While my trip to Greece was a very positive experience, there is always some negative. One thing that bothered me in Greece was the large number of stray cats and dogs running loose everywhere. The story we got from one tour guide was that these animals are all former pets. Students who come to Greece to study for six months or a year buy a kitten or puppy shortly after they get here, than abandon them when they go back to France, or Germany or wherever their home is. The same with business people who come here on a temporary job. There are, apparently, no animal shelters in Greece. Instead, they pick up the strays that are not neutered, neuter them, then release them again to fend for themselves on the streets. The ones I saw all looked like they were getting enough food, but not proper nutrition and no medical care. If they get sick or injured they have to recover on there own.

    The cats tend to stay away from people while the dogs seem to go to places where there are people. It's easy to tell which have been recently abandoned and which have been on their own for a while. The ones who have been abandoned recently seem starved for some affection and seem very grateful for a pat on the head and a scratch behind the ears. The others seem to be indifferent to it as if they have given up on getting any real and permanent affection. And none of them are very old. I would guess that most of the dogs we saw were under four years old and the oldest being no more than six or seven.

I'm not sure this policy is any better, or worse, than ours where unwanted pets are put to death if new home can't be found for them in a week or two. I think if there were some charity organizations going around providing medical care and an occasional  bath  & dip for these animals it would be better, but not as it is now. Also, they need to encourage people to adopt the abandoned animals rather than going to a pet shop to get a new kitten or puppy to add to the problem.