A 61-year-old woman is hospitalized in the intensive care of the hospital in Katerini northern Greece, after she was attacked by a pack of stray dogs in the village of Litochoro.
The deputy mayor of the area in charge of stray animals has been arrested.
The German tourist was in the area of Litochoro where she was visiting friends.
It was around noon on Wednesday when she was walking alone in a rural area between Litochoro and Dion and she was attacked by a pack of stray dogs.
The woman called her husband and reported what had happened. He initially took her to the Litochoro Health Center. There, it was deemed necessary to transfer her to the Katerini Hospital.
She was admitted with injuries to her entire body and head. She underwent surgery at the hospital and is hospitalized in the ICU.
Her condition is considered as “serious”.
The deputy mayor of the municipality of Dion Olympus responsible for stray animals was arrested after the incident and taken to the police station.
He faces charges on charges of causing bodily harm through negligence.
He faces charges of violating the law on the welfare of companion animals and causing bodily harm by negligence.
He appeared before the public prosecutor and was released until a regular trial is scheduled.
The circumstances of the attack are not known.
Read also: How to tell if a stray dog is safe to approach
This would never happen except for the fact that dogs and cats aren’t neutered in Greece. For some stupid reason Greeks don’t make the effort, like other civilized countries, to ensure that stray dogs and cats don’t reproduce in an uncontrolled and detrimental way. There is far too much pain and suffering caused by this negligence. And so easy to do. Poor Greece. So much unreached potential.
Hi Rick,
Do you live here in Greece? If so, you could volunteer with one of the many animal welfare organisations all over Greece who conduct TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) programs several times a year. It is not actually the case that animals are not neutered in Greece, and in fact the issue used to be much worse years ago with huge niners of sick, malnourished and non neutered cats and dogs. The situation has improved but it is hard to keep up with. The local councils are responsible for feeding and neutering stray dogs and cats but most are not doing their job so it falls to the local communities, both in urban and rural areas. It also necessitates veterinarians having the time to volunteer for surgeries. I have volunteered (in trapping, transporting and releasing cats) in TNR programs for years in various parts of Greece, wherever I have lived, alongside fellow Greeks and foreigners. We are always looking for more volunteers as the need is great so if you do live here I encourage you to consider volunteering, it is very rewarding to see the difference it makes in stray animals’ lives. Lastly, please consider that the issue of neglected stray animals occurs in many countries, including the United States and Europe, perhaps not at such high levels as Greece but near enough, and so I believe the issue is a universal one of humans not respecting companion animals enough, rather than an indication of whether Greece os a “civilised” country or not. Again, I encourage you to find a local animal welfare charity and volunteer if you live in Greece or spend extended time here.
Hi Evdokia
The strays are only a part of the problem. See my comment about unmanaged large dogs used to protect livestock in rural areas.
We had a farmer near us that did the same and it was quite alarming when they wandered along the track near our home. They had killed a couple of small dogs before and was always a worry when we were out with our dog. It was worrying for lone people as well as they would nervously circle round and you never knew what the intent was. They were fine when the farmer was present but they were never constrained by fences and he was only present a couple of times a day at most.
There was a fatal attack on a lone woman tourist of around the same age in Northern Greece in 2017 that sounds similar.
The attack happened on the E6 hiking trail near Maroneia. Not too far off the trail, a farmer had a corral where a herd of goats were protected by 11 free roaming and unsupervised large dogs.
The authorities tried to put the blame on wolves or jackels (to brush any responsibility under the carpet, I imagine) but a detailed study by some Greek scientists published in Science Direct made a pretty conclusive case that it was the dogs.