Mother dogs are probably the most vulnerable of all our misfortunate Greek little heroes. Giving birth alone, on the streets, nursing and caring some of the least fortunate puppies ever, desperately looking for food and water while leaving their off springs behind, to be the easiest prey for the worst of predators: humans.
Before making the video, I googled “dumb excuses for not neutering your cat”, and guess, what, there actually is such an article and the title sounds like something I could have written.
I have been wanting to do this for so long. What happens here in Greece every single day can never be covered by my daily blogs or a rescue video I upload per week. For every story you see, read or hear, there are about a dozen others that you will never hear about.
Litter – I remember the first time I heard the word and it sounded so cruel. In Greek, we don’t use a similar word when referring to puppies or kittens, but maybe we should. We just say “a family of kittens/puppies” etc.
Did the title freak you out? Did you click on the blog wishing that it was just an exaggeration or a click bait technique? Well, it wasn’t . The title is as precise as possible and the story is as creepy and ridiculous as you can imagine.
Stray dogs in Greece are on death row. Literally. They might not be piled up in shelters, scheduled to get a lethal injection on a specific date, but every day they spent on the streets is one day closer to a brutal and painful death, or abuse.
Casper was abandoned in our volunteer’s gate on May 13, 2017. Tied with a brand new leash, matching his brand new collar, he was just left there, with a hasty note that gave us all the unnecessary information, but not really saying anything at all.
Puppy disposal has been the only way of population control in Greece for years, and unfortunately, it still is. No matter how much animal welfare groups have been trying to educate, neuter and rescue, it’s just never enough.
If you are a dog rescuer living in a country like Greece, you can never really get a good night’s sleep, because you know for a fact that right this moment, when you rescues are safe and sound in the shelter or a foster home, there are about a million others out there, dying helpless, being poisoned and giving birth on the streets to puppies bound to be ran over by a truck once they are old enough to start walking but that old to know the dangers.
Neglected is an understatement. “Snoopy”, as his family used to call him was abandoned at the dawn of his life, after being neglected for months. He was found tied one afternoon at a volunteer’s front gate, along with a note.