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GREEKS 'TO GAS 15,000 DOGS BEFORE OLYMPICS'

EXPERTS fear up to 15,000 stray dogs will be poisoned before August's Athens Olympics so the city looks "pristine".

Authorities in the Greek capital fear the sight of packs roaming the streets will damage the country's bid to show it is modern and civilised, the RSPCA said yesterday.

Greek animal welfare groups say slaughter of the city's estimated 15,000 strays has started. Eighty dogs have been found dead in Saronida, a coastal resort where members of the British team are expected to stay.

One animal welfare activist said: "There's been a big increase in poisonings and we expect it to rise sharply."
David Bowles of RSPCA International has been helping to train Greek officials to catch and treat strays humanely.
He said: "We're seriously concerned thousands of dogs will be poisoned so Greece can show Athens is a pristine, modern city. It would be barbaric and would solve nothing."
He added: "A lot of the local authorities don't know how to treat dogs humanely."

Another senior RSPCA official added: "If the Greeks continue to poison dogs they can't consider themselves civilised."

The authorities insist there will be no mass poisoning but Athens' few dog shelters are already crowded.

Greece has little tradition of caring for strays.

Poisoning animals is a crime there but it is the usual method of keeping numbers down and is used unofficially by some local councils.

A spokesman for the Greek Embassy in London said animal welfare was taken seriously in Greece. "Measures have been taken to improve standards."

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