Unspoken brutality! Shocking pictures from a mobile phone…. a municipality worker pins with a loop a stray dog. The tool, also called ‘dog strangler’ strangles and suffocates the poor animal as it moves. The dog writhes, moves to free himself from the pain.
The dog starts bleeding from the mouth due to the Touristsand by-passers watched in shock the incident. Some animal lovers complain loudly and get verbally attacked. This unbelievable scene that makes us Greeks and Athenians to feel ashamed of the brutal behaviour of public officials occurred on Friday morning at 11:30 a.m. at Monastiraki square in the middle of Athens downtown.
Attention! Graphic Picture!
There are claims that the stray dog was ‘offensive’, that he was barking and even had bid passersby. A ‘claim’ we have been hearing quite often in the last time as an excuse to remove stray dogs, normally sterilized and fed by volunteers animal lovers.
The dog suffered for some 20 minutes until it could be transported away.
The incident and the published pictures triggered an outcry in animal lovers and websites and many complaints went into the e-mail inbox of the Municipality of Athens.
An answer by the Deputy Mayor of Athens about the practices and promising ‘behaviour lessons for municipality workers in charge of strays’ seem not to have convinced anyone. The deputy mayor said the dog is taken care by a vet, however animal lovers and animal welfare societies are seeking evidence of the dog’s well being. An animal shelter has offered to host the injured dog.
Animal lovers say that this brutal method is the common one when it comes to collect strays from the streets. Unfortunetely the new mayorship of Athens that took office in Januray 2011 has not shown a single evidence of respect to the numberous strays in the Greek capital. The mass poisoning of the strays in Zappeion was another action that shocked the animal loving community in Greece and abroad.
In comments animal lovers wonder whether this act of brutality towards an animal should not be punished by law!
UPDATE: Please, sign also the Petition! It is a very strong letter by several Animal Welfare Societies of Athens and Greece. Click here to sign!
You can send your e-mails and complain about this and similar incidents that happen without being noticed by the public, incidents that state officials should be ashamed of! Be firm, but polite, please!
E-mail: adespotaath@cityofathens.gr
For 15 years we impliments humane programs for the stray population control – then the Olympics happened and the killings started again ! I cannot, will not spend a penny in Greece while it allows this cruelty to continue and I hope that others will not support the tourist trade there too until this horrific treatment of our animals stops ! The only acceptable way to manage pet populations is by supporting animal welfare groups there and the Spay/Neuter/Vaccinate Programs! Educate the public and make it illegal to breed and dump animals on the streets when they tire of them. These animals suffer and die because of human error – from the person on the street right up to the head of government they have failed these animals. This is a HUMAN problem, not an animal problem – time to bring back what was, and what works !
I JUST HOPE THE PERPETRATOR SUFFERS …as I DOUBT THAT HE WILL BE PUNISHED IN ANY WAY, THE GREEKS ARE NOT NOTED FOR THEIR CONCERN FOR DOGS. SIMILARLY ANYONE WHO GAVE THE ORDER TO TREAT THIS DOG IN SUCH AN APPALLING WAY—MAY KARMA PREVAIL.
I shall never visit Greece –too cruel a place by far. Why would I want to have a holiday in a place that treats it’s animals so badly . It would be a nightmare not a holiday.
Such barbaric and cruel behavior from a country that is supposed to be civilized! Please enforce laws against such people who hurt helpless animals and consider giving the animals of your country the rights they deserve to humane treatment and compassion. Shame on Greece. I am disgusted.
This shameful & very sad….
Mahatma Gandhi said, “The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
Cannot Greece implement humane methods to control the stray dog population? The cruelty to innocent, defenseless, creatures (human & animals)always comes back to haunt the perpetrator. We reap what we sow so stop before it is too late!!
This is disgusting. What is wrong with people, All of this has to stop. That poor animal, Im ashamed to be part of the human race.
This is disgusting, and I believe not a word of what the Deputy Mayor has said. Greece has been twice reprimanded by the EU (and all who know how sluggishly the EU reacts, if at all, can imagine what it means when they feel the need to make the effort twice with a country) for good reason – as concerns the way the country deals with animals. And God knows, EU laws are more than lenient anyway, and hardly ever taken seriously and/or implemented realistically. Greek authorities flout these laws wherever they can – as shown here yet again – and they clearly do not care about animals. Many of you will even remember the laughable episode some time ago when these same Greek authorities have called the strays up and down the country “Greek citizens” who deserve protection from abuse elsewhere (the incident that caused this reaction having been a transport of dogs to Germany for adoption. The Greek authorities stopped it, arguing the animals were to be sold to labs). The “Greek coin” can obviously turned one way today, and another tomorrow, whichever side of it is more convenient at the time. Get you act together, Greece! You claim to being a cradle of civilisation is unfounded as long as such acts are routine on your soil. Stop lying.
This is disgusting. The people are the “animals” here.
Indeed, The greatness of a nation and it’s moral progress can be judged by the way it treats their animals. The barbarions doing this, should be treated the same way!!
HUMAN SHAME IT !!!!
SUCH CRUELTY MUST NOT GO UNPUNISHED. THEY SHOULD GET THE SAME PUNISHMENT AS IF THEY DID THIS TO A CHILD.
Action needed by the EU commission – Animal welfare is also their task. Not just money has to be organised over there. animal welfare is priority also.
EU Commission has to act – not only organise the money in Greece – Animal welfare has priority also.
This shameful, very sad and sick! Barbarians!!
Shame for Greece!!
I fully understand your frustration and anger. However I cannot allow comments using an inproper or very rude language – sorry
Animals are put here for our care, not too be abused or misused by humans. If the dog was barking or seemed dangerous too others, then they should of used a tranquilizer on it and then moved the dog too animal shelter too be examined too see what was wrong with it.
BARBARIC !!!! SHAME ON GREECE !
This is one reason why I will never visit this country.
This kind of abuse cannot be tolerated. Man was given, by God, the responsibility to care for and protect His creation, nature, the animals. For His sake this has to be stopped.
I would like to think that humans have evolved beyond this brutality. Some haven’t. Sickening and disgusting. No excuse for murder.
Sickening. What a FU Country. Ill never visit.
This is so horrible.
This person must pay for doing that.
evil scum, i hope they rot in hell, they will be sorted by karma, all these poor animals
EVIL SCUM, I HOPE THEY ROT IN HELL, HURTING ALL THESE POOR ANIMALS
Civilized people everywhere are disgusted, horrified, outraged by the treatment of stray animals in Greece. This problem is ongoing and pervasive and it’s apparent that Greek officials have no intention of doing anything about it. I’ll NEVER visit Greece again and have informed all my animal loving friends and family about the unconscionable, inhumane abuse of animals in Greece, the cradle of uncivilized cruelty!
SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME !!!! S H A M E !!!!!!!!!
Stray and owned dogs suffer brutal treatment everywhere one goes in Greece. After the Olympics in 2004, measures were taken by the City of Athens to rap, sterilise, tag and release stray dogs back to what they call the ‘natural environment. These dogs can be seen in many places in the centre of Athens, some looking quite overweight, but there are many other strays around who are too scared to come out from hiding, plus newly abandoned dogs who don’t have a clue of how to fend for themselves. In summer many of these dogs have no access to water. The volunteers who bring bowls & bottles of water have to remove the containers after the dogs drink because left there, they would disappear by the morning when municipal rubbish collectors make their rounds and they have been instructed to remove the bowls. Prior to the Olympics, a number of RSPCA’s dog handlers wentto Greece to teach municipal workers on how to restarin a potentially aggressive dog with minimum force and no injury to the animal, but it seems they have gone back to their brutal methods, as the above example shows. Shame on Greece, which wins a gold medal for animal cruelty!
ntropi sas…..aplos ntropi,,, ligi anfropia exete? ftou sas malakes…
This guy needs fired, he should not be able to hurt any more animals.