She’s dog’s best friend.
Christine Drakatos is a nurse by day and heroic canine rescuer by night — catching feral dogs that roam the Rockaways and saving abandoned pooch❀es in destroyed homes.
This month she and fellow pup defender Sloane Quealy-Miner rushed to the aid of three pit bulls tied to light posts and left for dead on the boardwa♛lk.
“You just can’t walk away,” said𒉰 Drakatos, 47, a🌺 lifelong Astoria resident who lives with 11 dogs.
“There are many times where I’m like ‘Jesus, I’m so exhausted.’ We have our o💙wn p🤪ets and things going on. But we need to find loving homes for these dogs.”
Since starting her Far Rockaway Resc💯ue Project four years ago, she’s rescued 🌠176 dogs. Twenty have come from houses abandoned after Hurricane Sandy. Residents call the Drakatos before they call the cops or the ASPCA.
It all started when she got an e-mail about a dog and her puppies living in woods near the crime-ridden Edꦅgemere Houses. She quickly discovered the stray dogs were actually packs of feral canines.
“Dogs that have been outside for a long time have to survive,” Drakatos said. “Their instincts become feral again. All it takes is for one or tඣwo 🍌dogs to be thrown out.”
Drakatos cu𓆏rrently has seven feral pups available for adoption. They’ve been f🌌ixed, vaccinated, microchipped and trained.
“Christine is incredible,” said Quealy-Miner. “Iꦯ hate ༒to use the phrase ‘the dog whisperer,’ but she has a talent. Other rescuers call Christine when they can’t get near a dog. In 10 minutes, she has it on a leash. It’s really something else.”
Drakatos, who’s only been bitten once, said ꦚ🌃she shows no fear. She recently calmed an aggressive dog by keeping her distance and speaking to it for several minutes while offering food.
Every Sꩵaturday, the gals visit the homes of people who refuse to feed their out💙door mutts. Some of the animals are in squalid junkyards but the ASPCA refuses to take them away.
Drakatos says she knocks on the 😼owners’ doors, tells them their dogs are livinꦏg in poor conditions and asks if they need help.
“I honestly don’t give too many choices,” she said. “Do they w♔ant to work with me, yes or no? Because either way it’s going to happen. My life is for the dogs. I live and breathe to save.”
The women use up to 300 pounds of dog food a month and spend hund🍰reds of dollars on supplies and veterinary costs. Three local shelters board their rescue dogs.
Lately they’ve been called to the 81st Street boardwalk, where three pit bulls were abandoned in as many weeks. One five-year-old dog, Silvia, was bowlegged from being bred too many times. She’s ꦬnow available for adoption.
“We really need exposure to help these dogs 𒉰get adopted,” said Drakatos, whose rescue project can be contacted at christinedrakatos@yahoo.com. “Some of the most incredible dogs we’ve e𝐆ver had come from Far Rockaway.”