Silke Wrobel - A life devoted to protecting animals

Silke Wrobel was born in Kiel in 1948 and later worked as a nurse in Hamburg. After surviving a very tough battle with cancer, she moved to Crete in 1988.

In her new home, Silke Wrobel came across indescribable suffering by animals, and in the “official animal sanctuary” in the city of Hania, she witnessed almost indescribable chaos: Here, living dogs lay motionless alongside the corpses of other dogs, rotting food remains lay untouched and there was no water in sight. She rented a piece of land on the Akrotiri peninsula, took the dogs with her and, with the help of money donated from Germany, opened her own animal sanctuary - the first "Arche Noah Kreta".

In 1993, she founded a Greek animal protection association in Hania. At the end of 1996, the "Förderverein Arche Noah Kreta e.V." was founded in Germany. The aim of the association was to finance the work put in to helping the growing number of animals arriving at the sanctuary (already up to 600 dogs, 100 cats and birds of prey).

It is impossible to estimate just how many cats, dogs, birds and even hedgehogs have been saved from certain death, disease and the cruellest injuries over the years since the Arche Noah Kreta was first formed. One thing is for sure: in that same period, more than 7,000 animals have been rehomed and given a safe, secure future in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and even Denmark.

Following a TV film in ZDF’s 37° series (“Ich will sie alle retten” / “I want to save them all”) screened in November 2001, Silke Wrobel and her association have raised their profile in Germany.

Unfortunately, differences of opinion arose between the support association's management team and Silke Wrobel over the use of money donated to the cause as a result of the TV programme. This ultimately led to the support group no longer supporting the committed animal rescuer’s work in Crete.

This was a further cruel twist of fate for Silke Wrobel and a serious blow to animal protection work on Crete. But Silke Wrobel refused to be discouraged. The battle with the authorities robbed her of her strength. Financial concerns afflicted her for years, even after she had sold all her own property in order to maintain her animal sanctuary.

On 6th March 2003, 11 former members of the old support association set up a new support association for Silke Wrobel, the Tierfreunde Kreta e.V. Association.

In 2004, her accomplishments in animal protection on Crete and efforts to raise Germany´s reputation in Greece were honoured with the awarding of the German Cross of Merit.

In the spring of 2006, Mrs. Silke Wrobel bought a piece of land on the Akrotiri peninsula, near Hania airport, in order to set up a new animal sanctuary.

Independently of the authorities, she is thus fulfilled her life’s dream and making a real difference for the animals of Crete.