From the newspaper Kathimerini March 27 2005
By George Frantzeskakis
K9mailbox@yahoo.com
Pet Trafficking or in other words the
strays at the service of the global industry
A case that leaves behind traces of blood…..
Have you ever wondered about the value of the
animal that you just came across? Not in terms
of emotional “chips” but in terms of Euros. The
stray animal is an untiring worker of the global
industry. Pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, weapons,
furs and the list has no end. And in all of
these gigantic assembly lines of wealth, the
stray animal, a slave without any prospects of
salvation, is sacrificed daily in numbers that
would make the hearts of many skip a beat, even
for just a moment.
Behind the back of the “civilized” old hag,
Europe, a crime is being committed. Because
everybody has the need for cheap experimental
mammals, and because the companies that
“produce” them legally have lifted their prices
to the sky high (600-1500 Euros per price),
small and larger “companies” of smugglers have
formed in all the countries that possess an
oversupply of strays, and they promote them
directly to their interested customers at
competitive prices. This is called Pet
Trafficking.
It sounds like a script from a book by Philip
K. Dick, but it is the sick reality. And what
makes it even more horrible is the pretense that
is being used: Under the nose of the authorities
(in our country the responsible ministries are
those of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture,
Transportation and Culture, as I would say –
appear indifferent as they try to hide the
problem under the carpet, however the carpet has
formed a bulge that (everybody can see) animals
“are given for adoption” to animal loving
families that exist only on paper, on photos and
the imagination of animal lovers with good faith
and who believe that they are securing the stray
animal in their neighborhood a better life.
In Greece various animal welfare
organizations operate semi-legally and they
secretly send tens of stray animals, four-legged
“Greeks” without the necessary documentation
which is COMPULSORY by law, and there is no
formal mechanism to check the procedure.
Some of these groups are neck deep in dirt.
Their bully like actions and their bewilderment
to produce even one sound explanation proves
this. Some other groups are, as I would like to
believe, involuntary accomplices in a crime that
they do not want to accept because the truth
will hurt them deeply. I admit that I recently
found myself in such a position recently.
However, the evidence that I saw, evidence that
the “devil of Ecology”, Popi Baka has
accumulated with great efforts, are crushing and
leave no doubt, not even for the sake of the
pretenses. Because it concerns months of hard
work, I would like this piece to be the preface
to her research which I hope to see published
very soon, so that the slow moving, giant called
the STATE, can finally take action and stop this
disgrace which insults not only those who love
the animals but all those who believe that this
country should maintain a minimum level of
dignity.
And because the publication is soon to come,
the organized animal welfare people, who have
participated in such suspicious transports,
should separate their positions from now, while
there is still time. Otherwise, I am afraid that
before they know it they will be taken to court,
and then their lack of intention will not help
them very much. Something will change in this
country. Naturally or by force, in a rush or in
an organized fashion, slowly orslightly faster.
And we will be witnesses and judges. Something
wil change soon. And not only verbally……
Popi Baka and Elefterios
Kariatoglou from Tetrapodologein.
Original:
