For a second year in a row and despite strong reactions the mayor of Volos placed live animals in two Christmas mangers in central squares of the city in central Greece. The action triggered an outrage among animal welfare societies whom the mayor cursed as “curs who need a psychiatrist.”
A few sheep and a pony have been placed in the two squares of Volos, Agios Nikolaos and Rigas Feraios, for the children to have delight, mayor Achilleas Mpeos claimed to criticism.
Animal welfare societies and the association of veterinarians in Magnisia Prefecture have requested the prosecutor’s intervention, speaking of “exploitation and cruel treatment of animals.”
“We consider that there is an incident of passive abuse of animals, so we are talking about a felony and the competent authorities must act ex officio,” the president of the Volos Veterinary Association, Pavlos Stamatopoulos told state broadcaster ERT.
The issue was also discussed in Volos municipal council on Thursday, with member Apostolos Rizopoulos saying: “We disagree with the presence of live animals in the manger. Residents complain about the smell. We estimate that live animals are replaced by dummies. Animals are not in their natural environment.”
At this point, Mpeos intervened asking what is the natural environment of sheep and launching a vulgar attack against the critics, something the choleric mayor loves to do and thus without any consequences whatsoever.
“In the barn huh? There it is. The shepherd goes to the stable every two days and we have a worker and a veterinarian morning, noon and night. So we name the manger to barn, Mpeos said claiming he granted the area in Agios Nikolaos to a shepherd who turned it to a stable and no one can do anything against us,” he claimed.
“We are talking about madness. Curs! Get a psychiatrist quick. Going crazy. Aren’t you a little embarrassed? Why don’t you protest about the zoos in Athens where the animals are not in their natural environment? Go to Brussels to see. What should we explain to them now?”, the mayor said, media reported.
He has claimed that he has assigned a municipality worker to provide the live animals in the manger with feed and water and keep the area clean twice a day.
Last year the prosecutor of the First Instance of Volos had ordered an urgent preliminary examination to be carried out after animal welfare organizations complained of animal abuse in the two mangers set up in the two squares.
PS We suspect the investigation run into sand as in many cases not only in Volos….
Are we going to prosecute dog and cat owners, for not providing “natural environment” for their pets? Leaving dog alone for several hours, in small flat or terrace, is cruel animal abuse. Some even use cages!
Those animal walfare malakas have no idea what precedents this would create!
There was public outrage in Dublin, Ireland last year when the green lady Lord Mayor banned the live animals from the Christmas manger in front of the lord mayor’s house. This year they are back to everyone’s delight. The animals are well cared for and seem to enjoy the attention.
“We consider that there is an incident of passive abuse of animals, so we are talking about a felony and the competent authorities must act ex officio,” the president of the Volos Veterinary Association, Pavlos Stamatopoulos told state broadcaster ERT.”
That sounds a bit like the asymptomatic story 🙂
The animals look in great condition, well fed, clean and possibly a lot warmer and more comfortable some citizens. Poo from Herbivores doesn’t smell bad unlike human drains!
Using “competent” and “authorities” together is a contradiction in terms!
You got that right
About competent and authorities being a contradiction of term
You could have included the term
expert
We have an abundance of experts
here in the US who’s competence
is suspect
What incredible”killjoys”All these people screaming…cruelty…dont have a problem with the way some farms raise their animals,dont have a problem with some slaughter houses treatment of animals before they are killed.If slaughter houses had glass walls the secrets held within would be on show for all of us to see,few of us give this area of life even a mere thought,so,these animals look very well cared for,they should scream elsewhere if they want to stop the cruelty train.
Well done and said from the mayor. These days some think animals are worth more than humans. They are not.
It makes me love Greece even more to see they have a mayor with a back bone and the guts to stand for what is right
If I could I would vote for him
I’ve made 5 trips to Greece and everyone was
Outstanding
Well, the mayor is a bit of a brute but as long as the animals are well taken care of, what is the fuss? Aren’t they taking this animal rights thing a bit too far?
Passive abuse, really? Were their feelings hurt by indignity? How do they know?
Sometimes you need a Brute to get things done and running right
Classic fundamentalist behaviour ,drawing any attention away from the real ecological disaster Greece edges towards.
The average free roaming domestic cat kills on average 3 song birds a day. Wild domestic cats probably more, wild dogs kill hedgehogs, ground nesting birds, the list goes on.
I live in a village there is 15 wild domestic cats, that is 15000 small birds a year , time to act Greece.
The fundamentalists know what needs to be done ,but their ego driven ignorance blinds them, so they spend their lives burying Thier heads in the cat crap filled sand.
Are you serious?!You think the ecologigal catashroph Is happening because of strays living and suffering in The streets?!Give me a break 🥴.That is happening because of humans starting in purpose forestfires,to get more lands where to build,The floods because nothing has done to prevent them.
You accuse strays …Maybe start first to neuter/spay your pets,keeping them save inside,or at least build closures for them where to Be outside safely.Yes they are homepets,not wild Animals!And all that suffering because of selfish greeks cause all you care of IS money.
I didn’t say it was anybody’s fault, the fact is ,animal fundermentalists care not a jot for the real environmental picture as long as tiggles the cat is fat and healthy , out of sight out of mind, is exactly where tiggles the cat does his wholesale destruction of the indidunous animals of many countries of which Greece is one.
But these real difficult issues are leap frogged and unfortunately you land at the door of a nativity screen in a village or at hunting , put your own house in order and stop tiggles slaughtering thousands of defenceless birds , small mammals and reptiles, before there is none left.