The great escape . . .
A STRAY pooch on a Greek island that was set to be poisoned was rescued by a Kintyre lifeguard. He now enjoys the best of Kintyre life, including sunsets like this on Westport beach.
A KINTYRE lifeguard saved a young dog’s life in Greece … and he is now enjoying paddle-boarding and three walks a day on Westport beach.
Christie Middleton, 21, from Machrihanish, told the Courier how she met her pup Zak a year ago this week. He was likely to be poisoned if he didn’t find an owner.
She was on holiday on the Greek island of Zakynthos when she was followed by the young stray that was living alone on the street.
Christie said: ‘We fed him a little bit and then he just wouldn’t leave me. I asked locals whose he was but no one owned him – he’d just been dumped at a hotel.
‘I got in touch with a charity there called Zante Strays to see if they would take him but they said they were already overrun with dogs.
‘They said he would most likely be poisoned by locals, as the island really struggles with the number of strays.
‘I thought there was no way I was letting that happen to him, so I tried to get him back here.’
It was set to cost £360 to bring Zak, named after the island he was found on, back home, so Christie set up a GoFundMe page and raised more than £400 in just two days.
That money paid for Zak’s passport and vet treatment, and days later he found himself charging around Westport beach having been saved from almost certain death.
Christie added: ‘I didn’t tell my mum until I’d been through the whole process. She was a bit mad at first, but he really is one of the family now.
‘I’m hoping to get a campervan and go travelling with him around Europe next year.’
Zak now has his own lifejacket for paddleboarding, as well as lots of woolly jumpers to keep him warm, as he has found Scotland a little colder than the Greek island he was born on.
Christie, who works at the Aqualibrium, added that she loves all animals and hopes to work with them fulltime in the future.