The problem that arose about 2.5 weeks ago with the expiration of the contracts of the two employees of the municipality of Neapolis Sykeon who distributed water and also the food provided (free for the municipality) by the animal welfare organization “Never Walk Alone” continues.

As the founder of the organization Marika Kamari reports, the municipality stopped providing workers – as it has been doing for about two years – who took the food from “Never Walk Alone” and distributed it together with water in seven or eight places where they were placed feeders.

Mrs. Kamari pointed out to GRTimes that just a few 24 hours before she was informed about the termination of the contracts of the two employees, the competent deputy mayor of Building Services, Care of Stray Animals & Policing Ioannis Zarifis had contacted her asking her organization to grant – on loan – to the municipality a quantity of cat food, with the same, however, replying that it cannot undertake this sponsorship either.

In fact, Mrs. Kamari wondered if the interruption of the provision of workers by the municipality was connected to her refusal to provide cat food, leaving suspicions that it might be “retaliation”.

The founder of “Never Walk Alone” explained to the municipality that due to a serious health problem, she cannot climb the mountain and carry food and water, which she eventually did for about 1.5 weeks alone and some days with the help of female tourists who follow the actions of the organization and offered to help.

As she says, her organization has been active in the area for eight years, finding at the beginning serious problems with too many strays, which reached about 150. From that time until now, she has spent tens of thousands of euros on food and medical care, with donations that with great effort he collects mainly from Germany, managing to reduce the number of strays to around 47 either through adoptions or sterilisations – unfortunately also with some deaths.

“I don’t know how much longer I can take. Apart from the fact that I also receive war from various “animal lovers” and I don’t know why, I keep talking to the municipality and they don’t have an answer. The entire municipality and it cannot have one or two employees for a few hours for this job” he emphasizes, adding that the dogs in Sheikh Shu are in essence the guardian of the municipality, as they are all chipped by him and that this means that he is also responsible for their care, for their water and food, because where they are, outside the urban fabric, they have no other alternative.

In a development of the last few hours, Mrs. Kamari announced to the friends of the organization that she was forced to hire a person to distribute food and water, paying a salary of 400 euros plus gas costs, money that is not easily found according to her – and no one knows for how long – and that translates into about 25 sacks of food that could have been allocated to meet other needs.

They keep stealing the food for the strays

At the same time, according to Ms. Kamari, vigilantes continue to steal dog food from the feeders, leaving the dogs to starve.

As he says, after the food is distributed, someone or people go to the area and collect it, and for this reason the organization now has to have double the amount to feed the dogs there, about 1.5 tons of food every month.

It is recalled that last year GRTimes had published a complaint accompanied by a video document, that a certain person was going to the area in an expensive jeep and loading all the food from the feeders.

This person, after a lawsuit was filed, was identified and the matter was taken up by the justice system.

It is noted that Never Walk Alone has been active in Greece in many areas for over 10 years, providing more than 3000 animals with good food, veterinary and medical assistance.

“I have no employees”

The competent deputy mayor of Building Services, Care of Stray Animals & Policing, Ioannis Zarifis, speaking to GRTimes, referred to the problem created by the lack of employees, categorically denying any possibility of “retaliation” and assuring that he too is pushing in every direction to find a solution.

As Mr. Zarifis said, the cooperation with the animal welfare started with his predecessor, the deputy mayor Mr. Gatze, who had secured the two employees who had been hired through the DYPA program for the long-term unemployed, aged 55-67.

Unfortunately, as he pointed out, the contract of the specific employees ended on June 30, with him pointing out that he does not have others, however he is pushing as hard as he can to find them.

Regarding the cat food issue, he noted that none of what was said was true, saying that he was sorry that such scenarios were being stirred.

He explained that when he assumed the specific responsibility for the strays about 2.5 months ago, the food provided by the municipality for the strays had run out and he initially asked deputy mayors of neighboring municipalities if they could allocate some borrowed quantities. Then Mr. Gatzes gave him the idea to ask Mrs. Kamari, whom he called, simply getting a negative answer a week later, without any problems.

Mr. Zarifis also stated that regarding the issue of water, he asked the Forester if she could open some sources for the dogs, but he received the answer that the water is not drinkable neither for animals nor for humans.

He even proposed to make available water carriers of the municipality at a specific point from which the water would be distributed to the various points, but this solution was not qualified by the animal welfare as a practice and at the same time it did not solve the problem with the staff that had to deal with it.

“Nothing else can be done on the part of the municipality at the moment. It is not our “area of ​​responsibility” because it is in Sheikh Shu’s forest. The dogs in Sheikh Shu have not been left to their fate by the municipality. The municipality has done a lot of work with strays and continues to do so. No one can blame us. And the law is specific. The municipality is obliged to have the infrastructure, the feeders, etc. It doesn’t say anywhere that it goes itself and feeds and waters, especially in such an area,” the deputy mayor points out.

What the mayor has said, in the next few days that is to get employees, to be able to have 2 people go up. He told me the next 10-15 days.

S. Danielidis: We hope to find an employee by the end of July

For his part, the mayor of Neapolis Sykeon, Simos Danielidis, speaking to GRTimes, said that the appropriate actions have already been taken to replace the employees through the 55-67 program.

“I hope that DYPA will respond and by the end of July we will be ready to allocate at least one person to give the food to the dogs. I hope by the end of the month, it doesn’t depend on us” he said characteristically.