AR-News: Greece BOYCOTT/WAG PRESS

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The Star, Malaysia          Sunday April 4, 2004

Animal lovers fight over strays in the streets for Olympics - AP
  Associated Press

  ATHENS: On planes, trains, trucks and buses, Greece's stray dogs are being
  transported to new homes abroad by animal advocates who fear the mutts may
  be harmed if left to roam the streets.

  Packs of strays - an omnipresent site on Athens streets, parks and doorsteps
  - are a sensitive issue for officials sprucing up the city for the Aug.
  13-29 Olympics and a subject of much debate.

  Now some animal welfare activists, who worry the dogs may fall victim to
  Athens' eagerness to clean up the city, are using the Internet to match up
  the canines with potential owners throughout Europe.

  "Everybody should be happy if these animals find a good home,'' says Silke
  Wrobel, a German-born resident living on the island of Crete, where she runs
  an animal shelter that sends strays to Germany.

  Wrobel says her group, Noah's Little Ark, has sent about 3,000 animals
  abroad in 15 years and about 120 since the beginning of the year.

  Though the mutts are finding new homes in Germany, Belgium, France and other
  countries around the world, other activists aren't convinced the so-called
  canine rescue route is the best solution for the strays, and fear the dogs
  could be used for laboratory testing or sold for their skins.

  "There are fears, but there is no evidence ... We are totally against these
  missions,'' said Liana Alexandri, general director of the Greek Animal
  Welfare Association.

  "Let someone prove to me that the thousands of animals that go to these
  countries, that there are families waiting to adopt Greece's mutts,'' adds
  Ioanna Garagouni, head of an animal rights umbrella organisation.

  Until recently, organised programmes to protect animals were virtually
  nonexistent in Greece. Many dog owners can't bring themselves to sterilize
  them and often release them onto the streets.

  And poison is commonly used to destroy homeless animals.

  Just before Greece was to host the European Union Summit last year, there
  was a mysterious mass poisoning of 60 dogs in the city's largest park, The
  National Gardens.

  Animal advocates are calling for a boycott of the games until Greeks "change
  their attitude toward the very low standard of animal welfare,'' said Marijo
  Gillis, head of the New York-based Welfare for Animals in Greece, who claims
  to represent dozens of animal welfare groups around the world.

  Gerhard Henisch, a dentist who works with Wrobel and a group called Animal
  Friends in the southern town of Bad Duerrheim, Germany, helps place the
  animals when they arrive from Greece.

  Potential owners "are of course investigated to make sure the animals are in
  good hands,'' Henisch said. "We're not trying to just stick the animal
  somewhere.''

       ----

  The Guardian, UK          Tuesday April 6, 2004

  Airlift for stray dogs in Olympic race against time
  Helena Smith in Athens

  Animal welfare groups have come up with a novel solution for the thousands
  of stray dogs who could fall victim to efforts to clean up the streets ahead
  of the August Olympics. Activists have launched a mass evacuation campaign,
  transporting the strays by plane, train, truck and bus to new homes around
  Europe.

  Animal advocates from Australia to America yesterday stepped up calls to
  boycott the games. "The 2004 Athens Olympic games will hoist a bright
  torchlight over the failures of Greek society and civic institutions to live
  up to their obligations to meet the basic, simple needs of dogs and cats,"
  said Marijo Gillis, head of the New York-based Welfare for Animals in
  Greece.

  Greece has a feral canine population conservatively estimated at more than
  half a million. At least 15,000 of the dogs can be spotted around Athens
  city centre, the groups claim. Most are thought to be domestic pets
  abandoned by their owners.

  Trying to lead by example, the mayor of Athens, Dora Bakoyannis, recently
  adopted two of the mutts. The municipality has set up vet clinics and a
  hotline for citizens wishing to report strays. Animal protection measures
  were enforced by the former Socialist government last year after 99% of
  Athenians said they believed a stray dog programme should be implemented
  immediately. Following international pressure and howls of protest from
  tourists - some of whom complained about being hounded by the dogs - around
  ¤12,000 (£8,000) was earmarked for shelters. The legislation also foresaw
  fines of up to ¤1,000 for those caught abandoning pets.

  The problem has not been helped by the Greeks' strong objection to
  euthanasia. Many are also opposed to neutering on the grounds that all
  animals should not only be allowed to live but to enjoy a sex life.

  www.canadianvoiceforanimals.org/WAG_NewYork.html
  (212) 4237-0587

  2004 ATHENS OLYMPICS - GREEK ANIMALS RACE FOR THEIR LIVES

  SUPPORT a continuing BOYCOTT of Greece and the 2004 ATHENS OLYMPIC GAMES

  Marijo Anne Gillis - Founder
  WAG-New York (Welfare for Animals in Greece - a Lobby Group)
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