# Wholesale poisoning of cats and dogs



## FlowerFairy5457 (Jan 2, 2014)

We have been contemplating retiring to Greece but after further investigations it appears that instead of desexing, the preferred option is to poison cats and dogs. An appalling and barbaric practice. No-one appears to have touched on this in various threads.


----------



## concertina (Oct 18, 2012)

The poisoning of cats and dogs is carried out by a minority of the public,not the councils,there have been times before the crisis when local councils sterilised stray animals but that stopped in the crisis and hasnt resumed.Greek people very often dont take a responsible attitude if they decide they dont want the dog they have,they just let it out somewhere far from home and then it goes on to breed many times,however many greek people do feed these stray animals and do have a kind heart towards them,but the problem has become too big and the more you feed them the stronger they become and so breed more.They are often in packs and can be sometimes very menacing and do attack,it can be very frightening,you might be worried about rabies if you are bitten.Obviously the sterilising needs to be restarted but I cant see that on the horizon ever.


----------



## Jolly Roger (Dec 4, 2011)

On Kefalonia we have two charities. Animal Rescue Kefalonia (ARK) is responsible for rescue of stray and injured dogs and rehoming, but are full to bursting point. Kefalonia Animal Trust (KAT) is responsible for neutering of dogs and cats and after many years, are starting to make some progress. There are isolated cases of poisoning, but thankfully there has been progress here as well, with less cases being reported.
The good news is that many Greeks are now asking to have their animals neutered and a good fund raising base (we even have charity shops) helps to ensure that there are funds to do this. Up to the end of July, 281 animals were neutered so far this year.
So yes, there is good news and reasons to be optimistic.


----------



## The Grocer (May 30, 2010)

FlowerFairy5457 said:


> We have been contemplating retiring to Greece but after further investigations it appears that instead of desexing, the preferred option is to poison cats and dogs. An appalling and barbaric practice. No-one appears to have touched on this in various threads.


Perhaps not on this forum, but there has been a lot of discussion on other Greek forums regarding poisoning of cats & dogs.
In some locations it is a problem caused by two main things:-

Deliberate laying of poison....

Done by placing poison in hollowed out bones, animal fur, meat balls etc. If a dog ingests this poison they will have between 10-30 minutes to live. No time to get to a vet and hence we always carry a full anti-poisons injection kit with us whenever we are out......Of 12 very close friends 5 have had dogs poisoned! 

I have found (I live by a small tourist resort) the main periods for this is early May to late September and can often be laid by taverna owners wanting to clear the area of strays before the tourist season.......

Accidental poisoning...

Farmers spraying the fields with "Round Up" or similar weed-killers. (Common practice in rural Greece). Animals pick it up either by eating poisoned vegetation or even by just licking their paws etc. after being in fields. This is far more easy to avoid as often locals will hang the containers from trees to warn people. (of course stray animals can't read!).....in saying that this poison is not long lived.

Strays are an issue, and there are several voluntary groups trying to help, one such group earlier this year neutered over 500 cats/dogs with the help of volunteer vets from abroad in a little over a week. Other groups have opened rescue kennels of course, but yes its a sad state of affairs. However compared to some Eastern block countries its "tame".......

Don't let it put you off coming to Greece, just take care of your pets, discuss the issues with a local vet and perhaps help support a local rescue centre?


----------



## FlowerFairy5457 (Jan 2, 2014)

Thanks All, it is such a distressing story but I realise there are good people doing good things. Throughout my research there is the constant thread of animals not being treated well, dogs poisoned, chained up for life, etc etc. I know there are good people including the Greeks but so distressing.....not sure, what with all the other problems Greece has at the moment, that we could overcome. We certainly could not turn a blind eye.


----------

