Do you believe that animal welfare is a serious issue on Paros Island?
Then please read this message carefully!
Paros like many other places in Greece suffers from a severe deficiency in animal welfare.
Common "birth control methods" include dumping of puppies/kittens into the garden of houses friendly to animals or more hastily into the rubbish bin!
Strays' populations, apart those rescued by PAWS, mostly scale down by diseases, injuries by car accidents, starvation, and various killing methods used by stock breeders.
Moreover most of us are as well aware of how usual it is for animals with “owners”, such as dogs, donkeys and horses, to suffer from the cruel behavior of their master.
As you most probably know, real animal welfare structure doesn't exist yet on Paros. PAWS, with its very limited resources, is the only provider of animal welfare services and in a usual year, takes off the streets of Paros around 80 dogs and rehomes them in strictly selected homes, mostly in Germany.
The local authorities have finally granted PAWS with an amount of €5.850; that is great news because it is the first public funding ever on Paros and it comes at a moment where PAWS owes more than €3.000 to the vet. We would like to show appreciation to the mayor for being the initiator of a collaboration between the municipality and PAWS although the grant was originally negotiated in 2004 and there should have been two more recurring municipal funding since then.
The reality is that animal welfare isn't usually a priority for the authorities in Greece. Moreover the endurance of PAWS is not something evident. PAWS has perpetuated the last 10 years because there has always been a few persons to take over.
It doesn't mean that this will necessary continue unless more people decide to help with a little of their time and/or a little of their money!
• Don't just deplore the situation: act now! Animal Welfare on Paros needs your help!
• Participate to the Gala Buffet on Saturday October 21 at the Happy Green Cows. We want it to be the biggest annual event for animal welfare on Paros.
• Become a member of PAWS- the society needs more members both for steady revenue from memberships and for policies approved by wider basis.
• With more support from you, PAWS lobbying for a leverage of humane priorities will become more effective! |
