TOMCAT SCRUFFY
Tomcat Scruffy and its Greek tragedy
Scruffy, a 10 year old tomcat, was euthanized on Saturday June 5th 2010 after a long time of suffering.
An animal protectionist found this tomcat on the streets of Kos about three weeks ago. For more than six months, animal protectionists had tried to lure it into a box in order to treat it, but their efforts were in vain. Its owner kept chasing it away because they didn´t want anyone to take the tomcat to a doctor.
If you think that Scruffy was finally lucky, you´re wrong. Popi Patakou, the first veterinarian our protectionsist took the tomcat to, refused to treat it because the animal protectionist who brought it there is cooperating with the Animal Care Kos.
Together with all the other veterinarians on Kos, Popi Patakou tries to prevent castration operations organised by the Animal Care Kos and German veterinarians. The second veterinarian, Helene Grigoriou, wanted to help the tomcat, but she treated the poor guy with Cortisone altough the tomcat already had massive kidney problems. His condition gradually deteriorated due to this treatment. Still the veterinarian did not hesitate to give an anaesthesia in order to take blood for a leucosis and cat aids test. The result of the test was negative, but the damages of the wrong treatment and the unnecessary anaesthesia remained.
On Friday June 4th and Saturday June 5th, Ms Winterleitner, chairwoman of the Animal Care Kos, tried in vain to have the tomcat euthanized by Yiannis Talassinos who refused to look at the animal because he is against the castration operations by the Animal Care Kos. That is why Scruffy had to endure a journey of another 100 km until he was finally euthanized by a third veterinarian.
But he had to be taken into the veterinarian´s practice by a local protectionist.
Otherwise this one would have refused to euthanize the tomcat too.
These are the vets on Kos. All of the total of four veterinarians want to prevent the castration operations of the Animal Care Kos. But none of these so-called doctors tried to help the street animals. There are about 50,000 street animals on the island. The feeding campaigns and castration operations have to be paid for and carried out by private organisations or individuals.
Scruffy’s destiny was not an individual life story- hundrets of thousands of stray animals all over Greece suffer the same fate.