On May 12th 2006 at five o'clock in the afternoon, members of Kilkis Animal Friendly Society discovered that in 25 Martiou Street in Kilkis, in the presence of the Deputy Mayor Epameinondas Kokovidis, Council employees were carrying out Mr Kokovodis' orders and were attempting to round up stray dogs and load them onto a lorry. The members of the Kilkis Animal Friendly Society intervened and the dogs were set free, and despite repeated demands to be told where the Council employees had planned to take the dogs we received no concrete answer. To be precise, Mr Kokovidis claimed that the dogs were going to be given to goat and sheep farmers, but he was not able to come up with their names. It is a well-known fact that, in order for a dog to be adopted in cooperation with Kilkis Council, adoption papers have to be provided by the Kilkis Animal Friendly Society, so that the identity of the person receiving the animal may be ascertained. In this case why was this procedure not followed? How dare the Deputy Mayor, Mr Epameinondas Kokovidis, and his junior Council worker behave so improperly towards members of Kilkis Animal Friendly Society? How dare the Deputy Mayor and a Council worker address townspeople in such a way?

In the recent past we have received information that similar operations have been undertaken by Kilkis Council authorities without the Council ever informing us as to the destination of the animals and, what is worse, without the transported dogs being found again, many of which were neutered and inoculated.

Respect for animals is required by the laws of the State's Constitution and is one of the criteria in judging one's degree of civilisation. Why do Kilkis Council authorities ignore the laws of the State? Why are they claiming to have found adoptive families when they are simply carrying out the illegal transportation of stray animals? Is this how a civilised society operates?

Furthermore, later the same evening poisoned food was left near Kilkis Fourth Junior School, which killed many animals - dogs, puppies and cats. Their bodies were later found strewn in the small parks and surrounding streets there, with the result that many townspeople, animals lovers and otherwise, called to inform members of the Kilkis Animal Friendly Society about this abhorrent spectacle. Within the month of May alone, fifty deaths from poisoning among the town's stray dogs have been recorded. If this is not an organised annihilation, what else can it be?

It is feared that all our efforts to help the animals in Kilkis (neutering and spaying, inoculation, medical treatment) are in vain because the Mayor of Kilkis, Dimitrios Terzidis, wants a fast and easy solution to the problem of stray animals ahead of the Municipal Elections. The unjustifiable delay in implementing infrastructural works at the temporary holding "pound" for stray dogs has dramatic consequences and undermines attempts at controlling the problem. The repeated promises on the part of the Mayor have been bouncing cheques. It is time for words to be put into actions. Other Councils (for example, Serres Council, Athens Council, Katerini Council, Mytilene Council and others) stand as examples, with organised dog pounds and also stray dogs in their streets, which are under the protection and care of animal friendly societies and the townspeople.

An end needs to be put to these poisonings, to the annihilation of strays and to this indifference.

We call on all animal-lovers in our town to stand up and protest openly about the killing of innocent animals and would ask anyone who has any information about these acts to inform our Society. We call on the Mayor, too, to do what he is obliged to do - to find and punish those responsible. Confidence will be maintained in any communication. A reward is offered. We will be distributing information handouts on what to do in a case where an animal has been poisoned. Let us all think long and hard about this problem, both the authorities and the townspeople.

15th March 2006

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ONCE AGAIN PUPPIES HAVE BEEN TORN APART BY OTHER DOGS IN THE DOG "POUND" IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF KILKIS, WITH THE FULL KNOWLEDGE OF THE MAYOR OF KILKIS

WHY, MAYOR TERZIDIS, WHY???

A couple of days ago the puppies you see above were alive. Today they lie where they have been thrown by a Council employee near the "pound" with their bellies torn open and they are, of course, dead. Due to the jerry-built nature of the fences, the puppies were able to get into areas housing large dogs, and the latter attacked the puppies and killed them in the most terrible manner. Why, Mayor Terzidis, why? Is it because the Council is utterly incapable of doing basic work to make a pound suitable for housing the very dogs that the Council itself places there?

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1st March 2006

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RADIO INTERVIEW WITH THE SOCIETY'S CHAIRWOMAN ABOUT THE PROBLEM OF STRAY DOGS IN KILKIS AND THE INDIFFERENCE ON THE PART OF THE COUNCIL REGARDING THIS PROBLEM

Photograph below:
Dog pound within Kilkis Council
- a typical scene

The Chairwoman of the Kilkis Animal Friendly Society, Ms Christina Portarinou, was interviewed on March 1st 2006 by Radio Mahitis about the problems faced by Kilkis regarding stray dogs and the stance taken by Kilkis Council in this regard. Ms Portarinou goes into exactly why she is so annoyed by the stance and the lack of action by the Council in respect of this problem. You can listen in to the interview (which is in Greek - an English summary translation is to follow soon) by clicking here (mp3 format (9MB) for Windows Media Player or portable mp3 player).

Subsequent to the interview given by Ms Portarinou, the local "Imerisia" newspaper published an article on March 2nd 2006 about the problem she mentions. You can read the article (in Greek) by clicking here (PDF format 392Kb, requiring Acrobat Reader) or by clicking here (Microsoft Word format, 551Kb).

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