Sandra Kalamares

Sandy has been involved in animal welfare on Aegina ever since she first came to live here more than 30 years ago. She has lost count of the many feral cats she has taken to be sterilised. She has worked at Aegina's dog shelter, run by Animal Protection Aegina Agistri ( APAA), and was very much involved in helping Vrouva farm sanctuary get started. During lockdown she decided to trap, neuter and release members of a pack of more than 30 stray dogs. The space she rented for them to be cared for before and after surgery, Villa Stray, evolved into a sanctuary for very phobic, traumatised stray dogs.

In 2023 Elizabeth Koubena, who had been running Animal Protection's stray cat sterilisation program on Aegina for many years, asked if anyone would be willing to take over the cat sterilisation program. Dino Mahoney, Norma Khoury and Sandy Kalamaras decided to take on the challenge and Aegina Cat Care was created.