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GREECE, A DREAM VACATION ?
or the DOORWAY TO HELL?
SADIE - There is no doubt that Sadie had a miserable life and as awful as it might have been being abandoned at the rubbish dump, her life picked up from the time she got there.
At least she had company with the many other readily disposable cast offs of Greek society.
For the first time in her life she actually had freedom and food, albeit someone elses garbage!
When she arrived to us, she was literally a skeleton, barely alive with a great hollow in her back.
She also had deep wound in her neck from the chain or wire or whatever was used to tie her up. She had obviously just given birth to puppies although these poor newborn pups were nowhere to be seen.
Her tragic little life has a happy ending. She was rescued and has a happy and secure life in the UK. RESCUER
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REMOVE THE HAND CUFFS!
Greek, European and American humane societies report that their grassroots advocacy movement is allegedly the target of what appears to be a well organized and crippling harassment campaign.
For many years, animal welfare advocates have re homed Greece's growing population of abandoned and all too often abused dogs and cats to adoptive families in Europe and the United States.
Without proof or evidence to legitimize allegations, officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and some paranoid, private citizens are accusing Greek and foreign humane society workers and volunteers of dealing in animal trafficking for commercial gain. Believe it or not, it is becoming illegal to help strays! To add insult to the personal injury of slander and libel, humane workers and volunteers are now forced to deal with threats against their personal safety and even arrest.
Privately funded animal shelters so desperately needed in Greece, a country sadly well known in agricultural circles for inhumane farming practice have come under siege. Shelters are being closed, personal computers confiscated and animal advocates tossed in jail.
Many of these advocates spend their hard earned money to rescue and relieve the suffering of Greece's unwanted and unprotected animals. Further compounding the trauma they endure is their fear of humiliation, retribution and jail time for loving the creatures they rescue.
Municipal and coast guard police confiscate legally obtained animal transport documents and seize the animals bound for qualified homes in Europe and North America. According to reports from Greece the care and control of the confiscated animals are placed in boarding facilities which are on the government payroll. At the same time, boarding bills for the animals are also allegedly issued to the rescue societies.
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An Abuse of Position
Reports from humane volunteers in Greece indicate that Ministry of Agriculture veterinarian, Ms Chryssa Dile, a state employee and a small committee headed by private citizens Ms. Ioanna Garagouni and Mrs. Popi Baka are alegedly threatening private and state veterinarians who participate in "pet passport" programs with loss of license. These vets are actually afraid to come forward.
Nationwide, city mayors who cooperate with animal welfare societies are pressured to decline requests for pet travel documents, necessary for animal transport to adoptive families within the European Union and America.
According to reports Garagouni, Popi Baka and their thankfully, small band of followers, are convinced that the country's abandoned dogs wind up as sausage links or on a vivisection table and that humane advocates are bank rolling profits. According to advocates in Greece, it appears their paranoia knows no bounds and they seems hell bent on destroying any semblance of animal welfare in Greece.
Greece came under close scrutiny by the press and consequently came under fire during a problem ridden 2004 Athens Olympics. It was reported that thousands of abandoned dogs and cats were poisoned or had vanished during an alleged nationwide house cleaning effort to "tidy" Olympic venues. As a result of news reports outraged animal lovers and some humane organizations from around the world called for a boycott of the games. Furious Greek officials who spent staggering sums of tax payers money on the Olympic spectacle scrambled to deny charges of wrongdoing. They put their global public relations machine in forward gear in a last ditch attempt to preserve their "Olympic" image.
Some advocates in Greece, Europe and the USA now wonder if the Greek government is somehow involved and is exacting payback. Witnesses to and victims of this "campaign" to cripple animal welfare also allege that millions of euros earmarked to sterilize, vaccinate, treat and house the tens of thousands of homeless pets have disappeared along with the four legged victims of what many call a cruel and brutal "Olympic" sideshow. European organizations are pulling funding for Greek shelters, clinics, spay/neuter programs and costly re homing programs as their representatives and volunteers are harassed, ridiculed, sued and jailed. We spoke with several attorneys and humane workers in Greece and they express fear. They hesitate to speak candidly to the press for fear of backlash. It appears that Greek officials allegedly involved in the alleged harassment campaign have covered their "paw prints".
Officials respond to questions from probing journalists with well rehearsed political rhetoric that distorts the day to day reality experienced by Greek and foreign humane workers. One can almost be convinced that the crippling and destructive claims are true. |
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But, they decidedly are not! As a result of this campaign, the battle waged to enhance animal welfare in Greece a country once known as "The Cradle of Civilization", has come to a virtual standstill amongst increasing hostilities and bold faced lies.
Animal advocates insist that theirs is an ethical movement that recognizes the consequences of human violence. They have a finely honed sense of moral obligation and state that their goal is to shift awareness and awaken compassion in a nation long overdue for animal welfare reform.
The animals cannot demand justice but the media can--simply by disclosing the truth. It is time for Greece to raise its standard of animal welfare with modern, sufficiently managed shelters that maintain veterinary supervision, mandatory neutering, microchip identification , fair and responsible policies for re homing animals within Greece and abroad, prosecution and punishment for animal related crimes.
No animal deserves to languish in filth and desperation only to die miserably in the street or in the country's Auschwitz like pet shops. No humane advocate deserves to be harassed, humiliated, frightened half to death and jailed.
Humane workers and volunteers urge the Greek, American and European press to investigate actions aimed at paralyzing their rescue efforts, bring pressure to bear upon the Greek government to cease it's merciless campaign and to bring their plight and the plight of the helpless animals they strive to protect to the attention of readers and viewers worldwide.
Savy tourists from around the world, will not be attracted to this shady side of sunny Greece.
Perhaps a global outcry from compassionate people everywhere will catalyze change in a nation determined to undermine all humane efforts.
(Contact information for those directors of humane organizations and their volunteers in Greece, the UK, USA, Germany, Belgium and Denmark, willing to speak to the press, are available upon request!)
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