*In Greece, there is a conpiracy theory going around for decades, spreading lies about how stray animals adopted abroad end up in brothels and laboratories. The issue has taken off so much, to the extent that it has affected people in authority, municipalities and goverment employees. As a result, Greece has been refusing to issue legalo documents for strays to travel abroad to their adoptive families, which urged about 160 charities from Greece and abroad to write an open letter to the government regarding the matter.
The following is an article written by a Greek volunteer, asking fellow voluntrees who might have bought into that lie, to reconsider. As she states, she was one of them:
When you were new at animal welfare, you started searching for things. You found a little dog that needed help and you started looking for help on fb. You found out so many pages and groups.
Endless strays, endless stories, you weren’t the only one who had found a dog in need, but one of the numerous citizens who was burdened with the state responsibilities. The pictures you saw and the stories you read changed you forever knowing now how much suffering and evil there is out there…
Υοur mind and vocabulary have been poisoned by words like “trade”, “animal trafficking”, “bestiality”, “animal experimentation”, “accusations”, “illegal shelters” and “massive exports”.
One day you came across a horrible post which seemed so real that you believed it, since all you see out there is suffering and pain. It was about strays of Greece ending up in brothels in Germany. You shared it, like you share everything. That single post brought about more similar stories and, all of a sudden, you could see them everywhere. Your new fb pals consisted of people who were interested in stray animals and seemed to be trying to unveil a conspiracy.
Υοur mind and words were poisoned by words like “trade”, “animal trafficking”, “bestiality”, “animal experimentation”, “accusations”, “illegal shelters” and “massive exports”.
You’ve been lied to
You’ve been lied to, take it from me someone who started out exactly from posting an article which seemed so real. I picked the first dog that I fostered from the street quite sick and day by day before my eyes he turned into a wonderful and healthy creature. There was an adoption request for him in Switzerland but my first reaction was to scream NO. It seemed too far and too suspicious. Why would someone want this dog in Switzerland?
Τhe dog eventually flew to Switzerland and I keep receiving regular updates from the family 5 and a half years later.
Back then I was lucky to be a part of a great charity, that not only did they allow me to take part in the whole process, but they also taught me what I know so far. Τhe dog eventually flew to Switzerland and I keep receiving regular updates from the family 5 and a half years later. This is the last picture of him a month ago:
Since then I have picked up and fostered a lot of dogs from the street. Some of them have been adopted in Greece and others abroad. I know where they are, every single one of them, I have contact with the families, I get updates and I have met some of them again.
One of my dogs was adopted in Exarhia (Athens)and another in Kolonos, one in Patras by a Finnish lady, another by a Greek lady in Switzerland, one by an English woman in Kypseli (Athens), one in Germany by a German lady, in Austria, Holland, Paris and one in America saved by a Greek-American who, a few months later, waited for him in Chicago airport with tears in his eyes. Some of them have been adopted in Greece and others abroad.
I know where they are, every single one of them, I have contact with the families, I get updates and I have met some of them again.
Six years later, after rescuing that first dog which flew to Switzerland, I figured out that animal welfare has no borders. It is not a matter of “Greece being against other countries”, but animal lovers against the rest of the world, against people’s wrongdoing with regard to animals, against pain and injustice. What you’ve been told about animal adoptions is a lie, or about trucks that were stopped transporting animals illegally. They were not at all illegal, they carried animals to their loving families and, sadly, there are wicked humans with evil souls who prevent adoptions.
Don’t be one of them.
Animal welfare has no borders.
The animals that you love, if you trully love them, deserve only the best you can give them and you deserve to know the truth and not lies. Why such lies have spread is a long story which began about 25 years ago, but this I’m going to tell you next time.
B. Volunteer
*This article, like most in this website are intended for the education of the Greek public, and the Greek authorities. However, many issues covered affect foreign volunteers, and for that reason, some of our articles are translated to English.
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