For a second year in a row and despite strong reactions the mayor of Volos placed live animals in two Christmas mangers in central squares of the city in central Greece. The action triggered an outrage among animal welfare societies whom the mayor cursed as “curs who need a psychiatrist.”
A few sheep and a pony have been placed in the two squares of Volos, Agios Nikolaos and Rigas Feraios, for the children to have delight, mayor Achilleas Mpeos claimed to criticism.
Animal welfare societies and the association of veterinarians in Magnisia Prefecture have requested the prosecutor’s intervention, speaking of “exploitation and cruel treatment of animals.”
“We consider that there is an incident of passive abuse of animals, so we are talking about a felony and the competent authorities must act ex officio,” the president of the Volos Veterinary Association, Pavlos Stamatopoulos told state broadcaster ERT.
The issue was also discussed in Volos municipal council on Thursday, with member Apostolos Rizopoulos saying: “We disagree with the presence of live animals in the manger. Residents complain about the smell. We estimate that live animals are replaced by dummies. Animals are not in their natural environment.”
At this point, Mpeos intervened asking what is the natural environment of sheep and launching a vulgar attack against the critics, something the choleric mayor loves to do and thus without any consequences whatsoever.
“In the barn huh? There it is. The shepherd goes to the stable every two days and we have a worker and a veterinarian morning, noon and night. So we name the manger to barn, Mpeos said claiming he granted the area in Agios Nikolaos to a shepherd who turned it to a stable and no one can do anything against us,” he claimed.
“We are talking about madness. Curs! Get a psychiatrist quick. Going crazy. Aren’t you a little embarrassed? Why don’t you protest about the zoos in Athens where the animals are not in their natural environment? Go to Brussels to see. What should we explain to them now?”, the mayor said, media reported.
He has claimed that he has assigned a municipality worker to provide the live animals in the manger with feed and water and keep the area clean twice a day.
Last year the prosecutor of the First Instance of Volos had ordered an urgent preliminary examination to be carried out after animal welfare organizations complained of animal abuse in the two mangers set up in the two squares.
PS We suspect the investigation run into sand as in many cases not only in Volos….