Give Mele Odysseus a New Life in America!

Hello. My name is Sarah Haak, and I am a 4th year Ph.D. student at the University of Cincinnati studying literary nonfiction writing. I also teach university and creative writing courses and hope to keep at it after I graduate. I fought hard for an education and love working with people inspired by learning. 

 

I am writing to ask for a financial donation to a good cause. On the last day of a summer research fellowship in Greece (on the island of Crete), I took a hike on a mountain and found a puppy abandoned over a cliff. He was malnourished, dehydrated, covered in scrapes and bites (he had horrible flea and tick bites that resulted in huge lumps all over his body), and had a slightly injured back leg; likely, he was out there for more than a week. A plastic bag was nearby, suggesting someone had dumped him inside it. The veterinarian I took the puppy to believes this to be the case—all too common in Crete, he said.

 

The puppy and I were fortunate to find this vet named Adonis. According to Adonis, Greece (and especially the Greek islands) has a huge problem with stray animals—he ships hundreds of puppies and kittens a year to other countries in the European Union! “If you don’t take this puppy,” Adonis said, “he will likely live on the streets.”

 

Well, you can guess what I did: I stayed in Greece when my traveling companions left as scheduled. You see, it’s pretty hard to ship animals anywhere in the world, as you may know, but things have gotten harder during Covid times. After much research, I learned the process is as such: the animal must be in good health, he must be microchipped (before a rabies shot), he must have a rabies shot and other boosters, and then he must obtain a pet passport and other paperwork. Additionally, he must comply with all airline procedures (which includes an age specification, hence my extended stay).

 

I named this puppy Mele Odysseus—Mele means honey in Greek, and we are indeed on an odyssey together! So here’s where things stand now:

 

✔ It took about two weeks of deworming and treating the intense tick bites, but Mele is now in good health! We get bloodwork done in a week or two to make sure he doesn’t have any long-term illness (like Lyme), but besides a minor cough and stomach problems for a few weeks (to be expected), he does not have Parvo or anything else! 

✔ He got a microchip right away, and on July 13th (when he is 12 weeks old, and it is safe), he gets a rabies shot.

✔ Once we checked those boxes, the vet issued Mele a pet passport, and he wrote a letter for us for the airline assuring Mele is in good health. 

✔ Finally, after much searching, I found an airline willing to allow pets to fly intercontinentally in the cabin with me (Delta)—after what Mele has been through, the vet thinks it is not a good idea to have him fly in a cargo hold. I am also in the process of registering him as a service dog, which I’m able to do with the help of my physician. This will serve as a backup should he get too big in the time it takes for him to meet Delta (or any airline’s) age specifications—it isn’t safe for too young an animal to go for extended periods of time in that kind of air pressure. 

* As a side note, I’ve been looking for the right dog to be a service dog for me, and I knew the moment I saw Mele that he was the one. He has the temperament and the cleverness for the rigorous training we’ve already started. 

 

As you can imagine, this is not a cheap endeavor; the vet bill alone is so, SO much when converted to US dollars, but it includes initial treatments, the microchip, shots, the pet passport, bloodwork, and initial taxi travel to and from the vet—it’s difficult to get around Greece and the first 10 days we were in a hilly region where it is impossible to walk. 

I also canceled my American Airlines flight home with the idea I could roll that money over since I paid for travel insurance. However, it turns out they do not ship pets intercontinentally and won’t allow me to use that credit unless I am flying somewhere in Europe. Thus, we bought a pricy Delta airline ticket leaving on July 30th and another ticket from Crete to Athens (where we could fly out). And that only gets us to NYC because I had to make sure the flight is under 12 hours to fly safely with Mele (this one is 11 hours and 32 minutes). Who knows how we will get home to Ohio?

 

I know you may be thinking right now: well, if you can afford to GO to Greece, you can afford to pay for this, too. But I want to remind you that for ONE more year I am living on a Ph.D. student’s (relatively low) budget, and I was traveling on a research fellowship that expired at the end of June.

 

Lodging on Crete during the high tourist season is unbelievably expensive. The first 10 days we stayed in a hotel, but I was able to barter with copywriting and website design to find a discounted house for Mele and me for July. We live out by the goats and greenhouses on Western Crete, which is good for us since Mele has serious reactivity issues because of his trauma—bad biting, food aggression, and so on. This alone is worth me staying here because with this behavior he would not be flying anywhere and would probably not be alive. 

But he’s lucky he found me because I spent ten years working with abandoned children with these issues, so I have the patience and skills to help him, and he’s already gotten so much better! And I’m lucky I found him because he is a beautiful, clever little man, and I know he will improve my life—he already has! We both know what it is like to be uncared for and neglected in the early stages of life, and now we have found each other.

 

So, I hope some of you will be moved by our story and want to help us get home. Your donations would go toward Mele’s care first and foremost, but then also toward our airfare home. I’d also really like to pay it forward and donate to the veterinarian’s office—the work he does saving and rehoming what must feel like an endless stream of animals in desperate conditions is nothing short of unbelievable. It’s clearly his passion but also such a dedicated endeavor (and so many of these animals he has to turn away because there just aren’t enough people to donate to their care). 

 

Anything you can offer helps! And here’s an offer from me. My job (and passion) is writing. If there’s something you’re working on (an essay, a poem, a story, a resume), I want to offer my services down the line to you if you’re able to donate to us now. I could help you edit something, or I can recommend places to publish if that’s your goal. I could also offer a consult if you have an idea for writing you're trying to get past the drawing board!

 

Thank you for considering our fundraiser! Mele and I both appreciate your time and energy.

 

And a quick note: if for some reason Mele is unfit for travel to the US at the end of this journey, your funds will have sponsored him a home in Europe (most likely in Germany), and a fostered home with important, rehabbing training until then. As of Wednesday, July 13 his journey away from Crete will have been paid for and ensured (and again: there is not a life for him here). I want him home with me, but his safety and well-being come first. This would only happen if he gets too large to travel in the cabin with me, but Adonis and I believe it will not.