Athens clearly has a problem with… dogs! When we arrived we
noticed that there are a lot of stray dogs, almost everywhere. At every square,
in every park and even in the archaeological sites! We even had our own dog guide at the Acropolis, who guided us from the South slope to the Parthenon
itself! All the dogs are clearly stray dogs – they looked unkempt, rugged and
often the older dogs had minor wounds and bruises. But most of all, they looked
extremely friendly. Some of the dogs wore collars with tags on them, so I
guessed that the municipality probably micro chipped and vaccinated them. And I
was right! After some reading when returning home, I came across some very
interesting information.
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| Dog on the steps of the Acropolis |
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| Napping in the warm sun at the Plaka |
There used to be dog catchers who will, of course, catch the
dogs and take them to a pound or dog shelter. The dogs will then be kept there
for a certain period of time before, sadly, being put down. But one day an
animal activist group got hold of evidence of some vile conditions of one
particular animal shelter and it caused heavy commotion. Not only did the
mayor of the city receive a heavy fine and even a prison sentence for animal
cruelty (or something along those lines), but every single pound basically shut
down because of the fear of falling under the same heavy sentencing if one single thing is wrong in their poorly funded shelters. And hence, all of a sudden there was no control over the dogs
and the population just grew! You can see friendly dogs lounging between the
locals around the Plaka. The locals feed and take care of most of them. You
often see fat dogs lying on old rugs, blankets or cardboard boxes. Some dogs
are loners, others sit in packs. And it is rather interesting to see that most
of the dogs are mixed breeds living together as if they are all the same. Some
dogs get adopted, some don’t.
Until fairly recently the Greeks didn’t keep dogs
and cats as pets. Hence, when they realized that a big dog does not necessarily
belong in a tiny apartment, they will drive the dogs far away from their home and “set them
free”. So a lot of dogs end up on the street because of negligent owners –
which disgusts me. The same goes for cats. The Greeks used to keep cats to
catch rats, mice and snakes. (Little did they know the terrible impact it will
have on the environment). In Mykonos you can see cats almost on every street
and on every corner, lounging in the sun or playing on the beach. It was really
cute to see one kitty walking up to the waves and as soon as the water came to
his feet he jumped up and ran away to his friend.
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| Two friends lounging on the beach |
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| What is this? |
What is tragic, however, is that often there are series of
dogs and cats getting poisoned. Some evil residents put out poisoned meats on the side of the streets to "deal" with the problem in an inhumane way. This is absolutely horrific and shouldn’t even happen in the first place. I really don’t understand why there isn’t a more
serious attempt to keep the dogs and cats off of the streets. During the 2004
Olympics, the dogs miraculously disappeared from the streets, only to return
well fed and groomed the day after the closing ceremony. Word spread that they
were kept on various farms until the end of the ceremony. They were on a mini
holiday. Why didn't they just keep them there?Dogs (and cats) need companions, especially humans who have
the responsibility toward them and all other animals, to keep them safe and healthy. Humans were responsible for letting them roam the city in the
first place, so shouldn’t they be responsible for keeping them off the streets?
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| Mykonos kitty |
Armand and I started talking about what we would do if we
had a few billion Euros to spare. I said I would buy a few farms and put all
the dogs and cats there, neuter them and give them the proper attention they
deserve. I think all countries should do this. I don’t think animals should be
put into tiny shelters and then be put down, but they should rather be kept
alive until they all gradually die of old age. And if you control them in this
way, the various cities across the world will sit with less stray animals and
less problems. I also think that all countries should implement a strict
license system where you need to go through strict protocols in order to get a
new pet from licensed breeders only. But that’s just a dream…
perhaps one day I will be able to get this type of law passed. And when I have
a few billion just lying around, I will definitely open a few Animal Farms!
A cute thing we saw was a young man on his Vespa, driving on
a quiet street with a tiny miniature Doberman Pincher running alongside it.
When he called “Antonio”, the dog came to him, he placed him in his leather
jacket and they drove off into the traffic, Antonio peeping out with the wind
in his face. Now that sounds like a nice life for a dog! Hopefully Antonio is
one of the lucky ones, who will live a life full of human love and all his
needs will be provided for, and he won’t end up on the streets.
What’s your opinion of stray animals? Do you think they
should all be kept safe or do you think it is acceptable for them to roam
around in a city?
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