>ANSA-LA-STORIA/From Bergamo to Sicily to help strays

(by Max Firreri) CAMPOBELLO DI MAZARA, 05 MAY – From Bergamo to Campobello di Mazara, the town where the boss Matteo Messina Denaro spent part of his time in hiding. The three women who arrived in the Trapani area gave themselves the task of helping to sterilize the dogs and administer pesticides to the phobic strays, the most difficult to approach. Their names are Lauretta Polizzotto, Roberta Gatti and Laura Andreoletti and they have decided to spend 5 days of holiday in Sicily, not at the seaside but helping the volunteers of the ‘A…fido’ association who look after four-legged friends in the area. In everyday life the three women from Bergamo work in professional studios and factories, but for more than twenty years they have been volunteers for the Dimensione animalie Bergamo odv association. “The bond with our friends here in Sicily was born in 2015 – says Laura Andreoletti – when we received the first request for help, via social media, for adoptions. We arrived in the summer and have been coming back every year since then” . Local volunteers Rosa Cirrotta and Daniela Barbera joined this year’s mission. The three from Bergamo went hunting for phobic dogs, those who run away out of fear. “We spend hours before picking up a dog – says Lauretta Polizzotto -. With homeopathic drops in the food we put it to sleep and then we load it up to take it to a veterinary center for sterilization and for the administration of the long-release pesticide”. The ‘Dimensione animali Bergamo’ association took charge of buying pesticides for 2 thousand euros. The three women are driven only by their love for dogs, which is why every year they choose to spend a week in Sicily to help the ‘A…fido’ association which recovers almost 10 strays a month in Campobello di Mazara. “Our appeals often go unheard – says Daniela Barbera who leads ‘A…fido’ – we invite everyone not to abandon puppies but to take care of them, sterilizing them and microchipping them, but from the recoveries we do this does not happen. And we also register very few adoptions “. The collaboration between the volunteers from Bergamo and those from Campobello di Mazara has opened a channel of free adoptions throughout Italy. Through social media, photos and videos, the dogs recovered in the Trapani area are adopted in the North and then looked after by Lauretta, Roberta and Laura. “We keep in touch with the families who adopt them and we document the health status of the dogs”, they explain. In Campobello di Mazara where there is no municipal kennel, the volunteers of ‘A…fido’ are the operational arm of the Municipality which over the years has managed to reduce the number of admissions to Sicilian kennels. “We ask for everyone’s help because stray animals are an issue that should not be underestimated”, says Daniela Barbera.