Lettre d’une amie anglaise sur Syros : les chiens de Dili.

C’est en anglais. A la fin, on a juste envie de dire : HELP.(je vous épargne les photos)

Demos in Syros allows stray dogs to starve

While concerned animal lovers around the world are outraged about the killing of a baby giraffe at Copenhagen zoo – on the idyllic Greek island of Syros, stray dogs under the care of the local authority are being systematically abused, possibly poisoned and starved to death.

The dog pound at Dili has a long dark history.  From time to time various stories have emerged about stray dogs being knee deep in their own excrement, left without food and water, allowed to escape and worry sheep and sold for experimentation.  As each incident emerges, concerned animal lovers do what they can; trying to clean up the facility, provide adequate shelter and supplement meagre food rations.

Last week a tourist wanting to rescue a stray, visited the pound, having been told there were some young dogs in need of a good home.  She was taken there by a local animal lover and both were horrified at what they found.

Eleven severely emaciated dogs were locked in pens in groups.  They had no water and their bowls were encrusted, not having contained water for a long time.  Three dogs were together in a run and the padlock was so rusted it was impossible to open.  Some had no shelter and one dog was chained up outside.  One bitch was pregnant.  The dogs were close to death and the tourist fed them with some cat biscuit that was in the car and immediately donated 100 Euros for emergency food supplies.

The next day, two local animal rescuers went to Dili with food, fed and watered the dogs and arranged a rota to keep them alive until their situation could be improved.  As animal cruelty is illegal in Greece, they went to the police with photographs and were referred to the Demos, who is supposed to be in charge of the facility.

The Dili dog pound has long been decommissioned; condemned as unsuitable and no dogs are supposed to be kept there.  A law requires that the municipality on each island makes provision for stray animals, which are to be treated correctly, sterilised, medicated for parasites and re-homed if possible.  For more than ten years, local animal charities have been pressing for a proper facility to house strays, to no avail.

Contact was made with the department of the demos, who were supposed to be caring for the strays.  A meeting was set up and better care promised.  A new worker was designated to feed the dogs and clean the runs, a vet was in attendance and arrangements were made to neuter the pregnant female and administer the required tablets and pipettes.

It seemed there was some progress and the dogs began to gain weight.  Contacts were made with rescue societies in the UK and offers of new homes were received.  Arrangements for transport across Europe was organised and money raised to pay for it.  These dogs certainly deserve a better future after their abuse.

Today, when the Demos worker went to the pound to feed the dogs, he found two dogs dead.  Both were puppies about seven months old.  They were in good health yesterday and were in a run with four other dogs.  Poisoning is suspected as the runs are not secure.  A local vet will carry out autopsies to find out how they died.

This is gross neglect and mismanagement on the part of the local authority here.  Elections are pending.  If the Demos can’t manage to look after eleven dogs, how are they supposed to show they are competent to run the island?

Jacky Tim Storey
Kini, Syros
15th February 2014

2 thoughts on “Lettre d’une amie anglaise sur Syros : les chiens de Dili.

  1. J’ai constamment dans ma boîte mail des pétitions (que je signe) concernant les chiens « sauvages » et l’horreur des traitements qui leur sont imposés, un peu partout dans le monde, mais particulièrement dans les Balkans… J’ai vu une meute de ces chiens attaquer la voiture dans laquelle nous étions… J’ai entendu un « marcheur à pied » dire que ce qui lui avait fait le plus peur dans la traversée de l’Europe, c’était en Roumanie et en Grèce, étaient ces meutes de chiens harets complètement affamés et devenus sauvages.
    Le cas a l’air tellement grave qu’on ne sait pas par quel bout le prendre… Je n’ai pas tout lu mais oui, il en va de la responsabilité des autorités locales… et on sait à quoi elles fonctionnent souvent. ;o(

    • les chiens sont enfermés sans eau sans nourriture et sans hygiène jusqu’à ce que mort s’ensuive. si au moins c’était des meutes de chiens errants attaquant ces salopards ! si au moins. mais ce sont juste de braves toutous trouvés dans la rue, mis dans ce mini camp d’extermination et que la conscience collective oublie régulièrement. même moi. mais pas cette fois.

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