:: Testimonials ::

It's a dog's life on campus

The University of Ioannina was established in the mid 1980’s and occupies a large area about 10 km outside the city. Because of its convenient location, the University has become an area where stray animals collect or are abandoned – very often wearing the same collars and chains that once denoted them as owned if perhaps not loved animals.

The conditions these animals endure are awful and their life span short. They survive on food scraps from around the University hospital and through the efforts of a small number of students, employees and academic staff concerned for their welfare. Many dogs are killed by cars either within the University grounds, or on the surrounding busy roads. The most common cause of death, however, is poisoning which is usually carried out during holiday periods. At least 15 dogs are poisoned annually within the University campus and this situation has continued for years. Some of the dogs have managed to crawl towards campus buildings in an attempt to find help and have been found dead in or around student residences. Very often the bodies are left to rot for days with out being buried or disposed of.

Who carries out these poisonings? Evidence suggests that it is members of staff, usually guards, porters or senior staff at the student restaurant. These same staff are regularly seen mistreating the animals – hitting, kicking or attempting to run them over with motor cycles. They are openly aggressive to anybody showing concern or feeding the strays and regularly threaten to poison the animals. Students, academic and administrative staff who have witnessed such incidents, have made statements to our organization and to the veterinary surgeons in Ioannina.

The other important question is who condones the actions of such staff. It is unlikely that they are acting without orders or support from more senior staff and witnesses have also heard discussions relating to the poisoning of the animals by more senior levels of administrative staff. In addition no University authority has ever publicly condemned or issued an official order preventing this unacceptable activity. One cannot help but wonder whether poisoning offers the University administration an easy solution to a difficult situation.

The University authorities are certainly aware of the stray animals and the poisoning but have chosen not to co-operate with concerned members of staff or KiDiZo, the local animal welfare group in order to find a more humane and logical solution to the problem. When written complaints about the poisonings were submitted to the University in 1999 and to the local press, a committee was formed to investigate the situation. Committees met in both 1999 and 2000 and recommended that stray dogs on campus be vaccinated and sterilized and that perhaps a shelter could be built along the lines of the very successful shelter run at the University of Patras. No efforts were ever made by University authorities to implement these suggestions.

Thus those trying to improve the lot of stray animals on campus and the majority of students are sympathetic and concerned about the animals, face not only a lack of concern on the part of University authorities but also a great sense of discouragement as the animals they feed, sterilize and attempt to care for, routinely succumb to an timely and unpleasant death.

During the months of June, July and August 2002, Mando Papadaki, Member of KiDiZo, Ioannina and lecturer in the Department of History and Archeology at the University, together with veterinary Surgeon Panos Zois and financial support from the British Animal organizations Greek Animal Rescue and Greek Animal Welfare Fund, vaccinated and sterilized 13 dogs. By the end of August only 7 of these animals were still alive. There is little question of what happened to the other 6 animals or what will happen to the remaining 7!!!

What can be said of the country regarded to be the cradle of modern civilization when its higher learning institutions promote wanton cruelty and disregard for animal life.

Mando Papadaki, Kidizo