SKANDAL MED HUNDAR I PIREUS HAMN!
  

28 februari 2005.

Igår, söndag den 27 februari, stoppades Noahs Arks buss "Pyromanen", med 58 hundar på väg till Tyskland, av en kvinna som hävdade att hundarna skulle användas i djurexperiment. Hon utgav sig för att vara en myndighetsperson och fick därför hjälp av grekisk polis. Detta skedde i hamnen i Pireus utanför Athen. Hundarna fördes till ett djurhem där de nu hålls.
De tre förarna från Noahs Ark försöker hålla sig i närheten av djuren för att de inte plötsligt ska försvinna. Med i bussen var även en journatist från den tyska tidningen "Bild Zeitung".
En advokat har anlitats som säger att hela förfarandet är olagligt och att det papper som
kvinnan hade, där hon hävdar att hon har juridisk rätt att stoppa transporten, bara är ett dokument hon själv knåpat ihop!

Noahs Ark vill ha hjälp genom att vi skickar mail eller fax och protesterar mot aktionen! De personer i Tyskland som väntar på sina hundar kan dessutom hota den grekiska regeringen med att de tänker vidta juridiska åtgärder där de kan hävda att grekiska staten beslagtagit deras egendom.

Detta var en sammanfattning på svenska om vad som hänt. Nedan en text på engelska från Noahs Arks hemsida, med mall till brev/mail/fax till myndigheterna.

Outrage in Athens!

Our organisation's vehicle, called "Pyromane" was stopped today, Sunday, 27.02.2005, on the arrival of the ferry in Piräus, by Mrs. J. Karagkouni (see our "StraysAlive Campaign") with the assistance of the Port Police, and in the presence of the tv station Alpha. It was prevented from continuing its journey.

Mrs. Karagkouni obtained a provisional injunction from the public prosecutor for a seizure of the animals, which were supposed to leave for Germany. She waylaid the vehicle, accompanied by the police and press, and grabbed all accompanying papers from the drivers, saying she was "from the police". She returned the certificates of vaccination; the other papers disappeared.

At this point, our drivers were still in good spirits, thinking they could continue their journey after everything had been thoroughly checked. However, things came to a head, when it was claimed that the microchips carried by the dogs were German, and that this was illegal. In the end, even a visit to the toilet could only be made in the presence of the police.

The 58 unwanted dogs from Crete were either handed over to us during daytime by their owners in our animal home in Nerokouro, or were secretly tied up outside there during the night. They are now stranded in Athens and are not allowed to continue their journey, although they are the property of our charity on Crete, until they are handed over to their future owners in Germany!

There are no legal grounds for stopping our vehicle:

  1. In Athens, the animals have not even left Greek territory.
  2. The use of German microchips is not illegal. According to Greek law a dog, which has been looked after for 7 days by a charity or a private person, becomes their property.
    The majority of the animals had already found new owners in Germany.
  3. Some of the animals were brought to the animal home in Chania by the municipality of Heraklion, because they were seriously injured. The action from the opponents to the animal charity is thus also directed against their own fellow countrymen, i.e. the Greek authorities on Crete!
  4. There only existed a spoken resolution from the public prosecutor, no resolution in writing was shown.
  5. According to Greek law, the seizure could only have been ordered by an official veterinary surgeon: none was present.
  6. Mrs. Karagkouni confiscated the papers of the drivers herself. This not legal, since she is not a police officer, and has no such authority.
  7. All the animals in this transport have the correct vaccinations and are microchipped.
  8. All the animals, amongst them many puppies which have been brought up by private supporters of our charity in their own homes, would have a secure and good home to go to in Germany. Their fate in Athens is uncertain. According to the latest information, the animals are to be taken to a big Greek animal pound.

At present, a German journalist (from the Bild-Zeitung) is accompanying the Pyromane and our three drivers, Anna from Paleochora, Gaby and Steve Hoffmann. Despite hour-long telephone conversations, no conclusion had been reached on Sunday.

According to our lawyer the whole procedure is – even in Greece – illegal, because it took place within the country and not on its border to another country. Apart from this fact, we are obviously deeply concerned about the welfare of the animals in our care. The drivers Steve, his girl friend Gabi, and Anna, who accompanied them to help tend the animals, will try to at least stay near them. However, they were so far only allowed to attend to the dogs once. In the meantime, accompanied by the police, they have arrived in an "animal home" in Athens, where the dogs were unloaded.

Furthermore, Mrs. Karagkouni has, under the pretence of being an official, taken possession of all our transport papers (statutory declaration, legal certificate and a letter of support from the German Embassy in Athens). As in the past, she justifies her actions by claiming that we want to sell the animals for animal experiments, and thus violate Greek animal protection laws.

We ask all animal lovers to act together, and to bring the Greek authorities to adhere at last to their own laws, and to stop the dubious actions of those opposed to animal welfare!

Please send your protest letters directly to the Ministry of Agriculture in Athens:

Fax: 0030-210-5240955.

e-Mail: ax2u098@minagric.gr

Sample:

Dear Sirs,
Unjustified seizure of dogs from Crete, at the port of Piräus near Athens: 58 dogs, property of the Arche Noah Kreta were illegally detained on February 27th., and transported to an unknown location, by opponents of animal welfare organisations.
We have been informed about the incident that occurred at the port of Pireas on February 27th. Our sources are foreign journalists. The information is traveling throughout Europe at the speed of light. From past experience we are certain that the Greek media will present the Germans as trading mistreated dogs. This is slander!
Please answer the following questions:
Who is Mrs. Garagouni? Is she a representative of the ministry of agriculture? Who has given her the authority to intercept animal welfare transport missions?
German and English citizens who volunteered to help Greek dogs were kept by the port authorities after Mrs. Garagouni’s reports.
We would like to inform you that the dogs have owners that are expecting them in Germany!
Perhaps the best solution is for the dogs’ owners to take legal action against Mrs. Garagouni and the greek ministry of agriculture for it’s position and it’s inability to resolve the difficulties arising from an unenforceable law and problematic ministerial decision which should be repealed.
We have received several reports from volunteers in Greece who have either been arrested or threatened to be arrested for saving or treating or feeding or castrating stray dogs. This undoubtedly is paranoid and should be stopped.

Greece belongs to the European Union and should begin behaving like a European country. Boundaries should not exist between sister nations. So If people can travel from one country to another within the EU with only an ID card why do animals need more documents to travel than humans do?

Sincerely,

At the same time we ask all new owners, who are anxiously waiting for their animal, to threaten the Greek state with prosecution for not handing over their property.

It should be made clear that information about the scandal regarding the "seizure of the dogs from the Arche Noah Kreta in the port of Piräus" has by now passed the Greek borders and reached other countries. Furthermore it should be pointed out that the Greek Animal Protection Laws are quite obviously more AGAINST animal protection, since they result in Greek and foreign animal welfare organisations being hindered, threatened and defamed.

Moreover, it should be added that this has already greatly damaged the reputation of Greece abroad, and above all will be very detrimental to tourism in the future.

Please inform us by Fax or e-mail of every protest fax or e-mail you send, so that we have an idea of what is going on.
To-Info-office:
Tel.: +49 (0) 5482 926692
FAX: +49 (0) 5482 925485
info@archenoah-kreta.com

We will keep you informed of all further developments.


27.02.05
R. Schmid, T Busch, S. Grothus
Translation: D. & J. Heaton

Texten är alltså lånad från Noahs Arks hemsida!