Moments after Zoe and Lucky emerged from the plane's cargo hold and were given the go-ahead to enter New York, Marijo Gillis broke down and cried.

The April 8 mercy airlift to save Lucky, a poodle, and Zoe, a Border collie mix, was part of a complex international rescue effort orchestrated by Gillis.

Gillis, an animal rights activist who lived in Greece for 14 years, has taken on the daunting task of trying to help save some of the thousands of stray dogs and cats prowling the streets of that country.

The issue has made headlines recently with charges the animals are being poisoned in a bid to beautify the streets of Athens before the Olympic Games this summer.

In Greece, where it's rare to spay or neuter pets, there are an estimated 5,000 stray dogs roaming the streets of the capital alone. Officials have denied any plot to kill them, but Gillis said exterminating strays is a common practice across the country.

Gillis has found new homes for many Athenian dogs in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and England. About 25 have come to New York.

Zoe, who is about 2 years old, and Lucky, who is about 4, were rescued with the help of several big-hearted New Yorkers.

"I'm amazed at the kind of compassion that two unknown, little animals have brought out in this city," said Gillis, who runs Welfare for Animals in Greece, or WAG, a nonprofit lobbying group based in Manhattan.

On a recent trip to Greece, Gillis came across the two dogs, both partially paralyzed and lying inside the courtyard of a dilapidated house in a northern city of Thessalonike.

"I couldn't get the animals out of my mind," she said.

The haunting images prompted her to post a plea for help on an international rights network, which sparked a flurry of E-mail responses from across the globe.

But it was Sara Whalen, director of Pets Alive, a 77-acre animal sanctuary in Middletown, Orange County, who agreed to provide a home for the disabled dogs.

"I couldn't get past the pictures I saw. You just can't overlook that kind of suffering," she said.

In late March, once the dogs had a destination, Gillis set the rescue effort in motion, transporting the nearly dead dogs to a safe house in northern Greece.

The New York office of Olympic Airlines donated free tickets to fly Gillis and the dogs to Athens and then on to New York.

At Kennedy Airport, cargo manager Nick Georgatos was standing by to help Gillis and the dogs clear Customs. Then Joseph Pastore, a volunteer with the York City Animal Care & Control, drove the exhausted trio to the sanctuary in a sport-utility vehicle donated by Enterprise Rent-A-Car on the upper East side.

Gillis described it as "a rescue effort by individuals, corporations and businesses that came together."

When they arrived at Pets Alive, Gillis said the once-skittish, decrepit dogs came alive. "They were all over us," she said.

This week, the recovering pooches will be fitted with carts. In time, Lucky and Zoe should be strong enough to be adopted, Whalen said, but only "to special people who enjoy having a dog that needs assistance."

For more information or to make a donation, call WAG at (212) 427-0587 or go to www.canadianvoiceforanimals.org/WAG3.html.