We often get asked; Why help Greek animals? When there are so many needing help in the UK?
1. There are millions of strays on the streets of Greece.
2. There are no major organisations in Greece that assist the strays, like we have in the UK – RSPCA, PDSA, Battersea etc.
3. Often animals are viewed in Greece as a nuisance, vermin, rabid, diseased, and sometimes little more than rubbish. However, there are many amazing, rescues and rescuers in Grece, who work hard to assist the animals and change perceptions.
4. Sadly, many people believe that neutering the animals is unnatural and harmful to them, and oppose neutering very strongly and this causes thousands of unwanted animals to be born every single day. We try to promote neutering in partnership with many organisations and volunteers. It is a slow process but are striving to achieve cultural change wherever possible.
5. Greece has fantastic animal welfare laws – but they are rarely enforced.
6. The economic crisis causes families to abandon their pets.
7. The starving animals go to food sources, such as tavernas, tourism areas and many tourists and some taverna staff help keep them alive by feeding them, but this diminishes in winter months. Also, sadly some anti-animal people regularly use various methods to kill the animals, which often leaves them suffering a long slow death or leaves them disabled and or needing care that never comes.
8. Pre-conceived ideas, lead many people to believe that all dogs have rabies, fleas and will bite! They are treated with disdain and fear, and as a result their plight is ignored.
9. The rescues that do exist, usually have none or very limited funding from the government or any other body and find it difficult to fundraise especially amongst communities that view stray animals negatively.
10. In Greece, a deceased or dying animal is not an uncommon sight, with people passing by and the animal invisible.
These are just some of the reasons that we fight to help the animals in Greece and support the amazing welfare volunteers too.
