Fwrd: Humane Society International (re: Greece stray animals)

[Guest guest]

I hope the forwarded message below will be of interest to anyone interested in helping the suffering stray animals in Greece

 

 

Subj: RE: Online Form Submission: Humane Society International

7/28/04 12:03:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time

sedwards

PV1mail

Received from Internet: click here for more information

 

Dear Patricia,

 

Humane Society International (HSI) has long been concerned about the uncontrolled street dog population in Greece. We have supported the efforts of the Greek animal welfare group, Hellenic Animal Welfare Society (HAWS), to deal with this issue for the past five years. Upon learning that Greece would be the site of the 2004 Summer Olympics, HSI Executive Director Neil Trent visited with government and animal welfare representatives in Athens to discuss imperative need for a government-supported humane animal control program.

 

 

 

The Greek government was non-responsive, and this led to the development of a coalition between three major international animal welfare organizations – HSI, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), and the Royal SPCA International (RSPCA). In November 2003, WSPA hosted a conference in Athens, inviting HSI, RSPCA, government officials and many Greek animal welfare organizations. The conference was a success, and stimulated the Greek government allocation of one million Euros to the development of a humane animal control program.

 

 

 

Since that time the Greek government has failed to actually provide the necessary funds to implement this animal control program. The RSPCA has traveled to Athens to train animal control officers in humane capture of street dogs but the other elements of the program, such as proper shelter management, sterilization of strays, and so forth, are making slow and in some cases no progress.

 

 

 

The RSPCA is currently investigating the validity of the recent claims of mass dog poisonings. There appears to be no evidence that the Greek government is directly involved in the poisonings. We are awaiting the RSPCA report to determine what action needs to be taken at this time.

 

 

 

Humane Society International

 

 

PV1mail [PV1mail]

Sunday, July 11, 2004 5:22 PM

hsi

Online Form Submission: Humane Society International

 

 

 

Name = Patricia Vargas

E-mail Address = PV1mail

Address 1 = 14448 Parkvale Rd. # 3

Address 2 =

City = Rockville

State = MD

Zip = 20853

Phone = 301 460 0406

Country = USA

Message = Good evening: I am forwarding the message below hoping that your organization can help this terrible tragedy for the stray dogs in Athens, Greece. --- Greeks to poison up to 15,000 stray dogs before the Olympics 7/11/04 3:39:55 AM Eastern Daylight Time animalara2003 aapn Received from Internet: click here for more information This is terrible news. news.telegraph.comBy David Harrison (Filed: 11/07/2004) Thousands of stray dogs will be poisoned ahead of next month's Olympic Games in Athens despite a campaign by the RSPCA to prevent their slaughter The animal welfare charity says that the strays will be killed because the Greek authorities fear that the sight of packs of dogs roaming the streets will damage their efforts to use the Games to show the world that their country is modern and civilised. There are an estimated 15,000 stray dogs in Athens and although the government has taken some action to remove them from the streets without killing them, the RSPCA says that local authorities will not have the resources or the commitment to round up the animals and keep them in shelters during the Games. Officially, the Greek authorities say that there will be no mass poisoning and the Athens Olympics Committee has asked animal welfare groups to help round up the dogs. There are however, only one or two shelters in Athens that can take dogs and they are already overcrowded, so the Greeks face a choice of leaving the dogs roaming the streets during the Olympics or poisoning them. Greece's fledgling animal welfare groups said that the mass slaughter of strays had already begun. Eighty dogs were recently found dead in the coastal resort of Saronida, where some members of the British team are expected to stay. One animal welfare activist said: "There has been a big increase in poisonings recently and we expect it to rise sharply as the Games get closer. We are doing what we can, with a lot of help from international organisations such as the RSPCA, but we are fighting against a culture that is deeply entrenched." The RSPCA has campaigned hard to improve animal welfare in Greece and in particular to end the practice of poisoning strays to control their numbers. The Greek government has expressed a desire to give more protection to animals and introduced tougher laws last year. Antonia Kanellopoulou, the deputy mayor of Athens, said: "Stray animals need our love." The legislation has, however, had little effect and the RSPCA says that many local authorities in Athens and other areas hosting Olympic events will use the traditional method of poisoning the animals to clear the streets before the Games begin on August 13. full story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml? xml=/news/2004/07/11/wdogs11.xml & sSheet=/news/2004/07/11/ixworld.html