A 47-year-old Greek man was arrested early Tuesday morning after he was caught on video stabbing a dog next to a garbage bin on Kerkyra Street in Kypseli district of Athens. He is being currently further investigated whether he is also responsible for the beheading and poisoning of at least 8 stray kittens in the area.
Posts on social media claimed that the man was also trying to decapitate the dog.
The dog has so far survived the attack and is being treated in very serious and critical condition in a pet hospital where he was transported by police officers. It is not known if the dog is a stray or has an owner.
According to KTG information, the attacker is a resident of Kypseli and police has also raided his home seeking evidence that connects him to the brutal killings and attacks to animals of the last few months.
It was a young woman in the area who saw the attack, found the courage to videotape it and alerted the police without delay. Authorities responded immediately as violence against animals is a felony crime. According to a police statement, the officers searched for him in the area, located him and took him to the local police station where he was identified as the man on the video NOTE: the video is too brutal to be posted here.
Τhe attacker had a 30-cm-long knife with him when he was arrested.
A case was filed against him for violating the law on animals and weapons and he was first fined with the so-called “administrative fine.” He is to be taken to prosecutor later on the day for a quick trial, as he was caught in flagranti. If the dog dies, the fine and consequences will be higher.
UPFATE:
According to latest information on Tuesday evening, the man is also the owner of the 14-year-old dog who is still struggling for his life. He was seen to get out of his home first, check around of other people and then returned to the street carrying the dog he stabbed just a few meters away and trying to decapitate him.
His name and home address has been posted on social media.
The dog has wound on his body and also a deep one around his neck.
The man was granted time until upcoming Tuesday to testify to the prosecutor and remains in custody.
Local animal lovers up in arms
While police investigation in his home, mobile and other items continues, animal lovers in the area – an not only- are up in arms calling on authorities to not release him from custody.
“If he is set free on bail, we will find him,” some warned on social media posts.
“How can we control some 80 people, animal lovers in Kypseli, who saw the brutal attacks on cats, who found their heads as many were dismembered and them decapitated?” one of them told KTG.
The killings of cats, with the youngest being 5-6 months old, started in late spring. Eight animals have been brutally killed so far, the head of a cat was found only yesterday outside a Municipality playground.
Locals have been pledged several times to Police and the Mayor of Athens to take measures such as patrols and camera installations to stop the brutal killings. Their appeals have been ignored by both authorities.
They even raised money together to pay 1,000 reward for any information leading to the serial killer’s arrest.
Recently they started to get organized, not only to prevent the brutal attacks but also to protect themselves as the “serial animal killer/s” have also threatened them often leaving notes to stop feeding stray cats.
After the arrest on Tuesday morning, they appeared convinced that the man “is the one who beheaded the cats in Kypseli.” They appealed “to all animal welfare associations to pressure all the bodies as much as they can. He should not go out again. Also, those of you who have already filed a complaint about the beheaded cats, go to the police to have the case file linked” they posted on their FB group Animal Lovers of Kypseli Φιλόζωοι Κυψέλης.
Also police seems to have expressed the suspicion of the 47-year-old’s possible involvement in an additional 7 cases of killing four-legged animals that have been recorded in Kypseli district of central Athens.
According to the Greek Animal welfare Law, abuse, torture and murder of an animals is punished with imprisonment of at least one year and “administrative fine up to 15,000 euros or 30,000 for each animal.
In reality, the fines are never paid and the abusers are set free on sentence suspension for normally 3 years.
It was only in October when authorities arrested a cats’ serial killer in Volos, Central Greece.
PS they’re a lot of people with serious mental health issues going around…
This is why I won’t travel to Greece. It’s treatment of animals never improves. Boycott Greece.