Athens airlift for stray dogs?

Anyone who has visited the Greek capital Athens will know that many of the city’s streets are overrun with stray dogs – the country is though to have more than half a million feral canines, with more than 15,000 in Athens city centre. Now, as part of preparations for the forthcoming Olympic Games to be held in the city this summer, animal welfare groups are proposing a mass airlift of thousands of the dogs. The Guardian reports that the city has set up a hotline for people wanting to report stray dogs after 99 per cent of those living in the city said something should be done about the problem. Tourists have reportedly told of being hounded by packs of dogs as they visited Athens’ famous attractions. The newspaper reports that activists are now planning to move stray dogs to new homes around Europe, “by plane, train, truck and bus”. Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad