Compassion not difficult

IN RESPONSE to Theo Lagakos' reply on October 17 to Cynthia Georgandis: Mr Lagakos, you just don't get it, do you?

I personally do not expect everyone to be obsessed with my pet. What I do expect in the 21st century, especially in an EU country, is respect and humane attitudes towards animals. In your previous reply to my letter on September 19, you stated that it was a shame people did not like my pet as much as I did in the hotel where I was staying.

For your information, it was not a hotel; it was an expensive apartment, rented for three years and with the landlord's prior knowledge and acceptance that we would be bringing our dog.

Just one day before I left Greece in October, I found a carrier bag in the sea containing a (drowned) small one-week-old puppy, obviously unwanted and just dumped like trash, and our local Greek friend who has several dogs found one of his dogs battered to death overnight and dumped outside his house.

Poisoning, drowning, ill-treatment and abandonment of dogs and cats is not the way forward. Compassion for all life is not too hard. Anyone who can dump an innocent one-week-old puppy in a sealed carrier bag into the sea has a mental problem and shouldn't be allowed out in public! Likewise the person who clubbed the dog to death.

One day a child will be poisoned in error by stupid, ignorant people who put poison down for strays. Then, perhaps, we may see a change in attitude.

Jane Rodocanachi

Derbyshire, UK

Two of the rescued dogs after their first bath

SIX dogs living on an uninhabited isle in the Corinthian Gulf were shipped to safety on July 5. The rescue mission, carried out by animal welfare volunteers, was sparked by a letter written by Tim Munton (published in the Athens News on July 4) who had spotted the dogs on Daskalio islet while sailing in the area.

"The animals were in reasonable condition except for a chronic shortage of water," wrote Munton, who left 25 litres of water and painted a sign asking other boaters to fill up the dogs' bucket." As we have five dogs already we could not take them with us, and it was heartbreaking to leave them behind."

On receiving Munton's email, Vesna Jones of UK-based Greek Animal Rescue scrambled a team of volunteers through the Panhellenic Animal Welfare Federation. "It was clear that the mother dog and her grown-up puppies had been abandoned there deliberately," says Jones. "They had no hope of surviving on the island."

Three volunteers and a reporter from Mega TV channel set off for Daskalio early on July 5 in a rented boat, equipped with transport kennels, water, food, collars and serum in case the dogs were severely dehydrated. "Realising that Tim's photos had been taken on June 11, we didn't even know if we would find all of the dogs alive," says volunteer Nafsika Korniliou.

But as they drew up, "we saw two wonderful dogs smiling at us, showing their white teeth and wagging their tails non-stop," reports Korniliou. Within an hour, the volunteers located and caught the remaining four dogs on the islet. "They were all thin, very wet (the only way they could cool off was getting into the sea) and smelled strongly of fish."

The dogs were transported to a kennels in Attica where, after a bath and tick treatment, they await sterilisation and adoption. All expenses for the rescue operation, the dogs' kennelling and veterinary costs are being covered by Greek Animal Rescue, Graeskehunde from Belgium and the Dutch organisation World Shelters.

"I hope that we Greeks will one day start respecting animals," says Korniliou, who unsuccessfully requested aid for the dogs from Corinth authorities. "We were happy to find the dogs alive and we will make sure that they find lovely homes and never have to suffer again."

Another cruelty victim's life still hangs in the balance. On July 7, the Acropolis Animal Welfare Society found a kitten bound from nose to tail with masking tape, its ears pierced and fastened together with a safety pin. A local vet managed to remove most of the tape, which had bonded with skin, but the kitten remains in critical condition.

ATHENS NEWS , 11/07/2008, page: A09
Article code: C13295A093

How shameful!

THE GREEK ministry of agriculture, which has done little or nothing in the past to mitigate the suffering of stray and abandoned dogs in Greece and nothing to instigate a programme of sterilisation to address this problem, has the arrogance to announce that it has taken responsibility for these wretched animals. The ministry does not acknowledge the wonderful work done by animal rescue organisations in Greece.

Gillian Hearn

Monemvasia

ATHENS NEWS , 11/07/2008, page: A09
Article code: C13295A093

ATHENS NEWS , 11/07/2008, page: A09
Article code: C13295A093

How shameful!

THE GREEK ministry of agriculture, which has done little or nothing in the past to mitigate the suffering of stray and abandoned dogs in Greece and nothing to instigate a programme of sterilisation to address this problem, has the arrogance to announce that it has taken responsibility for these wretched animals. The ministry does not acknowledge the wonderful work done by animal rescue organisations in Greece.

Gillian Hearn

Monemvasia

ATHENS NEWS , 11/07/2008, page: A09
Article code: C13295A093

Crushed, poisoned, chained

MALCOLM Wright's letter ('Tis the season to dump puppies, February 1) really does highlight the problem in Greece. We live in Halkidiki for half the year and help a local woman there who rescues dumped puppies and dogs. These puppies are often dumped in the trash containers at the side of the road, presumably to await a horrible death by crushing.

In our local village there is a man who puts poison down to kill the stray dogs, everyone seems to know who he is, but apparently can't do anything, unless he is caught red-handed. Something needs to be done about this problem. I love Greece and have many good Greek friends who do take care of their animals. However, too many get away with behaving despicably towards pets. Last year, for instance, there was this dog tied up to a filthy kennel under a tree, surrounded by its own faeces. Nearby there was a big bucket of water contaminated by algae and the dog was so obviously thin, neglected and with a flea allergy. Was this dog out in the wilds? No, it was behind a hotel where I am sure many people must have seen it. Indeed it was some tourists at the hotel who alerted us about this dog.

A Greek family lived in an apartment facing this poor dog and, much to my astonishment, carried on their daily life, cleaning their car outside whilst managing to completely ignore this poor dog. We tried our best, we put flea treatment on her, fed her, cleaned her water out and cleaned the area around her kennel. Next day she had disappeared. Most distressing, and it does not do Greece any good in the eyes of tourists. Many will no longer go to Greece because of this treatment. We go and try to do our best whilst there. It is very, very upsetting and I sometimes wonder how long I can keep witnessing this sort of thing. I can well understand why people decide to go elsewhere.

Yes, we do have problems in the UK, but we do not have the stray population that Greece has, mainly due to the fact that for some reasons the Greek people do not see fit to either neuter their pets or even keep them in a secure garden. The only dogs that don't wander are the poor mites chained to a filthy kennel in the belief that they can act as (undernourished and neglected) guard dogs. Please, get your priorities right, Greeks.

Jane Rodocanachi

Halkidiki, Greece, and Derbyshire, UK

Cash injection for Greek strays

European NGOs are funnelling over a million euros of aid into Greece every year to address chronic animal welfare problems

Fed up: foreigners are frustrated by the Greek state's seeming inability to enforce animal protection laws

BRITONS, Germans, Danes, Swedes and other foreign fundraisers are paying for the Greek government's failure to implement animal welfare legislation, footing the bill for neutering and veterinary care of strays and education campaigns for the public.

Between them, ten Europe-based animal protection organisations channel over a million euros every year into Greek animal welfare, the Athens News has learned. The total amount coming from abroad is certainly higher, however, if all charities are taken into account, along with money spent by tourists.

The Greek Animal Welfare Fund (GAWF), headquartered and fundraising in Britain, spends nearly 300,000 euros per year on neutering schemes, awareness campaigns and education. In 2005 (the latest year for which a budget breakdown is available), it gave out 132,409 pounds - just under 200,000 euros - in grants to 38 animal welfare societies and wildlife organisations throughout Greece. It also spent a further 77,017 euros on educational visits to schools, running first-aid courses, printing and dispersing leaflets and posters about responsible ownership, the importance of neutering and microchipping, and against poisoning and abandoning animals.

Greek Animal Rescue (GAR), also in the UK, spends close to 120,000 pounds sterling (179,000 euros) annually in Greece. Its founder is unequivocal about the impact of these donations: "The welfare of animals in Greece is funded mainly by foreign charities," says Vesna Jones, who set up the society in 1989 after a holiday in Greece. Since then, GAR and its sister society GAR-Canada have poured more than a million euros into Greece for neutering, medical care, finding homes for animals and feeding programmes.

Two smaller UK-based charities set up solely to raise money for Greek animals between them rustle up 50,000 pounds (74,500 euros) a year for neutering programmes, equipment, food and medicines.

Greek animals are also among the recipients of yearly donations from societies with an international presence. From its 200,000 pound (298,000 euro) budget for 26 countries in priority areas of southern and eastern Europe and east Asia, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) International provided just over 14,000 pounds sterling (20,800 euros) in aid to Greece in 2006. More than half of this was in the form of grants to local animal welfare organisations, including money for an animal collection vehicle, veterinary bedding and a campaign on the welfare of exotic animals. The rest was used for training purposes, such as a stray dog handling course for municipal officials.

The Scotland-based Marchig Animal Welfare Trust, meanwhile, spent approximately 50,000 pounds (74,500 euros) in Greece last year, chiefly for spay and neuter programmes. Expenses for 2007 are expected to double. The Marchig Trust also supports welfare projects in India, Bolivia, South Africa, Lebanon, Portugal, Malta and Romania, among other countries.

But it's not only the Brits who have a soft spot for Greek strays. Denmark's Graeskehunde sends approximately 100,000 euros per year to Greek societies and individuals for neutering and other operations, medical supplies and food, chew toys and collars.

German group Arche Noah spent a total of 280,000 euros in Greece in 2005 (the last year for which an itemised budget is available): the figure breaks down into approximately 93,000 euros for veterinary equipment and blood tests, 10,000 euros for feeding programmes, 36,000 euros for the costs of transporting adopted dogs from Greece to families in Germany, 107,000 euros for the financial support of an animal shelter on Crete and 34,000 euros for supplementary expenses.

A smaller, Saxony-based German society, set up with the aim of helping needy animals in southern Europe, sends approximately 34,600 euros to Greece annually, while the Swedish charity CHANS Hund spends about
5,800 euros a year on neutering and veterinary care for Greek strays.

The government's role

According to law 3170 of 2003, municipalities are required to implement catch-neuter-release programmes for stray dogs, organised either by a special committee set up by the city council or by a recognised local animal welfare society. In theory, the money spent on neutering is reimbursed by the central government, out of the agriculture ministry's one billion euro annual budget. But only a handful of municipalities have enforced this legislation, and charities are left to pick up the tab in the remainder. Further, the burden of organising and funding neutering programmes for stray and feral cats falls entirely on welfare organisations, as there is no provision for cat population control programmes in Greek law.

Neutering is widely regarded as the most effective solution to chronic stray animal problems. Private Greek veterinarians usually give a 30 percent reduction for the neutering and spaying of strays, but even the discounted operations for cats cost from 30 to 75 euros and the same procedures for dogs anything between 60 and 200 euros.

The agriculture ministry has not responded to Athens News' questions about how many municipalities and societies have been reimbursed for neutering strays, nor about the total annual ministry budget for sterilisation programmes. A survey of major societies in Attica has revealed only one recipient of central government funds since 2004.

Charities have also been picking up the tab for publicity drives alerting the community to the fact that the common practices of deliberate poisoning and abandonment of companion animals have been prohibited under Greek law since 1981. The government itself has launched no media campaign on this or any other aspect of animal welfare.

GAR's Vesna Jones says it is sad that Greece, an EU member since 1981, has to be propped up to such an extent by foreign charities. "Thanks to EU membership and tourism, Greece has prospered immensely over the past 25 years or so," she says, "but it is only the people who have benefited. Poisoning of strays is still looked upon as an acceptable form of stray control."

Carol McBeth of GAWF estimates that there are over one hundred animal welfare organisations in Greece. More than half of these receive funding from overseas-based welfare groups, whose members get sponsored to run marathons, organise bake sales and bazaars, buy charity calendars and set up standing orders through their banks to provide a lifeline for abused, injured, ill or simply unwanted animals in Greece. But McBeth is quick to point out that her society, at least, does not provide complete funding for any charity. "We expect them to be doing fundraising themselves as well," she says. "We're just offering a helping hand."

Annual expenditure in Greece

From the UK - 530,000 euros

From int'l NGOs - 95,000 euros

From Denmark - 100,000 euros

From Germany - 315,000 euros

From Sweden - 6,000 euros

Total - 1,046,000 euros

(numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand euros)

Tourists take action

Scores of kittens continue to be born and poisoned each year on Hydra, an island which is repeatedly criticised by tourists for its poor animal welfare record. Efforts by NGOs to set up subsidised neutering programmes for the cats have, until now, met with local opposition

TOURISTS aren't turning a blind eye to animal suffering. Protests from visitors concerning the abuse of animals are so common that the ministry of tourism standard complaints form has "Animals, maltreatment" listed among other such popular grievances as unscrupulous taxi drivers and overpriced restaurants (http://www.gnto.gr/pages.php?pageID=921&langID=2).

Jeanne Marchig, founder and chairman of the Marchig Animal Welfare Trust, says that the amount tourists spend in Greece on strays may amount to millions of euros. "My estimate is that approximately 10 percent of British, German, Dutch and Scandinavian tourists will feed and provide for veterinary care for dogs and cats they find in a terrible condition. If each of these spends 10 to 20 euros (and often much more) we reach considerable amounts," she points out.

Greek Animal Rescue receives a constant flow of letters, emails and phone calls throughout the year from distressed tourists. "We have just come back from Crete," reads one recent epistle. "We have never had such a terrible holiday and ended up rescuing a sweet mongrel dog that was permanently on a chain and totally starving. Finding the money to bring him back to England is a real struggle for us, but we just could not leave him where he was." Another: "I've just returned from a holiday on Santorini and Folegandros, where my friends and I were horrified to see donkeys and goats that had their feet tethered together so that they could hardly shuffle around. We couldn't see any way that it was possible for them to lie down or find food or shelter."

"I have just got back home [to Finland] from a holiday on Karpathos," reads a third. "In the middle of a remote location we found a puppy on a 2m chain (photo). He could barely reach the water bowl. We were not sure whether someone was looking out for him, so we bought some bones and toys and returned. The puppy was delighted to see us. His future has been bothering both my wife and me. Is there something that can be done? I hope that the puppy is not left to die on its own. Unpleasant observations such as these spoil the memories of vacations."

ATHENS NEWS , 03/08/2007, page: A07
Article code: C13246A071

Law little help for strays

Authorities are failing to enforce humane population controls for street animals, making a dog's dinner of legislation

The fate of stray dogs such as these pictured in Athens' Pedio tou Areos park depends on the goodwill (or otherwise) of citizens. Homeless animals sterilised and re-released onto the streets, as set out in law 3170, risk poison, injury, illness, malnutrition and abuse

NEARLY three years after legislation was passed requiring municipalities to set up sterilisation programmes for stray dogs, only a handful have fulfilled their obligations. Small wonder, then, that the ministry responsible is unwilling, or unable, to provide any information about the law's implementation.

Enacted in July 2003 in an effort to humanely restrict numbers of homeless animals, law 3170 made local authorities responsible for stray dogs, obliging them to set up programmes of vaccination, sterilisation and identification followed by adoption or release onto the streets.

On February 20, the Athens News contacted the ministry of rural development, which oversees the implementation of this law, requesting information on how many municipalities in Greece have received funding and set up these catch-neuter-release programmes for stray dogs.

To date, despite countless queries to the office of Deputy Minister Alexandros Kontos (under whose authority the issue falls), the ministry has not supplied any data in response to these questions.

The only available statistics were gathered by the charity Greek Animal Welfare Fund (GAWF) and the Coalition in Defence of Animals In Greece (CIDAG), members of which conducted a telephone survey among municipalities last summer. The results make pitiful reading.

Of 100 municipalities questioned, only 29 said they conducted stray dog programmes. Of these, 27 ran catch-neuter-release schemes and two operated shelters. With 22 of these municipalities in the Attica area and four in Thessaloniki, only three others throughout the rest of the country had set up sterilisation programmes. Greece consists of nearly 1,000 municipalities and communities.

Municipalities that conduct stray control programmes include Athens - which says it has sterilised approximately 1,500 and rehomed 270 dogs since the scheme started in October 2003 - Psychico, Agia Paraskevi, Paleo Faliro, Markopoulo, Thessaloniki and Kalamaria, Larissa, and Mytilini.

The Lesvos animal welfare group and the former vice-mayor of Mytilini, veterinarian George Paleologos, lobbied the mayor to set up a clinic for sterilising strays. Since December 2004, when it opened, 280 dogs have been sterilised, treated for injury or illness and identified. "The stray population of Mytilini used to be more than 650 dogs," says Paleologos, "now it's about 150." Half of the 65,000 euros to set up the clinic was paid by the municipality (the other half came from the ministry of Aegean), which also donated the land and pays utility bills. The vet's salary and dogs' medication and food are paid by the welfare society at a cost of 15,000 euros per year.

Funding for neutering programmes is a problem. According to GAWF, of all the municipalities that applied for government funding to set up catch-neuter-release programmes in 2004-2005, 17 were informed that their applications had been successful, but only one, Vyronas (eastern Athens), received the funding. Nea Makri municipality, for example, was approved by the ministry for funding in both 2004 (a sum of 11,200 euros for sterilising, vaccinating and identifying 100 dogs) and 2005 (6,000 euros for 50 dogs) but the money never materialised.

No punishments for abuse

Law 3170 cites harsh punishments for those who poison companion animals, but the practice continues unchecked. Since February 2005, the Athens News has received reports of mass poisonings on Crete, Corfu, Syros, Skopelos, in Nafplio, Xylokastro, Loutraki, Nea Makri, Porto Rafti, central Athens, Alimos, Dionysos and Maroussi. The latest report was of an 'Easter poisoning' on April 21 of three dogs at a tavern in Thrakomakedones, north of Athens. Yet only one person has ever been found guilty of killing an animal with poisoned bait: in November 2004, George Limakis was penalised for feeding toxin-laced chicken to a neighbour's dog.

No one has been convicted for abandoning an animal (illegal since 1981) or for failing to microchip their pet (obligatory since summer 2004). Carol McBeth of GAWF stresses the importance of microchips - and wardens equipped with scanners to check wandering animals - to deter abandonment. Money collected in fines for non-chipping of pets could be used to subsidise sterilisation programmes.

While many welfare societies initially welcomed the law - in most cases they were already operating catch-neuter-release schemes - they have been disappointed at the lack of results on crucial issues. "The law has resulted in our clinic for sterilising strays," says Vasso Kazleri of the Mytilini society, "but we were sterilising anyway. If there isn't a welfare group to push the municipality [to implement the law], nothing happens." Effi Dodoura of Argos concurs: "It's a good law on paper. But it's not enforced."

The groups argue that the current situation hinders their efforts to rehome and sterilise strays, since such responsibilities now fall to local authorities. "The law takes for granted that the municipalities are following programmes for strays, and that all stray dogs throughout Greece have been identified, sterilised and vaccinated," says lawyer Amalia Katsoula. In areas where there is no municipal programme, she continues, one now cannot "legally" so much as rescue a puppy from a rubbish bin. "The law cannot work as long as there are no municipal programmes: it must be repealed."

ATHENS NEWS , 28/04/2006, page: A09
Article code: C13180A091

'Stray solution lies in our own hands'

'Who could abandon these creatures? Nevertheless, someone did' reads one of the campaign posters

ON OCTOBER 4, World Animal Day, some 80 Greek welfare societies launched a nationwide campaign to promote responsible pet ownership. Carol McBeth of the Greek Animal Welfare Fund (GAWF), which sponsored and coordinated the effort, kicked off the campaign at 11am on Athens International Radio.

"The aim is to promote responsible pet ownership and create public awareness about the importance of neutering and microchipping," McBeth tells the Athens News. "We are trying to inform the general public that part of the solution to the stray problem lies in their own hands. Sterilising reduces the number of strays and reduces the numbers of animals poisoned. We also want to inform the public about what really happens when you abandon a dog or cat. We are exposing all the myths." These include the one about how dumped puppies and kittens can live happily ever after 'in nature' without food, human companionship or veterinary care, and the one saying that every female dog or cat needs to have at least one litter.

Volunteers from societies throughout Greece spent October 4 distributing leaflets, putting up posters, visiting schools and talking to the public at information booths. Press releases were sent to all the major daily newspapers and to the television channels, and in the runup to the event around 15 magazines published the responsible pet ownership poster as a full-page advertisement. "We have already had so many phone calls, from all over Greece, from people who want our help and advice about sterilising," says McBeth.

GAWF has prepared and distributed around 500,000 leaflets and posters to participating societies. McBeth says that there is enough material to keep the campaign running for about a year. "It will be an ongoing effort," she says. The next step is to lobby the municipalities about the importance of sterilising stray animals. Although the law requires municipalities to implement neutering programmes for stray dogs, only a handful have actually set up such schemes.

* At least 15 cats were poisoned in Eleftherias Park, next to the Megaro Mousikis metro station, on September 21. The cats were being fed and cared for by local animal lovers, and some of the population had been caught and sterilised. Staff of a restaurant that is located within the park had allegedly told off locals for feeding the cats. Laying out poisoned bait for companion animals has been illegal under Greek law since 1981; nevertheless, it is common practice. Only one person has been found guilty of poisoning animals in Greece: in November 2004, George Limakis was penalised for feeding toxin-laced chicken to a neighbour's Belgian Shepherd dog. A reward of 1,500 euros is being offered for any information that can lead to the prosecution of the criminal responsible for the Eleftherias Park poisoning; if you can help, please call 6945-075454

ATHENS NEWS , 07/10/2005, page: A09
Article code: C13151A092

Protest against poisoning

AN ESTIMATED 60-70 people turned up in the central square of Nea Makri on July 16 to demonstrate against the mass poisonings of animals in the area. Since Easter both stray and owned dogs and cats have been killed off by the laying down of poisoned bait by unidentified individuals.

Nea Makri deputy-mayor Vassilis Kouloumbis spoke at the protest, vowing to do his best to stop the poisonings. He said that if - as many local animal welfare workers fear - it turns out to be municipal employees who are responsible, they will lose their jobs. Kouloumbis also promised to try and improve the situation in general for the strays of Nea Makri.

The day before the rally he was elected as the municipal representative on the committee that the ministry of agricultural development and food requires each area to have before it can claim funding for a sterilisation programme for stray dogs. The other members of each such committee include a veterinarian and a representative from a local animal welfare group.

Since the demonstration, no more animals have died through eating poisoned bait, says Helen Grypari of the Friends of the Animals of Nea Makri.

Meanwhile, Eleftherotypia newspaper reports that in the wealthy northern suburb of Dionysos several poisoning sprees between April and the end of June have resulted in the deaths of countless strays and at least 18 pets, including a dog belonging to the president of the local animal welfare society.

Killing companion animals with poisoned bait has been illegal under Greek law since 1981. The offence is punishable by fines of between 300 and 1,500 euros, imprisonment for up to 6 months or a combination of both penalties.

ATHENS NEWS , 22/07/2005, page: A10
Article code: C13140A103

Canadian doggy bag

CORDELIA MADDEN

CANADIAN animal-lovers, galvanised by an appeal from the charity Greek Animal Rescue (GAR) Canada, have raised nearly 500 euros for the stray dogs of Porto Rafti. This sum, collected in just two days, has been used to buy anti-parasite collars, food, vaccinations, deworming pills and other medication for 25 of the homeless canines living in the Agios Spyridonas area of the eastern Attica resort town.

"I know this is only a small contribution towards improving the lives of these animals," says Dianne Aldan of GAR Canada, "but bit by bit, we can make a difference to improve the quality of life for a few at a time."

Porto Rafti and its environs are home to an estimated 1,000 stray dogs; the hippodrome/equestrian centre alone, built just outside Markopoulo for last year's Olympics, provides a home of sorts to some 300. Local animal welfare workers blame the stray problem on part-time residents who leave their dogs behind at the end of the summer and on the lack of sterilisation.

"For the past two years, the municipality has - at our urging - put forward some money to fund a sterilisation scheme for the stray dogs," says Kaiti Dimopoulou, secretary of the newly-formed Animal Welfare Society of Porto Rafti. "The problem is that the money they set aside for this only lasts a couple of months. Sterilising dogs for three months and then doing nothing for the rest of the year makes no difference whatsoever to the size of the population."

However, in June the municipality of Markopoulo (which has jurisdiction over Porto Rafti) allocated 50,000 euros towards a sterilisation programme, which is being carried out in cooperation with the Hellenic Animal Welfare Society.

"The programme started a month ago, and we have already treated [neutered and/or provided medical care for] around 30 dogs," Angelike Terzaki of the municipality tells the Athens News.

The Porto Rafti welfare society welcomes this effort, which its members are assisting with, but its ultimate aim is to find an appropriate piece of land where a shelter can be constructed. The society volunteers say that they will undertake the daily maintenance of this facility, if the municipality can provide the necessary funding.

"The dogs are just not safe on the streets here," says Dimopoulou. The large number of strays, mostly roaming in packs, has led residents to take barbaric measures against the dogs. Poisoning is all too common.

"We find a lot of bodies," Dimopoulou reports, "but at other times dogs just disappear. Who knows what happens to them?"

According to Terzaki, the municipality has no plans for setting up a dog shelter.

* If you wish to donate money or medication for the Porto Rafti dogs, please email diannealdan@sympatico.ca or check the website www.garcanada.com

ATHENS NEWS , 15/07/2005, page: A08
Article code: C13139A081

MANY thanks for the article "Adopters without borders" (March 11). Can anyone explain why Ioanna Karagouni is so determined to sabotage the excellent work carried out by the Cretan group Arche Noah? If she really believes that these dogs are being used for the pharmaceutical and fur trade then why doesn't she provide evidence?

A true animal lover would not impound 58 dogs and puppies - all of which are only alive thanks to the efforts of Arche Noah - and incarcerate them in Athens when they have good homes waiting for them in Germany.

Why doesn't Mrs Karagouni use her energy to prevent (and prosecute those responsible for) the endless abuse and torture of animals in Greece, of which we true animal lovers can show her real evidence and not just paranoid delusions?

Mrs Karagouni's high-handedness has done nothing to improve the image of Greece within the European Community. Indeed, such a scandal as she has created only serves to deter animal lovers from coming here, when they can see the abuse of animals and now know that those who try to help will be persecuted.

Freida Richards Hania, Crete

Disappointed with Pikermi clinic

LAST NOVEMBER my bullmastif Magnus died of liver failure. It happened imperceptibly: a little more tired, a little less hungry. Never sure if it was his mood, my cooking or perhaps the humid September we had last year. We took him to several vets; all gave the wrong diagnosis. What was universally agreed was that there was a problem with his liver - he had a very low red blood cell count.

Eventually Magnus was too weak to stand, too ill to eat. The animal hospital in Pikermi was the last hope we had; I had read and heard many good things about it.

They were nice to start with and very attentive. We did blood tests, an ultra-sound, X-rays. Magnus was put on an IV and placed in the intensive care ward. The attention lasted for the initial exam-inations; thereafter, we were on our own. Every day I would spend hours there and beg for a diagnosis, anything. Some nights, I would find his catheter ignored and on several occasions he would be soaked in his own urine. I would weep as I cleaned him while the staff sat in their smoke-clouded room.

I never got that diagnosis. I consulted dozens of vets, none of whom could, or perhaps would, give a diagnosis. Finally I contacted a vet in Canada, the vet of a friend of mine who also has dogs. She was not optimistic of the outcome given the test results I scanned and e-mailed to her. She needed to see Magnus to really tell.

If only I were a rich man, I should have taken Magnus out of the country the moment I knew he was ill. We are supposed to have life regrets only on our deathbed. I have one already, for which I hope I am forgiven: I should have realised. I should have put Magnus in the car, taken him to a nice grassy field and held him in my arms as he was euthanised. I should have given my friend a death out of love rather than the lonely and painful one he had alone in that metal cage.

Instead they called me and said, "The dog is dead." They did not even use his name. He had been there for ten days. (I think - time stands still when you are tending to a dying loved one. It felt like years, sitting in his cage with his head in my lap.)

When I got to Pikermi, I found him there on a table, covered in a sheet. I wrapped him in the blanket and lifted his limp, sixty-kilo body. I put him in the back of my car, and my wife and I buried him between a fig and almond tree on the edge of a field.

Everything dies, and I cannot be angry that he died. I am angry, though, that there was no diagnosis, no attempt at a diagnosis, no conclusion, no real attention, no real love for him, while he was at the animal hospital in Pikermi.

I got a card from the vet in Canada; I called her just once, and when she found out that Magnus had died she sent me a card with her condolences.

Alex P Paleo Faliro, Athens

Athens News

Let us help Greek dogs

MY HUSBAND and I have adopted three Greek dogs - one who had been dumped at an animals' home, the second who was roaming the streets and the third who we found in a rubbish container. We have given them a home here in Denmark, where they live with our Danish dogs inside our house.

I don't understand why people in Greece, where you have so many dogs that are not wanted and are running in the streets, are so afraid of sending these dogs to other countries, to families who want to give them a home.

The dogs we get from Greece are expensive, because of the veterinary costs and travelling expenses. But we are willing to pay this money for your dogs because we want to give them a home, and at the same time help you not to have so many unwanted dogs in the streets.

I would like to ask all those who believe the claims put about by Mrs Karagouni (see "Adopters without borders", Athens News, March 11) what it is they want to happen to the 58 dogs that have not been allowed to travel to Germany. Would these people prefer the dogs to be put back on the streets again so that there are even more unwanted, homeless dogs?

Jette Ohlsen Denmark

Church attitude to 'soulless animals'

I RECENTLY went with a friend to visit a monastery here. Before entering, I asked the priest if it would be okay to bring my friend's small dog inside. Although not too happy about it, he said all right, as long as it remained on a lead and didn't enter the church itself.

So I went into the church first by myself, while my friend remained with the dog. After a few minutes I told the priest that I would go to look after the dog while my friend came inside to see this beautiful church.

But I found that she had gone. She had been sent out of the monastery by another priest, who said that this was holy ground and no animal without a soul was allowed in.

This attitude is one that must have an adverse effect on local people's attitude towards what I thought were God's creatures. Now I understand why it is that some dogs are chained with no shelter, water or food. It must be because, without souls, they do not suffer when they die a slow death.

Alan Day Neapoli, Crete

ATHENS NEWS , 25/03/2005, page: A15
Article code: C13123A151

Adopters without borders

The questionable apprehension of Germany-bound dogs at Piraeus port has reignited the dispute about sending Greek strays abroad

CORDELIA MADDEN

ON SUNDAY 27 February, fifty-eight dogs from the Cretan Arche Noah (Noah's Ark) animal shelter were detained at the port of Piraeus. The dogs were en route to Germany, where they had families waiting to adopt them.

The lorryload of dogs was stopped by Ioanna Karagouni, president of a group named the Coalition of Animal Welfare Societies in Greece. Karagouni was also behind a similar scene at the airport last March, in which she temporarily prevented six puppies from flying to new homes in Belgium.

At a March 4 press conference, Karagouni, who maintains she represents 20 unnamed societies, told journalists that she had acted to enforce the law, as she says the paperwork was not sufficient for exporting the Cretan dogs.

The following day, on mainstream television broadcasts, she spiced up her protest by reiterating the claim she had made to media in the case of the airport puppies, that welfare groups are selling Greek strays abroad to the pharmaceutical and fur industries.

Lawyers for Arche Noah, a German organisation, counter that the dogs had all the necessary papers for travel, and more: not only did they each have EU passports and microchips, which are the requirements in European law for travel between member states (excepting entry to the UK, Ireland, Sweden and Norway, which have additional requirements); the dogs also had a letter stating that they are the property of Arche Noah and should not, therefore, be categorised as strays, a statement from the mayor of Hania acknowledging the society's work, a letter of support from the German embassy in Athens and a statement verifying that the dogs were going to homes and not laboratories.

Karagouni asserts that dogs being exported also need a release paper from the relevant municipality. Lawyers are divided on this issue. She has filed a lawsuit against Arche Noah for attempting to export dogs illegally. While the case pends, the 58 dogs remain at a private boarding kennels in Koropi, at a cost of 500 euros a day to Arche Noah.

"We are very sad. Our dogs are lost; we don't know where they are and when, if ever, we will see them," Ilona Gehring, a puppy-adopter to-be, tells the Athens News from Stuttgart. She was expecting her first Greek stray in the detained Arche Noah shipment. "I am waiting for Choice. He's a five-month-old male," she says.

Her neighbour, Angelika Junker, already has a dog from Arche Noah, a male called Nick who arrived last August. "I had been to Greece on holiday, seen the problems over there and decided immediately that I had to save one of the dogs," she says. "Now I am expecting another dog from them, Fred Astaire. I wanted Nick to have a companion who would speak the same language!"

Supply and demand

Every year Arche Noah sends between 800 and 1,000 dogs from Crete to be adopted by German families. The group's chairman, veterinarian Thomas Busch, says rehoming abroad is the only way for the small shelter they run near Hania not to become overwhelmed. The shelter can host up to 150 inhabitants, with between five and ten new dogs being dumped outside every day.

Many other organisations also go through the often complicated and costly procedure of sending strays to be rehomed in other European countries, rather than leaving the animals to fend for themselves here. "We try to give at least some of them a chance of a happy life," says Vesna Jones of Greek Animal Rescue, which cooperates with a number of local societies in rehoming Greek strays in England. "On the street they face daily perils such as poison, the wheels of cars, disease, injuries and starvation."

Many Greeks, like Karagouni, resist the idea of rehoming Greek strays abroad. They say that only exacerbates stray problems elsewhere.

"Some areas of Europe have a surplus of strays; others don't. It makes complete sense to take dogs from one country to rehome in another," David Bowles from the international department of the UK-based Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) tells the Athens News. "The issue is to improve the welfare of the dog, whether that means sending it to a good home in Thessaloniki or in Berlin. Germany, Sweden and Denmark have very good, humane stray animal control programmes which can be considered to have solved the problem. Why not match up people who want to give dogs a loving home with dogs that are available?"

Busch says that German shelters tend mainly to contain only very large dogs or those with behavioural problems. Greek strays, he says, are mostly medium-sized, friendly and sociable. Gehring agrees. "I think animals from Greece are very special, very friendly but also with a more independent spirit than our German dogs," she says.

Both Junker and Gehring expect to pay around 200 euros each to cover some of the costs involved in importing the dogs. The microchip, vaccination and neutering add up to between 100 and 150 euros per animal; the cost of sending the lorry across Europe is estimated by Busch at around 1,700 euros.

There is hope for the 58 dogs bound for Germany. The puppies Karagouni detained at Athens airport last year did make it to Belgium, just a few days late.

Kalamaki strays killed

ON THE morning of March 4, twelve stray dogs were poisoned in the area of Kalamaki. Staff at the nearby Kitchen Bar restaurant tell this newspaper they found the dogs, who some workers there used to feed, in the last stages of poisoning. Only one could be saved. Any information on this crime can be reported to the Athens News.

ATHENS NEWS , 11/03/2005, page: A06
Article code: C13121A061

Poisoned pups on Skopelos

SIX PUPPIES and one adult dog died after eating poisoned bait over the weekend of February 12-13 on the island of Skopelos, the local animal welfare society reports. The 7 homeless pups were being kept by the Skopelos Caring for Animals and Nature (SCAN) organisation in a large enclosure belonging to the municipality, while waiting for a February 15 flight to Germany where new homes had been found for them. On the morning of February 13, a SCAN member went to feed the puppies and found all but two had disappeared.

One was dead. A vet confirmed that both puppies had ingested poison. The SCAN president, Barbara Bates, describes the only surviving pup as a shy eater who would always wait for the others to finish before approaching the bowl: "Maybe there was no poison left by the time it came to her turn," she speculates. The lone pup was flown to her new family on February 17.

In June 2003, Skopelos was shocked by a poisoning spree in which the local school's two canine mascots, along with a further seven dogs and unknown number of cats, died.

Further information: www.scanskopelos.org

ATHENS NEWS , 25/02/2005, page: A14
Article code: C13119A142

Stop killing our cats

WE HAVE been at the Athens Girokomeio (Old People's Home) since 1999. We love animals and it was a great joy for us when we found cats wandering around the home's grounds. We take care of them and their company gives us unimaginable pleasure. It is well known the good that animals do for the elderly and it is scientifically proven that the company of animals has a positive effect on people with high blood pressure, heart conditions and depression, which is why in many old people's homes in Europe there are resident animals.

We believe that animals, just like humans, have the right to life. To take away a life is a very serious crime, especially if the life is taken in a tortuous way. Sadly, since the time that we came to the home we have witnessed, with immense grief, an outrageous crime that has no beginning and no end.

Our cats are being systematically and repeatedly exterminated with poison, and we are constantly finding their corpses.

Even though the animals have been sterilised and vaccinated, the crimes have not stopped.

We call on all the authorities to find a solution to this very serious problem, which tarnishes the reputation of our home. We ask them to take harsher measures so that this crime against the animals is not repeated.

Signed by 65 residents Girokomeio Athinon, Kifissias Ave, Athens

Letters to the editor

Neutering the only solution for strays

PEOPLE who think like Mr Griffith ("Catch and destroy stray dogs", Letters to the Editor, November 26) are part of the problem. Many take a reactive approach rather than a proactive one to such a problem, as it's usually the 'easy' way out.

Mr Griffith should put his money where his mouth is and help some of the stray dogs have a better life, be it on the streets or after they've been rescued. There are many ways he, and others, can offer assistance to these defenceless animals. There is no excuse, or logical reason, for deliberately killing animals to control the number of strays on the streets; the only proven longterm solution is to spay/neuter - it's that simple. The people of Greece should get on with implementing a countrywide sterilisation programme.

Dianne Aldan Greek Animal Rescue - Canada (GARCANADA) Toronto

An unforgettable experience

I RECENTLY came back from Greece after a week's holiday with my husband and children. We stayed at a place just outside Athens, called Galazia Akti.

At our flat (house shared with the owner) was a big Alsatian dog permanently chained to a metal pole. On our fourth day I discovered three little kittens in the garden. They had sticky eyes and were worryingly thin. I walked through the neighbourhood ringing doorbells and asking if anybody would take on the kittens. Some people quickly shut their gates after me and I was told later that they were afraid that I was an Albanian woman after their belongings. When I returned that afternoon to the house all the kittens had disappeared. I still wonder what happened to them.

When we went to the beach I noticed two young dogs incarcerated separately in two cages no larger than 1.5m square with not enough space to turn around or stretch. The dogs were very dirty and there was a lot of excrement in their cages, for me a sign that they were probably never taken for a walk. These dogs were at the fish restaurant 'Mouragio', on the 37th km of Souniou Ave, Galazia Akti.

Local people told me that the dogs were permanently locked up because the owner thought the animals may become aggressive towards customers. I put my hand into their cages to stroke them and there was no sign of aggression, but they were scared. I offered the owner of the dogs to clean out their cages but he declined.

This visit to Greece has done something terrible to me. The urge to do something about the situation there becomes stronger in me every day. I cannot forget my experience. I would like to get hold of those two dogs and try to get them into England. I can see from the internet that a lot of German people have managed to get animals out of Greece but it seems to be more difficult to do this from England.

Eleonore Philip-McKenzie Highgate, London

ATHENS NEWS , 17/12/2004, page: A12
Article code: C13109A121

Pet shop chain sparks ire with animal lottery

ONCE again, Pet City has angered animal lovers. The well-known pet shop chain is advertising a Christmas raffle that promises prizes of puppies, parrots and exotic fish. The agriculture ministry, however, is set to stop the lottery before its draw.

Posters for the lottery can be found in the windows of Pet City stores throughout greater Athens. To enter the December 24 draw, contestants have to answer five very simple questions (for example: "What [type of animal] is Mickey Mouse?"). The competition is open to all ages, and requires no parental consent for under-18s.

The prizes are five puppies or small dogs, two parrots and five aquaria complete with fish. In fine print at the bottom of the entry form, the Pet City management notes that the breeds of dog given to the winners depend on available stock. In theory, one could win a Rottweiler or Great Dane.

"It is unacceptable that living creatures are offered as prizes in a lottery," says Carol McBeth of Greek Animal Welfare Fund. "What thought, if any, will these winners have given regarding their prize? Are they willing to commit themselves to a parrot, that can live for over 80 years? Can they provide a dog with the necessary care for the next 15 or so years? Aquaria are nice to look at, but they require a lot of attention. Have all the members of the family discussed entering the competition and the outcome if they win a prize? Unlikely!"

GAWF made a complaint about the Pet City lottery to the Athens prefecture veterinary department, which, according to law 3170 for companion and stray animals, is responsible for monitoring pet shops. This complaint was copied to Dr Chrysoula Dile at the veterinary department of the ministry of agricultural development and foods. The EKAZ (Volunteers for the Care of Stray Animals) group from southeastern Athens, SPAZ Glyfada and the Animal Welfare Group of Ymittos, among other societies, have complained directly to the agriculture ministry.

Dr Dile tells the Athens News that the ministry sent orders to the veterinary department of the prefecture requesting that it "ask" Pet City to cancel the raffle. Nothing has been done until now, she says, as the administrator responsible at the prefecture has been on leave. She expects the issue to be resolved on December 10, when he returns.

Costis Handras, president of the Panhellenic Veterinarians' Association, has also expressed concern to the ministry. "This is not the way to treat any living creature, whether it's a puppy or a fish or a parrot," he says. "They are obviously just trying to make some publicity for the shop; they are not acting in the animals' best interests. It's not illegal, but it's certainly not right."

McBeth fears these lottery puppies have a gloomy future. "There is a slim possibility that the winners will accept their dogs as permanent members of the family, but these poor unfortunate creatures are more likely to end up joining the huge numbers of companion animals abandoned on the streets once the novelty of the Christmas gift or prize wears off."

The owner of the seven Pet City stores that are participating in the draw, Matzouranis Matzouranakis, did not respond to Athens News calls on this issue.

Pet City has been criticised by animal lovers for a number of issues, most notably in spring 2003, when the chain earned negative publicity from as far away as Australia for its decision to sell miniature 'Tammar' wallabies as pets. Wallabies are a protected species in their native Australia and their export is illegal. They rarely survive in captivity. Three Pet City-bought wallabies were donated to the Attica Zoological Park in Spata last year; all three have since died.

ATHENS NEWS , 10/12/2004, page: A10
Article code: C13108A101

Athens dogs' disappearing act

Allegations that thousands of strays vanished during the Olympics seem to be unfounded, but welfare workers fear for the future

CORDELIA MADDEN

ACCORDING to allegations published in the media, thousands of dogs disappeared in the runup to and during the summer Olympics. On August 14, Ta Nea reported that the Hellenic Animal Welfare Society (HAWS) believes up to 4,000 stray dogs were removed - and probably killed - before the Games, while on October 13 the same newspaper printed allegations from the St Francis of Assisi society that some 1,000 strays were collected from central Athens this summer and never returned.

The truth, however, seems rather more humane and certainly less sensational. "I sent a letter of complaint [to Ta Nea] because I never said anything like that," says Liana Alexandri of HAWS. "What I said was that for the last three years we've noticed that a large number of animals are being poisoned. But I never said how many because we don't have - and no one has - any such figures."

"We enjoyed the Games with dogs on the streets," she continues. "We cooperated with Athens 2004 and hosted 198 dogs from the Markopoulo shooting and equestrian venues, the Olympic Village, the Galatsi sports hall and the rowing lake at Schinias. We started putting them back where we had collected them from in mid-September and by October 2-3 they were all back - except the 17 that were, happily, adopted. We have papers for all these animals and we know where each one went."

Marina Kollia of St Francis of Assisi repeats her claim to the Athens News, saying that over 1,000 dogs have gone. When asked if she means from the whole of Attica, she says: "We're talking about dogs from the centre of Athens. The 1,100 dogs that [Athens Deputy-Mayor Tonia] Kanellopoulou has collected and sterilised [since the beginning of the city's catch-neuter-release programme in October 2003], where have they gone?"

Right back where they were collected from, says veterinarian Anna Makri, who heads Kanellopoulou's stray team. Just as the 35 dogs that the municipality gathered up during the Olympics were put back - sterilised and vaccinated - by early September, says Makri.

The only dogs that did not return, according to Makri, were 10 animals suffering from the parasitic disease Leishmaniasis. "Every dog that is collected from the street is examined by a vet and tested for Kala-azar (Leishmaniasis)," she explains. "If a dog has a very high antibody count, we will keep it at [our temporary shelter/clinic at] Markopoulo."

"Not one of our dogs disappeared during the Olympics," says Lia Xenou of the Protection of Strays of Acropolis, which cares for around 60 stray dogs. "Some of our puppies from the Acropolis and Pnyx went to Markopoulo but, on the whole, we tried to avoid sending dogs there. Not because we feared they wouldn't come back, but because we were worried the archaeologists wouldn't let the dogs come back again afterwards."

St Francis of Assisi released figures showing missing dogs in various districts of Athens, including 10 from the Holiday Inn area, 10 from Omonia Square, 15 from Monastiraki and Psyrri, three from Fix metro station and eight from the Thissio end of the Apostolou Pavlou pedestrian walkway.

"But the dogs at Fix - on Drakou St - are still there, and so are all the dogs from Apostolou Pavlou and the Ancient Agora," counters Xenou of the Acropolis society.

Back home in Kolonaki

"The dogs from Kolonaki Square have come back, and at Syntagma Square all the usual ones seem to be there," says Maria Petrounakou of SOZO, a central Athens-based charity. "Claims that 1,000 dogs are missing seem very exaggerated. We have been told about poisonings of cats, which is very sad, but nothing recently about dogs disappearing."

According to Kollia, 14 dogs disappeared from around the Kallimarmaro Stadium before the Games, and Xenou confirms that the dogs from neighbouring Ardittos hill have gone. Athens municipality say they removed the only two dogs (both male) from in front of the stadium, one before the Olympics and one before the Paralympics. Following sterilisation and identification, one dog was returned to the stadium on September 20, while the other was released at Panepistimiou St after the Paralympics. A resident tells the Athens News that out of the 4-5 dogs which used to live behind the stadium, at least two were poisoned - reportedly by a local.

Alexandri from HAWS believes that, in general, the temporary hosting programme of dogs during the Games worked out well. What worries her is the post-Olympic situation. "Since the Olympics, there has been so much poisoning - at Schinias, in Marathon, Nea Makri and Zoumperi there is hardly a single stray dog or cat left. Even owned dogs were poisoned," she says. "It seems that many municipalities do not want to pay for [the sterilisation scheme required of them by law 3170]; while in those areas where animals were removed during the Games, people are upset to see them again and are reacting by laying down poison.

"The animals are in danger now," says Alexandri. "They were sterilised and vaccinated and kept in kennels for up to two months, and now it seems that they will die on the streets."
ATHENS NEWS , 29/10/2004, page: A08
Article code: C13102A081

Glyfada deports its dogs

The municipality has caused consternation by paying a private kennel in Schymatari to collect around 130 strays from the area. Why is it necessary to spend a fortune sending the animals away and what will happen to them once the funds are exhausted? query welfare activists

CORDELIA MADDEN

TWICE in the past month-and-a-half a van has drawn up at the Glyfada municipal pound in the early hours of the morning. A couple would emerge from the vehicle, break into the shelter and attempt to load up the 120 dogs from within. Both times they were stopped by a human barrier of irate animal lovers.

Despite appearances, these intruders are sanctioned by the municipality to remove the dogs from the shelter and take them elsewhere. Taking a large number of dogs from a public shelter requires the presence of two state veterinarians - a criterion the movers did not fulfil on their previous visits. Next time, however, they will be fully prepared.

The municipality's motives for the move are ostensibly benign. Describing the pound - which for the past 12 years has operated in a rat-infested area behind the Glyfada golf course next to an unofficial rubbish dump and a dustcart parking lot - as "miserable", Glyfada Mayor Stylianos Sfakianakis tells the Athens News the town hall has awarded a contract to Avra Farm in Schymatari to host between 120 and 130 dogs, at the cost of just over 4 euros per dog per day, until the 360,000 euros that the municipality has put aside for this project has been exhausted.

Workers at the shelter and other local animal lovers are incensed at the decision. "Of course the shelter is in a 'miserable' condition, because the municipality has never bothered to spend any money on it," says Athens 2004 volunteer programme manager Olga Kikkou, who lives opposite the shelter. "They haven't even connected it to the sewage system."

"There is no reason to send the dogs so far away," says shelter worker Vaso Ioannou, who says she has not been paid by the municipality for 20 months. "We won't be able to go and visit them and check that they are okay, and people who might potentially want to rehome the dogs won't be able to get there either. Instead of spending all this money sending the dogs away, the mayor should make some improvements to the place here so we can keep the dogs until there is another site ready."

Municipality and activists agree that the conditions at the Glyfada shelter leave much to be desired; but the welfare workers are also concerned about the situation at Avra Farm. Glyfada resident Vana Redoumi sent the mayor a letter after she visited the private establishment in August, advising him that it did not fulfil Greek law 3170's requirements for dog shelters. "The law says that each run must have a brick-built shelter to provide protection from the elements," she tells the Athens News, "but the boarding dogs only had wooden houses and the strays [Avra Farm also hosts a number of dogs from Helliniko] had no shelter whatsoever." Redoumi notes that up to four dogs were kept in each 2x2 metre run, and she fears that with the influx of 120 dogs from Glyfada, they will be packed in even more tightly. "[The owner] is a businessman: he will squash in as many dogs as possible to get the money," she says.

Despite such mixed reports, Mayor Sfakianakis says he has not been to visit Avra Farm yet.

'Dangerous' dogs removed

Deputy Mayor Gerasimos Filopoulos told the newspaper Miso Miso on October 5 that all Glyfada's strays, not just those from the shelter, will be collected and taken to Avra Farm. The mayor, however, denies this: "We have no intention of making the dogs disappear. They will stay on the streets. Even if we wanted to send them all, we couldn't bear the cost," he says.

However, he notes that 'dangerous' strays will be sent to the kennel. "I get complaints all the time about strays attacking people. I won't put animal lovers before mothers whose children are threatened," he says.

"There has not been a single official complaint to the police about a dog attacking anyone in Glyfada," says Marina Tziliou, a member of the charity group Dikaioma Zois. "The mayor just wants an excuse to get rid of all the dogs from the streets, almost all of which have been sterilised and vaccinated by us or by other local charities and animal-loving individuals."

And what will happen to these dogs when the money runs out? According to the mayor, the municipality will try to obtain a piece of land on the slopes of Mount Hymettus from the government and set up a shelter there. But, "how are they sure that in a year they will have a piece of land?" asks Loukas Papaioannou, president of Dikaioma Zois. "All this time they've done nothing and found nothing. The municipal rubbish workers, who claim they are getting diseases from the dogs, have proposed a site on the other side of the golf course, away from human habitation," he adds. "But the municipality refused it."

Ioannou has a 500m2 piece of land in Keratea that she is willing to convert into a shelter, but "we need about a month to fix it, fence it in and make kennels". The mayor would only have to give a donation towards the cost of building, as well as continuing to pay for the dogs' food, she says.

According to law 3170, municipalities should - rather than sending strays to shelters - set up catch, neuter and release programmes, as the only proven way to humanely reduce the numbers of homeless animals. The present arrangement with Avra Farm certainly does not offer a solution. The Glyfada shelter first came into existence in 1991 because people were dumping their unwanted dogs there. This practice will not cease now that there is no longer an 'official' shelter in the area, but the municipality does not have the funds or infrastructure to send every dog that is dumped, every litter of puppies born, out to Schymatari, neither does Avra Farm have unlimited space.

"As long as there are no proper sterilisation programmes, as long as there is no education and people can keep buying puppies and dumping them when they get fed up with them, the problem won't go away," says Kikkou. "Just gathering up dogs and sending them away is not a solution. No one ever got rid of a stray dog problem by doing that."

ATHENS NEWS , 08/10/2004, page: A06
Article code: C13099A061

A TORONTO woman is so upset that officials in Athens are exterminating stray dogs for the Olympic games that she has cancelled a trip she planned to the country. "I don't want to be in a country that would do this, said Janet Geall, who had planned to be in Athens at the end of this month.

Athens officials are reportedly poisoning up to 15,000 stray dogs in the city so the country looks pristine during the games, said Dianne Alden of Greek Animal Rescue Canada, which is working with international animal protection groups to stop the exterminations.

"It's like going to a country where they shuttle the homeless children out of the sight of tourists. I'm surprised that humane societies around the world haven't taken up this cause," said Geall, who works with local cat and dog rescue organizations.

"This is totally cruel. I'm so appalled that I phoned the Greek consulate and left a message. I think if more people knew about this it would stop."

It's not automatic that 15,000 will be killed, says George Ayfantis, spokesman for the Greek Embassy in Ottawa.

Poisoning dogs is considered a minor offence, he said.

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PROTECTION OF PETS AND STRAY ANIMALS IN GREECE

(In summary, those writing these letters in reply to people's concerns have no idea what is happening 'on the ground'.  Do you think for one minute that tens of thousands of stray animals were miraculously taken off the streets and placed in a safe environment during which time they were health checked, sterilized, vaccinated and identified and held until after the Olympic Games?  Or adopted?  There is not even a remote possibility that this could happen ..... so, what alternative do they have if they're not allowed to be on the streets during the games (yet nobody pays any attention to their plight 365 days of the year otherwise?)

**********************

Where have all the dogs gone?

Poisoning eliminated many homeless animals in the years leading up to the Games.  Now, with a week to go, the strays near Olympic venues are being found shelter until all sporting events are over.

Sent off: Stray dogs are being removed from Olympic venues around Greece for the duration of the Games

THE MEDIA have long prophesied a tragic fate for the estimated 25,000 homeless dogs of Attica. One of the latest and most inflammatory claims was made in a July 11 article in the British Sunday Telegraph which stated: "Greeks to poison up to 15,000 stray dogs before the Olympics".

Although local animal welfare groups are quick to note that "traditional" yearly poisoning has depleted the number of strays, particularly in areas such as Schinias, Marathon and Markopoulo, and that a spate of allegedly Olympic-related poisoning did kill off many of the animals in Saronida, they say that the street dogs are now disappearing for a more humane reason: they are temporarily being offered shelter at facilities around Greece until the Olympics and Paralympics are over.

The stray-hosting programme was initiated by the Athens 2004 Organising Committee, which, on April 21, met representatives from welfare organisations based in the 14 municipalities where Olympic events will be held and asked them to assist in a dog-catching and temporary accommodation scheme. The ministry of agriculture followed up with a ministerial decision on June 3 that required local municipalities, in collaboration with welfare organisations, to remove strays from Olympic venues. The law states that, following sterilisation, vaccination and identification, strays will either be rehomed or put back in the area from which they had been collected after the Games.

Venues cleared

"We will be taking in some 185 strays in total from the Equestrian and Shooting centres in Markopoulo, the Rhythmic Gymnastics and Table Tennis centre in Galatsi, the rowing lake at Schinias, the Tae Kwondo complex and the surrounding area in Faliro," says Liana Alexandri of the Hellenic Animal Welfare Society. "These dogs will stay at our Patrikia clinic [in Koropi] until the end of September."

The stray dogs from the areas around the Judo and Wrestling arena in Ano Liosia and the Weightlifting stadium in Nikea are being taken temporarily to the Intramunicipal Clinic and Shelter at Schisto, which will also offer accommodation to dogs from Olympic routes through Agia Varvara, Agios Ioannis Rendis, Drapetsona, Keratsini, Korydallos, Moschato, Nikea, Piraeus, Perama, Haidari and Ilion. A spokeswoman for the clinic told the Athens News that it can host up to around 1,000 dogs on its premises, which have been greatly expanded since the shelter's opening in January 2003.

Around the Athens Olympics Sports Complex (OAKA) in Maroussi, the homeless canines have been gathered up by a municipal team accompanied by a veterinarian and taken to a private kennel and training school near Spata run by Nikos Ioannides. "I will be hosting approximately 40 dogs from the Maroussi area until the end of September," he told this newspaper.

Athens municipality, which has sterilised approximately 600 dogs since its catch-neuter-release programme was launched last November, will gather up strays from the immediate vicinity of the Panathenaic Stadium for the days that the Archery competition and Marathon finish are held there. Tonia Kanellopoulou, the deputy-mayor responsible for the city's stray plan, says that dogs on the roads along which the cycling race will take place may also be gathered up by municipal dog-catching crews and taken for 2-3 days to the 80-capacity kennels near Markopoulo where dogs sterilised under the city programme rest and recuperate. Kanellopoulou stresses that dogs will only be removed if they are considered a problem, and will be kept at the kennels for a minimum number of days.

Vasso Hatzimanoli, responsible for Thessaloniki municipality's stray programme, similarly emphasises that they will only move dogs from the the Olympic football stadium and training grounds if absolutely necessary. "At PAOK [where players will train], there are no dogs; at Iraklis [Kaftanzoglio Stadium, where Olympic matches will be played] there are a maximum of 2-3 dogs, and at Aris [a training ground] there are around 6-8 dogs. If necessary, these dogs will be taken to the Katafygio Zoon sanctuary for the shortest amount of time, then returned," says Hatzimanoli, who volunteers at the shelter and also organises the municipality's catch-neuter-release programme, under which some 1,000 dogs have been sterilised since June 2002.

Welfare workers have expressed concern about the situation in the Olympic city of Iraklio, Crete, but, despite a lack of funds, it appears that the municipality is attempting to find a humane solution to the stray problem. "The dimos is trying to make a shelter, not just for the Olympics but for the future," says Verena Wels, a volunteer at the municipality's makeshift pound. "Around 50-60 dogs are being kept on long chains under the trees in a field, until money can be found to make kennels. It's not ideal, but a veterinarian from the German society Arche Noah visits regularly and municipal workers are there every day from 8am until 7pm." Wels says that many of the strays come from an unlicensed so-called shelter called Dikaioma Zois where the animals were being kept in terrible conditions without any medical care.

Who's paying?

The costs of keeping and feeding strays during the Games are supposed to be covered by the ministry of agricultural development and foods, with funds being channelled through the municipalities.

"The Animal Lovers' Society of Agia Paraskevi had to battle with the municipality to get funding for the temporary hosting of dogs from the Marathon route," says Pat Aravaniti, whose Pallini Animal Farm is taking in 20 dogs for the Agia Paraskevi society until September 7. "But in the end the municipality has agreed to give us a small amount of money for feeding and providing shelter for these dogs." Most of Agia Paraskevi's estimated 100 neutered strays will stay on the streets for the duration of the Games; the 20 going to Pallini are being removed because they might get boisterous and attempt to chase the Marathon runners who will be passing through Agia Paraskevi on August 22 and 29.

Other societies have not been able to come to an agreement about state funding. "We have had many meetings with the municipality," says Dimitris Karabalis of Patra's Archaikos Syllogos society. "They insisted that the strays should be removed from around the Olympic stadium, so I organised for our society to take in around 50 and the shelter based in the University of Patra grounds to take a further 80. But it is proving a tremendous bureaucratic ordeal to get any money to cover our costs of keeping the dogs. The city council will not meet until September to approve or refuse the funding," he continues. "We need the money now. Without it, we cannot afford to collect the dogs, sterilise and vaccinate them, and provide for them until then."

In addition, Karabalis is worried about the long-term effects of temporarily taking in strays. "The solution is not for me to go and gather up a few dogs from around the stadium so that the bureaucrats can get rid of the dogs for a month. It will make more of a problem. Already now, because the municipality has been telling the media that they have reached an agreement with us to pick up dogs from the stadium, we are getting people calling from all over Patra saying, 'I have a dog that I don't want any more; come and get it.' How many dogs are going to be left on the streets now because people have heard someone's collecting up strays?"

ATHENS NEWS , 06/08/2004, page: A10
Article code: C13078A101

GuardianPets@aol.com

Strays are not being poisoned, says minister

CORDELIA MADDEN

DEPUTY Agriculture Minister Alexandros Kontos on July 21 emphatically denied allegations in the British press that Greece's stray dogs are being exterminated ahead of the Games. Responding angrily to a Daily Telegraph article of July 11 entitled "Greeks to poison up to 15,000 stray dogs before the Olympics", Kontos said: "We categorically deny these evil-minded, malicious and unfounded reports that are aimed at libelling our country in the runup to the Games."

The deputy minister pointed out that new legislation to protect companion and stray animals introduced last year requires municipalities to round up homeless dogs and neuter and vaccinate them before release or adoption. He did not, however, mention how many municipalities have actually implemented this programme, nor how many animals have to date been sterilised under the new law. In addition, he noted that poisoning is a crime under Greek legislation. However, despite being a punishable offence since 1981, when law 1197 for the protection of animals was introduced, no poisoner has yet been fined or imprisoned in Greece. [On July 27, a landmark case will be held to judge a man, identified as George Limakis, who illegally entered a neighbour's house in Paleo Faliro and poisoned the Belgian Shepherd dog within. If he is convicted, it will be the first such sentence in Greece.]

The Daily Telegraph piece and the deputy minister's statement, which sparked a lengthy debate on state television channel NET on July 22, reflect the ongoing international interest in the fate of Greece's inestimable number of stray dogs (Attica alone is believed to be home to more than 25,000).

The latest salvo came from as far away as Canada, from within the Greek government's own camp. In an interview with the July 21 edition of the Toronto Sun, George Ayfantis, press spokesman for the embassy of the Hellenic Republic in Ottawa, admitted: "It's not a situation we are proud of. Local officials have extended autonomy and [poisoning is] done at night. It's considered a minor offence and public prosecutors and police don't want to go after elected officials."

ATHENS NEWS , 23/07/2004, page: A08
Article code: C13076A082

Greeks to poison up to 15,000 stray dogs before the Olympics
By David Harrison
(Filed: 11/07/2004)

Thousands of stray dogs will be poisoned ahead of next month's Olympic Games in Athens despite a campaign by the RSPCA to prevent their slaughter.

The animal welfare charity says that the strays will be killed because the Greek authorities fear that the sight of packs of dogs roaming the streets will damage their efforts to use the Games to show the world that their country is modern and civilised.

There are an estimated 15,000 stray dogs in Athens and although the government has taken some action to remove them from the streets without killing them, the RSPCA says that local authorities will not have the resources or the commitment to round up the animals and keep them in shelters during the Games.

Officially, the Greek authorities say that there will be no mass poisoning and the Athens Olympics Committee has asked animal welfare groups to help round up the dogs.

There are however, only one or two shelters in Athens that can take dogs and they are already overcrowded, so the Greeks face a choice of leaving the dogs roaming the streets during the Olympics or poisoning them.

Greece's fledgling animal welfare groups said that the mass slaughter of strays had already begun. Eighty dogs were recently found dead in the coastal resort of Saronida, where some members of the British team are expected to stay.

One animal welfare activist said: "There has been a big increase in poisonings recently and we expect it to rise sharply as the Games get closer. We are doing what we can, with a lot of help from international organisations such as the RSPCA, but we are fighting against a culture that is deeply entrenched." The RSPCA has campaigned hard to improve animal welfare in Greece and in particular to end the practice of poisoning strays to control their numbers.

The Greek government has expressed a desire to give more protection to animals and introduced tougher laws last year. Antonia Kanellopoulou, the deputy mayor of Athens, said: "Stray animals need our love."

The legislation has, however, had little effect and the RSPCA says that many local authorities in Athens and other areas hosting Olympic events will use the traditional method of poisoning the animals to clear the streets before the Games begin on August 13.

David Bowles of RSPCA International, who recently returned from Athens where RSPCA inspectors were training Greek officials to catch and treat strays humanely, said: "We are seriously concerned that thousands of dogs will be poisoned so that Greece can show that Athens is a pristine modern city. They don't have the manpower or the shelters to round up all the dogs. A lot of the local authorities simply don't know how to deal with dogs humanely. We have put a lot of effort into helping them to change their ways, but the results have been very patchy. We would like to see them using private shelters so that all the dogs can be given homes during the Olympics but it looks like that is not going to happen."

Mr Bowles said that mass poisoning was "barbaric" and a "short-term fix" that would not solve the problem of strays. Another senior RSPCA official said: "Greece's success in the European football championships in Portugal and now hosting the Olympic Games has undoubtedly boosted its prestige.

"They are desperate to make a success of the Games coming back to where they started. But they cannot call themselves civilised if they continue to poison dogs."

Carol McBeth, the director of the London-based Greek Animal Welfare Fund, said that she was concerned about many areas outside the centre of Athens. "I think we may see poisonings in the places where the cycling, football and equestrian events are being held," she said.

"They will be very keen to make sure that those areas are clear and they don't have shelters for the dogs."

Poisoning animals is a criminal offence in Greece, but it is such a traditional method of controlling the stray population that many local authorities turn a blind eye to the practice and actively engage in it themselves.

Greece does not have the same tradition of caring for pets as Britain and many animals are dumped when owners become bored with them. It is illegal to have animals put down in Greece and there is no tradition of taking in strays.

The problem has been made worse by a "macho mentality" that finds it "unnatural" to neuter cats and dogs, although a neutering programme introduced by the government has had some success in Athens.

Anastase Scopelitis, the Greek ambassador to London, who is in Greece on holiday, was unavailable for comment. An embassy official said: "Greece takes animal welfare seriously and our government has taken measures to improve our standards."

 As copied from news.telegraph.co.uk

Municipal dog-catchers learn the ropes

While the ministry funds a vanishing act for Greek strays, representatives of local authorities attend an RSPCA seminar on humane trapping techniques

CORDELIA MADDEN

AS THE ministry of agricultural development and foods on June 21 promised 4 million euros towards a programme of sterilisation, vaccination and temporary shelter throughout the Olympics for stray dogs in areas in which Games events will be held, municipal employees and animal welfare representatives attended a seminar to learn how the long-term plan to humanely reduce the homeless canine population can actually be put into practice.

Representatives of ten municipalities - mainly members of animal protection organisations that have been seconded by the local authorities to deal with the stray dogs of each area before the August Olympics - attended the June 21-22 workshop, which was organised, sponsored and presented by the UK-based Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and held at the Hellenic Animal Welfare Society's (HAWS) Patrikia hospital in Koropi.

David Bowles, head of the RSPCA's international programme, and Carroll Lamport, one of the society's chief inspectors, guided the participants through a crash course in dog behaviour and how to recognise the signs of what a dog is thinking before it acts, how to approach a dog in a humane way that does not put either dog or catcher at risk, how to catch it and what to do with the animal once it's been caught.

"It's a very important time in Greece for strays," Bowles told the assembled group of municipality representatives, Athens International Airport employees, HAWS dog-catchers and veterinarians, and soft toys on whom the methods of grasping and muzzling were tested before the group moved on to real canines.

"Greece has just passed a piece of legislation on stray animals [law 3170, passed in July 2003, which requires municipalities to catch, neuter and release stray dogs] that, in many ways, is better than the nearly 100-year-old legislation we have in the UK. However," Bowles noted, "this law is just a piece of paper unless it is implemented - and that's why we've got you here, to learn how it can be implemented."

While they participated enthusiastically in the seminar, many of the attendees were sceptical as to whether this law ever will be properly implemented by the authorities and whether the legislation is not just a ploy of the agriculture ministry to try and silence critics of Greece's poor animal welfare record. Welfare workers from Glyka Nera and Markopoulo pointed out continuing poisonings of strays in their areas, and Giorgos Papadopoulos from Corinth spoke for many when he voiced concerns that after the Olympics, the law will be forgotten and conditions for animals will be the same, or worse, than before.

Meanwhile the Athens International Airport employees, who are responsible for catching dogs dumped in the airport area and taking them to the HAWS hospital to be neutered and rehomed (re-releasing them at the airport is illegal under law 3170 for safety reasons), felt that they were fighting a losing battle against the number of people who still abandon their pets in the vicinity of the airport - many of whom seem to do so instead of paying to have their dog looked after while they are on holiday.

David Bowles tried to look on the bright side. "During the last ten years that the RSPCA has been working in Greece, there's been a big change in people's attitudes to animal welfare," he told the group.

However, he expressed doubts about the viability of the idea, suggested by the Athens 2004 Organising Committee and, now, funded by the agriculture ministry, of taking strays from areas that will be hosting Olympic events and placing them in shelters or homes for a 45-day period and then put them back on the streets. "Nobody knows the number of animals nor, therefore, how much accommodation is needed," he pointed out. "In addition, no-one knows how the dogs will react when put away and then put out on the streets again."

"I hope that they are not just sweeping the problem under the carpet for the Games," he continued. "This is a long-term problem that needs a long-term solution."

The municipalities represented at the workshop - including Paleo Faliro, Maroussi, Metamorfosi, Peristeri, Glyka Nera, Markopoulo and Corinth - all cooperate with HAWS on humane dog control programmes. The RSPCA had hoped to organise such a seminar with the agriculture ministry that would be open to other municipalities as well, but, Bowles told the Athens News, the ministry showed little interest in the idea and it had to be shelved.

* Collections of strays for municipal neutering schemes are usually done by equipped, trained crews in marked vans. If you see animals being gathered up in a suspicious manner, ask to see some ID, contact your municipality to enquire whether this is a council-approved collection, or ring HAWS on 210-602-0202

ATHENS NEWS , 25/06/2004, page: A08
Article code: C13072A081

A cry of protest against poisoning

ON JUNE 6, 43 animal welfare societies from around Greece are organising a protest against the poisoning of animals. Poisoning continues apace, despite being strictly illegal (it contravenes laws 1197/81 for the protection of animals and 3170/03 for companion and stray animals). In recent weeks, local charities have reported the deaths of 25 animals in Xanthi, 50 in Orestiada, 70 in Saronida, all the pigeons and cats in the area of the Panormou metro station in Athens, most of the strays in Kallithea and Korfos, Corinth, and much of the cat population of Eressos, Lesvos. The demonstration will be held at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Syntagma Square at midday. Everyone who cares about the continued killing of both strays and pets with poisoned bait is invited to come and join their voices to a united cry of protest against this barbaric and unlawful practice.

ATHENS NEWS , 04/06/2004, page: A05
Article code: C13069A052

ATHOC to banish strays?

IN YET another about-face on the stray issue, Athens Olympics organisers have decided to clear the streets of all homeless dogs for the duration of the Games.

On April 21, ATHOC called a meeting with representatives of animal welfare organisations and asked them to assist in a dog-catching programme in the 14 municipalities where Olympic events will be held.

ATHOC representatives Katia Petro-poulou, secretary to Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, and Thanassis Kadartzis, negotiator with state and local administration, invited charities to take in strays from the area in which each is based for the two-month period of the Olympics and Paralympics.

"ATHOC says that stray dogs don't suit the cultural image of Athens," says Iasmi Papatheodorou, lawyer to an association of 43 welfare and environmental organisations. "So they are asking for the dogs to be removed from the streets temporarily."

"We were hoping they might provide financial aid to the charities involved, but they say they have no budget for dogs," continues Marina Kollia of St Francis of Assisi animal shelter, one of the 18 charities from the association to attend the ATHOC meeting. "They promised us 160 tonnes of dog food and told us to go to the agriculture ministry for funding."

Yet according to animal protection law 3170 passed in July 2003, municipalities have responsibility for strays, and they have been kept completely in the dark about this plan. Deputy Athens Mayor Tonia Kanellopoulou, who is responsible for implementing the city's catch-neuter-release programme for homeless dogs, says: "ATHOC hasn't told us anything about this."

"We will continue with our sterilisation programme," she vouches. "They cannot forbid dogs in the city of Athens; there will be strays on the streets during the Olympic Games."

Ironically, her words echo those of ATHOC president Angelopoulos-Daskalaki at a June 26 press conference at which she announced a plan of sterilisation, vaccination and re-release for canine without owners.

The proposed scheme overturned the Games organisers' previous plan, presented on February 11, 2003, to incarcerate indefinitely all wandering dogs in a massive shelter that would be built in northern Attica. This announcement caused an outcry and was swiftly repealed.

ATHOC did not respond to Athens News questions in time for this article.

ATHENS NEWS , 23/04/2004, page: A14
Article code: C13063A142

Trikala turns the corner

Formerly condemned by wildlife societies, the central Greek zoo is being spruced up to meet European standards. Work has started to create one of the largest tiger pens on the continent, and over the next two years the facility will be transformed into an extensive educational centre

Trikala Mayor Michalis Tamilos admires the tigers in their current cage, which has been enlarged and fitted with underfloor heating and a double security fence since the animals were moved there in January 2002

ONCE nothing better than a prison for shamefully neglected animals, Trikala Zoo is being revamped into a state-of-the-art education centre and environmental park.

In 2001, a pair of wallabies, a wolf and an elderly lion all died at the miserable facility, and when, in 2002, the agriculture ministry decided to send two tigers confiscated from a visiting circus to the 'unreservedly unsuitable' cage at Trikala Zoo, welfare societies vociferously opposed the move.

But from January 2003, since the election of New Democracy Mayor Michalis Tamilos, the facility has gone from strength to strength. By June 2003, the tigers' cage had been almost doubled in size, the indoor area was equipped with effective underground heating (temperatures in Trikala can drop as low as -24 degrees Celsius), the bathing pool fixed and the tigers put onto a suitable diet.

Now, with the help of David Barnes, head of Animals Amnesty International, and Dominique Tropeano, owner of the UK's Colchester Zoo and an inspector for the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), the Trikala municipality has decided to redevelop the zoo as an educational park.

"We want the zoo to be an example to others," Tamilos told the Athens News during a visit to the zoo on March 31. "We want to make the best possible cages for all the animals here; we want to train the staff properly, open a full-time veterinary clinic and set up an education centre so that visitors can learn about the species we have."

As the mayor himself is the first to admit, "No one in Trikala - nor anywhere in Greece - had the knowledge or experience to do this project properly. That's why we called in the experts." Through Barnes, who had been involved with the tigers ever since they were confiscated from the Errani circus in July 2001 for lacking the necessary documents from CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna), Tamilos was introduced to Tropeano, who brought in his own architect to draw up plans for the improved, expanded zoo.

"It was important that this was done properly," says Barnes. "Whether the municipality wants to admit it or not, the zoo was a dump before. They were going to redevelop it anyway, and at least now they are doing it the right way."

The municipality officially took over responsibility for the Prophet Ilias hill (upon which the zoo is situated) from the agriculture ministry on March 1. Fences have already been replaced, various buildings have been knocked down and work on a vast new tiger enclosure has started - with the assistance of Barnes, who spent the whole of March at the zoo working side-by-side with the workers.

Tropeano will present his blueprint to the municipality at the beginning of May. "As well as the tiger enclosure, a facility for European wolves and improvements to the existing tiger pen to make it suitable for primates, I am also suggesting a new animal food preparation facility," Tropeano tells the Athens News from Colchester. "The mayor really wants to have a great zoo... We are trying to give professional advice for affordable changes that are within the parametres of what they can achieve given that experience and expertise is low key. We won't suggest anything they cannot cope with," he continues.

The exact cost of the revamp - which is scheduled to be completed by 2006 - is as yet uncalculated, but the municipality has already been approved for a 200,000-euro grant from the Thessaly prefecture, and the council is putting a further 100,000 euros towards the project from its own budget. "With this money we can begin," says Odysseas Raptis, head of planning, coordination and development in the Trikala municipality. "Profits are expected within three years," he continues, "which will be put back directly into the zoo, as no municipality project is allowed to make a profit."

Showpiece tiger pen

David Barnes with the zoo's two rescued ponies. The mare (on the right) has a permanent injury to her left foreleg from her days at Thessaloniki's much-criticised carousel with live ponies

The costliest part of the plan is the new tiger pen which, at 4,300 square metres, will be one of the largest in Europe. The run, which will be grassed over, will be surrounded by a 3m-high wooden fence with occasional viewing windows (to give the tigers privacy), with a fully enclosed low bridge, running across the width of the pen, for visitors to be able to look at the big cats without disturbing them - shouting, throwing objects or food. In addition to at least one bathing pool, the run will feature climbing ramps and other enrichment toys.

"The tiger pen will be the showpiece of the new zoo," says Barnes. "These tigers came from a circus beastwagon; their lives have already improved, and with the next pen, life will be as good as it gets for them."

Sadly, the three-year-old pair are unlikely to live long, as they are both suffering from debilitating genetic hip dysplasia. "They receive painkillers and multivitamins," Barnes says, "but when their hips finally go they will have to be put to sleep." The enclosure won't go to waste though: Tamilos hopes to get a pair of endangered Siberian tigers through an EAZA breeding scheme when and if Trikala Zoo is accepted as a member of the association.

In addition to the tiger area, a large enclosure will be constructed for wolves, and bigger, improved pens will be made for the existing animals and birds - a vulture, two ostriches, an emu, rabbits, four deer, two ponies, rabbits, ducks and various small bird species.

New species brought in to the zoo will be approximately 80 percent indigenous, says Barnes. Likewise, the plants to be established around the facility will be naturally-growing Mediterranean flora.

As the zoo expands, so will its staff. The municipality has already appointed a zoo manager, forest engineer Katerina Papadouli, and two nightwatchmen. A full-time veterinarian and seven zoo workers will be employed as of May 1. Tropeano will arrange for these staff to be trained either at Colchester Zoo or another EAZA-approved facility in the EU.

ATHENS NEWS , 16/04/2004, page: A10
Article code: C13062A101