Feature: Athens hosts adoption event on World Stray Animals Day to raise public awareness

Dozens of abandoned dogs had a second chance to find a new home during a stray dog adoption event held in central Athens on Sunday, on the occasion of the World Stray Animals Day celebrated on April 4 each year since 2010.

With the motto "Adopt, do not Buy", the event which was hosted in a central square near the Greek parliament aimed to raise public awareness on the surging population of stray dogs in the Greek capital.

The deep recession in recent years has forced a lot of pet owners to abandon the animals since they can no longer look after them.

The number of stray dogs has increased dramatically over the past years reaching up to 500,000 dogs in Athens and over a million in the whole country, according to animal protection NGOs.

Attacks by strays against people reported in local media lately have alarmed many Greeks who also have expressed anger at cases of individuals who have tortured and killed animals.

"The economic crisis has played a vital role to the increasing number of stray animals. But, the lack of education is another major factor that aggravates the problem. Every pet needs to feel as part of a family. In villages, they use them for work and if they get sick they dump them out in the streets," volunteer Manos told Xinhua.

A total of 13 local animal welfare groups joined the event which was organized by the citizens' group "Atenistas" with the support of the City of Athens Cultural, Sports and Youth Organization.

"Our goal is to make Athenians care and adopt stray dogs," said founder of Atenistas Tasos Chalkiopoulos.

"With our initiative, we want to persuade people not to buy animals in pet shops where they are held under bad conditions," he added.

People of all ages, among them families with their children and elders, enjoyed the event and responded to the call with great interest.

"Today more than 14 dogs of our shelter have found a new home," said Anestis Psychogios, who works at the Welfare Agency of the municipality of Athens.

In the shelter of the Athens' municipality, another 24 stray dogs wait for a new family. Since 2015, more than 200 stray animals have been given for adoption, Psychogios noted.

In order to adopt a stray animal, citizens need to fill in and submit an application. The agency investigates if the home is proper for the animal before processing with the adoption.

Apart from the municipality of Athens, there are many local animal charities which take over the burden to collect and provide care to stray animals.

"Most of the time, we take them in our homes until we find them a family or we pay a pet hostel to accommodate them for a while," said Ioanna, who volunteers in stray.gr, a website dedicated to the care of stray animals.

"It is very important to sterilize stray animals to minimize their population size. They need to be vaccinated to ensure their survival and good health and also in order to safeguard public health," Christina, another volunteer from stray.gr, added. Enditem