Michael Varaklas - WIldlife Rescue

Wildlife rescue

An ANIMA staff member holds a vulture’s head while it receives treatment in Athens, Greece, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

Black wastewater pours into the sink, leaving oil stains on the porcelain as a woman washes a hawk with dish soap. The bird fell earlier into engine oil. A man found it and brought it in a carton box. She has to clean the oil off the bird, or it will burn its skin and cause it to lose its feathers. After washing the bird, the woman wraps the hawk with a white towel to dry it off. It is not the first wild animal, nor the last, someone will bring in that day.

The phone rings every five minutes. Someone has found an injured animal and asks what to do with it. People arrive at the entrance carrying injured animals, while others donate food. Staff and volunteers clean up, rip newspapers to pieces for the cages, and feed the birds—all under the shrieks of a crow that breaks the silence and muffles every sound.

Maria Ganoti, head of ANIMA, uses a dropper to hydrate a hawk in ANIMA's station, in Kallithea district Athens, Greece, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

The main task is the treatment of the animals they receive. Staff and volunteers treat broken bones, burns caused by electrocution or wildfires, hatchlings that fell from their nests, and seagulls with food poisoning, among other conditions.

“The treatment of wild animals started in Greece in the ’80s,” said Maria Ganoti, head of ANIMA, a non-governmental organization that treats and rehabilitates animals back into the wild. “After all these years, it is a common goal that a future can be found for an injured wild animal.”

An ANIMA volunteer feeds a jaybird hatchling in Athens, Greece, Tuesday, Jul. 5, 2022. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

The answer to why we should protect wildlife is a “bit of a cliche,” said biologist and researcher at the Natural History Museum of Crete, Michalis Dretakis. “We are all together. Humans are not independent of nature.” Protecting wildlife is essential for the ecosystem, not only for the species’ survival but also for humankind’s survival.

From left to right, Christina Tsatsou, Eirini Giannakaki and Maria Ganoti, staff of ANIMA, treat a vulture from the island of Crete, in Athens, Greece, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

From the smallest insect to the largest mammal, wild animals help balance the ecosystem. Without wildlife, the ecosystem will crash. In addition, humanity will face food and water issues, extreme climate, and even breathing problems, since there will be no natural air purifiers, Dretakis added.

Maria Ganoti, head of ANIMA, applies ointment on a pelican’s wing to treat burns from electrocution, in Athens, Greece, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

Climate change and human intervention are threats to wildlife in Greece and globally. Rising temperatures, heatwaves, traffic accidents, electricity cables, urban sprawl, poisoning, and poaching are some examples of what happens to birds, mammals, and reptiles.

In addition, natural causes such as strong winds, storms, and droughts can affect animals. Climate change, however, has become more potent, with drier summers and heavier storms. Gregorios Markakis, a veterinarian working at ANIMA, said climate change has dramatically affected the transmission of diseases and the re-emergence of micro-organisms. “Since climate change has affected the transmission of diseases, for certain it has also affected the dangers nature has to face,” he added.

According to the WWF 2022 Living Planet Report, “unless we limit warming to less than 2°C (35.6°F), and preferably 1.5°C (34.7°F), climate change is likely to become the dominant cause of biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystem services in the coming decades.”

Grigorios Markakis, a veterinarian working for ANIMA, looks at the X-rays of a jackal that was the victim of a car accident, in Athens, Greece, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023 (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

Grigorios Markakis, ANIMA’s veterinarian, looks at a jackal that was the victim of a car accident, during X-rays, in Athens, Greece, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

Grigorios Markakis, ANIMA’s veterinarian, prepares a jackal that was the victim of a car accident, for X-rays, in Athens, Greece, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

Grigorios Markakis, ANIMA’s veterinarian, prepares a jackal that was the victim of a car accident, for blood tests, in Athens, Greece, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

A jackal in a cage after medical tests, in Athens, Greece, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

The number of wild animals ANIMA receives has increased over the years. In 2017 they received 500 animals and about 8,500 in 2021. “Numbers depend on how harsh the winter will be, when the reproductive period will start, and if there will be a heatwave,” Ganoti said. Numbers have also increased due to people’s awareness and knowledge of what to do with an injured animal they find.

During the trimester of May-June-July of 2022, ANIMA had about 1,400 animals. Many of those animals were hatchlings found on the ground “and every year it gets worse,” Christina Tsatsou, a biologist and volunteer supervisor at ANIMA, said. From May until July, the reproductive period, birds build their nests inside structures. During a heatwave, the temperature in the nests can rise to 50°C (122°F). So the hatchlings jump off to avoid heatstroke, she added.

Leonidas Kotsis, a caretaker, walks at an ANIMA installation for animals that need short treatment and are ready to be released, in Votanikos, west of Athens, Greece, Wednesday, July, 6, 2022. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

Eirini Giannakaki, an environmentalist working at ANIMA, and Stelios Niotis, an intern, discuss their task. They have to give antibiotics to poisoned seagulls, and they prepare to move the birds from their cages one by one. Some birds can be very cooperative, others not. During treatment, both said that one of the seagulls gets scared and flaps its wings, which can be dangerous for the animal.

Giannakaki reaches for Niotis’s hands, and with interlocked fingers, they hold the bird’s beak and eyes closed. Seagulls are omnivorous birds, and their food source can be garbage. Due to high temperatures in the summer, bacteria develop in the organic waste the seagulls eat and get food poisoning, Giannakaki said. Their treatment includes antibiotics and rehydration.

An amputated eagle is seen in Votanikos, west of Athens, Greece, Wednesday, July 7, 2022. The bird will never be released back into the wild due to low chances of survival. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

An owl sits at its cage during treatment, at ANIMA’s facilities, in Kallithea district, Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Jun. 29, 2022. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

Another cause of poisoning of wild animals is the baits with poison that livestock farmers use to protect their livestock. Predators will eat the bait and will die. Likewise, vultures that scavenge on carrions will eat the dead animal and get poisoned.

Maria Ganoti, head of ANIMA, holds an owl to be released to the wild in the Dionysos area, northeast of Athens, Greece, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022. Wild animal releases are considered by nature lovers joyous events. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

On another day, Ganoti and Markakis talk about a young male jackal they were waiting for treatment from the Greek island of Samos. The mammal has to go for X-rays to see how severe its injuries are. A car had hit it. It cannot move its back leg and has an open wound on the front leg. Markakis sedates it with a shot and drives it to a veterinary clinic.

Upon arrival, the jackal was awake, and Markakis tied its mouth with a bandage to avoid getting bitten. The x-rays show “a severe fracture on the femur bone,” as ANIMA stated on their social media account. Mammals like foxes or jackals are often victims of car accidents. According to ANIMA’s statistics, in 2020, they had 113 animal admissions hit by cars. Urban sprawl and food shortages are the reasons for the rise of car accidents with animal victims, Markakis said.

Leonidas Kotsis, an caretaker working for ANIMA, releases an owl in a large cage in Votanikos, west of Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Jul. 7, 2022. The bird will remain there until it’s fit for release to the wild. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

One afternoon, people gather at the open quarry museum up in Penteli Mountain. The clouds run through the peaks of the trees, and the light rain enhances the smell of the flowers. The remnants of an ancient quarry that is now a museum are around. ANIMA will release 12 birds.

As more people gather, a man pulls out an accordion and starts playing. Attendees sing, and some even dance. They consider wild animals’ releases as joyous events.

Boxes containing birds sit at the open quarry museum at Penteli mountain, northeast of Athens, Greece, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022. Wild animal releases are considered joyous events by nature lovers. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

Maria Ganoti, head of ANIMA, releases an owl to the wild at the open quarry museum at Penteli mountain, northeast of Athens, Greece, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022. Wild animal releases are considered joyous events by nature lovers. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

When the pick-up truck with the birds arrives, people offer to help. Then, the staff and volunteers of ANIMA pick up the boxes with the birds and take them to a spot where the birds can fly away undisturbed. There are 12 boxes with hawks and owls.

As Ganoti prepares to open the first box and release the first bird, she addresses the gathered onlookers. “Please be quiet and have your dogs on a leash.” A wild animal release is a procedure that must be done carefully. The animals are scared and stressed.

An owl flies as people watch, after being released to the wild in the Dionysos area, northeast of Athens, Greece, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022. Wild animal releases are considered joyous events by nature lovers. (Photo/Michael Varaklas)

After the instructions, Ganoti opens the box and picks up a bird. She holds a hawk in her hands, showing it to the people gathered. She tells the crowd about the bird and how it came under their care.

She wishes never to see it again away from its original home. As she opens her hands, the hawk flaps its wings and flies away. All people's eyes are in the air, following it with a smile until the hawk disappears into the sky.

After successful treatment, the circle closes. The same way a wild animal arrives—in a box—the same way it goes back where it belongs, in the wild.

-Photos and Text by Michael Varaklas-