To report instances of abuse, please contact the Hydra police at 22980 52205.
What can we do as an animal welfare association if someone witnesses an act of or suspects animal abuse? Nothing, unfortunately, unless that individual files a personal written complaint with a protocol number to the competent authorities. We have neither the ability nor the authority to do it on that individual’s behalf.
Specific Instances: What to Do
I hear a dog crying in a nearby yard. What should I do?
You must first determine the cause of the crying and act accordingly. The simplest and most common reason for crying is that the dog is alone, especially if it is a puppy. So talk to and try to calm the dog. You must also inform the people who are keeping it and give them advice about how to deal with the issue: they should initially leave the dog alone only for short periods and increase the time gradually, so that the dog understands they will return. It is also important to tell them to make sure the dog does not cry (or bark) in the yard or apartment during siesta, because a disturbed neighbor can call 100, and they may be fined. This case is not abuse.
The dog may also cry if he has been tied up. In this case, you should ascertain if it is tied for too many hours at a time or even permanently. These instances are considered abuse.
A neighbor’s dog is barking on his balcony. A lady repeatedly drowns kittens and throws them in the trash. Someone shoots cats with an air gun or hangs them on a meat hook and kills them, or throws them from his balcony. Can I do something, and if so, what?
1st possibility: You go to the police and ask for the incident to be recorded in the incident book. You get a protocol number for the complaint you submitted. It would help if you also had the details of the individuals who are the subject of the complaint (i.e., the neighbor, the lady, the hunter). The police must identify/find the perpetrator, call him or her to the department, and advise the person that the incident cannot happen again. In cases of serious animal abuse, the perpetrator must be sued ex officio, something that, of course, the police will rarely do on their own.
2nd possibility: You submit an indictment to the prosecutor or a lawsuit to the police (if the perpetrator is unknown, then a suit is filed against unknown persons), so that the relevant procedure can be initiated ex officio. The individual filing the complaint must also give his or her full details, as this person will be called to testify as witnesses.
I saw emaciated dogs tied up by hunters on their property. What should I do?
This is a particularly serious abuse. You inform the prosecutor and ask him to temporarily remove the dog from the owner’s possession and hand it over to an animal welfare association or animal shelter. If there is no such group, the prosecutor will have to find the right place for dog to be fostered.
Please note: Hydra Ark has no animal shelter and therefore cannot keep animals.
In all the above cases you can act on your own or ask for the help of a lawyer. Also, depending on the severity of the incident, you can first talk to the owner and warn him that if the same situation continues, you will call the police. It is important for pet owners to know that there is legislation in this country that protects animals, and it is also important not to be indifferent when you encounter incidences of abuse and to take action without hesitation. Sometimes only by threating legal action can you motivate an indifferent owner to correct his conduct.
An unknown neighbor repeatedly puts down poison in our neighborhood. What to do?
You call the police immediately to come to the place where the corpse is still located. The police are obliged to come and file a lawsuit ex officio against unknown persons. You tell the police of any suspicions or other information. At the same time you take photos and notify the veterinary department of the prefecture to come to take the body and send it to an official toxicology laboratory in order to confirm the type of poison by the examination of the viscera. OR you make sure to get a veterinarian certificate that the animal died from poisoning.
In addition to these actions you can stick posters in the area informing the world that animal poisoning is a criminal offense and that it is punishable by law. You generally take care to make the event public in the hope that you will prevent the perpetrator from doing this again in the future. A reward can be offered for information leading to the identification of the perpetrator. You must not remain apathetic in the face of such phenomena, because the more you fail to react, the more emboldened the perpetrators become.
A friend of mine got a dog / cat but she does not care at all what to tell her?
Make sure to inform her about her legal obligations, that is, that she must take care of her pet; otherwise this constitutes abuse, which has serious consequences, from being sued to having the animal removed by order of a prosecutor.
Can abuse be reported if you have not seen the incident? For example, “A friend of mine heard that in another area a hunter killed his dogs because they chased his kids.”
A third party can make a complaint but must disclose the name of the person who told him or her, as that person will be called to testify to what he or she saw. Therefore this person must agree to testify in order for the complaint to be valid.
In Conclusion
There is no single solution. You choose either to deal with the issue or to do nothing. To deal with the issue of a particular animal legally, you have the following options:
- a) administrative removal of the animal from its owners by order of the relevant prosecutor of first instance. In order to issue such a decision, it is necessary to submit a reasoned request to the prosecutor, that is, to state in the application the facts of the animal’s life and from which, based on the lessons of common experience and logic, it follows that the animal is indeed being abused.
- b) complaint lodged with the local police department of the area against the animal’s owners. Based on this, the police automatically initiate the criminal prosecution process of the owners.
It is important that the incidents of abuse are obvious and can be easily proven, in order to avoid the risk of a countersuit against the complainant by the owners of the animal.