A Finnish couple, tourists staying in the Chania area, contacted the local animal welfare organisation yesterday evening, to report seeing an unknown man shoot two dogs, in the village of Koufos, near to Alikianos.
The man threw both animals into a ditch after the shootings and the couple took one of them to a vet, with the help of a villager, after realising that the dog was still alive.
Sadly, on examining the poor animal and finding several, close range injuries from the bullets, which were too serious to treat, the vet decided it was necessary to put the dog to sleep, to end it’s suffering.
According to the “Friends of the Animals Association of Chania”, the assailant – a shepherd from the area – has been identified and the tourists went to the police station in Alikianos to make a formal statement and complaint.
The dogs were both taken to the public veterinary services where an autopsy was carried out and after it’s completion, the couple from Finland took both of the dogs, as it was their wish to bury them.
The police acted immediately on the report and the shepherd was arrested. He will go before a preliminary court hearing.
Despite the fact that both animals were wearing collars, nobody in the surrounding area recognised them. Neither had been fitted with a microchip and it is still not clear whether they were someone’s pets, or if they had possibly been abandoned, not long ago, nearby.
Recently, there has been an increase in the number of animal shootings, with the majority of cases that the different associations have been called to handle, being dogs suffering from shotgun wounds. Sadly, the possession and use of guns in Crete, whether legal or not, is a totally, everyday phenomenon.
