the night was in the conservatory, whilst their “core” dogs slept indoors with Theresa and Geoff. This sleeping arrangement caused no aggravation whatsoever.
“Everybody knew his or her place. When dogs left to join their adoptive families, others would replace them almost immediately as there were dozens of dogs just waiting to come to us so that we could find homes for them,” she continues.
Theresa worked relentlessly. Before taking in new dogs, she would disinfect the pens with bleach with her helper, Vito. She would be up at 7am on the dot, seven days a week, 12 months a year, to feed the dogs and clean the pens.
The dogs were given a wholesome meal 3 times a day and the pens would get cleaned three times a day in winter and four times a day in summer. “Ours were probably the cleanest, most hygienic kennels in the whole of Sicily! We also purchased another piece of land in order to build proper kennels. We had the plans issued and we were on the verge of building the kennels when the local vets decided that having kennels might be detrimental to their private work and therefore our plans went up the spout,” recalls Theresa.
“We had to make do with the kennels in our house and began putting the dogs up for adoption. Just seeing our rescued dogs happy and safe with their new families in Malta or other parts of Europe was the most satisfying aspect of our job. We have rescued several dogs on the point of death, infested with ticks and fleas, full of worms and riddled with sandfly.
“One dog was found with a leg so gangrenous it had to be amputated. Seeing a dog that would definitely have been dead within a day or two gradually regain health and eventually find a forever home is the most gratifying thing imaginable.”
Theresa says that all the money in the world could not buy the absolute satisfaction of seeing a dog that you saved safe, happy and healthy in his new home. Sometimes the couple organize “dog reunions” where they get the opportunity to see, around 70 to 100 of their rescued dogs.
“These days are simply the best,” exclaims Theresa. “Thankfully in Sicily there is the local veterinary services called ASP and in an emergency we take the dogs there. I also have a very good vet in Sicily who lives nearby and is normally available if there is an emergency. In Malta we have several good vets and it is fairly easy to find a vet when and if needed,” she continues.
The most soul destroying aspect of their work is to have found a good home for a dog they have saved and after four or five years the owner decides he cannot keep the dog any longer. Theresa and Geoff make a huge effort to find good homes.
They start off with an online interview, followed by a long telephone conversation. They then make a house visit which generally lasts a couple of hours. They explain that there is a legally binding contract and in the contract it specifically states that under no circumstances can they mate the dog, sell the dog or put the dog in a local sanctuary. The contract also obliges the new owner to neuter the dog by the age of one if it is a puppy.
If the dog is more than six months old Theresa gets the dog neutered, microchipped and fully vaccinated before coming to Malta. The dogs also come with a European passport. “We follow up on our adopted dogs for at least a year after the adoption has taken place. We try to cover every base but sadly there is always a 5% of our homings that will fall through in spite of our efforts.
“This is the one aspect of our job that totally crushes me, because having found a home for our dogs it is very sad to have to find another home, especially since the dog is now fully settled with his family and therefore it is very unkind and unfair to expect him to simply move on and get used to a new way of life.
“However it is also in our contract that if this should happen I must be involved in the rehoming and ideally find the new home myself, because like that I know that the dogs will still be going to a good home. Frankly, if somebody decides they no longer want the dog, by hook or by crook they will get rid of their dog; therefore even for this reason I insist that I am involved in the rehoming.
“I also try to base every decision I take on what is best for the dog, and if the dog is not happy, then I actually recommend finding a new home for the dog. For example if suddenly someone’s two dogs start fighting and cannot live harmoniously together any longer, I would rather rehome one of the dogs than leave them in that environment,” says Theresa.
The adoption process – Theresa explains how it works
The very first point of contact is the indefatigable June Tomkins! When enquiries first come into our Facebook page, June processes them with an on-line questionnaire. June has been with us since the beginning and is still with us today.
She is a wonderful English lady who lives in Gozo. She spends most of her day at her computer and takes all our enquiries, does all the initial online interviews and then recommends the best ones to me for an in-depth telephone interview. Without June’s constant monitoring of our Facebook page none of our homings could proceed. June is, without doubt, our most valuable volunteer who puts in a huge number of hours, often pretty thankless, just for the love of dogs.
As I mentioned earlier we do an intensive series of interviews starting off with an online interview followed by a telephone interview followed by a house visit followed by a contract which is legally binding. Papers need to be signed by the prospective adopters whilst in Sicily there is a whole series of processes to follow – such as the initial police reports, the microchip, the vaccinations, the rabies vaccination, the quarantine and the passport.
In the meantime we post our dogs for adoption on our FaceBook page called Adopt a Sicilian stray, and we send various photos and videos to the families interested in the dogs. I visit Sicily twice or three times a month and when I am there I do a number of video calls so that the families can see their dogs live, so to speak.
This is an intensive process and because of the administrative difficulties dealing with the rabies vaccination, which can only be done at the age of 12 weeks and not before, three weeks quarantine, passport etc it is a lot easier for somebody to adopt a dog in Malta rather than from Sicily because they can adopt an eight-week-old puppy rather than wait until the dog is 15 weeks old.
They can visit the dog and try the dog out, and the dogs in Malta do not require a rabies vaccination. In spite of all these difficulties we have managed to home over 700 dogs in 5 years and we feel that we have been so successful because we take so much care to find good homes for our dogs. I may not be gainfully employed but I have never worked harder in my life!
For more information, visit the Facebook page Adopt a Sicilian Stray.