An incredible complaint has come to light and it concerns an equine exploitation business in Aigios, in the Eleonas area.
According to the complaint, the woman who was running the business in question was making money from activities related to horses, but still the animals are placed in squalid conditions and are poorly cared for.
The cause was the death of a horse on Sunday. Despite the efforts made by the equestrian association, as well as the neighbors of the center, the horse did not survive.
Thus, it is alleged that the woman maintains facilities where horses, donkeys and other animals live, which are clearly malnourished, even though the facilities are not suitable for housing animals, let alone horses, which require special care.
According to a report by MEGA journalist Virginia Pisimisis, there are 2 horses in these stables, and the third one died on Sunday, along with 2-3 other donkeys. No one even knows the exact number, because the area is very large.
As the journalist mentioned, the woman who owns the horses founded a company – and it is not known if it is still active -, and it carried out activities until at least 2022.
In particular, posts were posted on social media for participation in activities at a cost of 10 euros for the creative program for children and 5 euros if they want to use the horses to ride the facilities.
The District was even asked if the permission was there. The Region responded that there appears to be no licensing for the particular facilities.
Residents of the area have apparently been aware of the location for years and have acted accordingly, often questioning the Region about the legality of the site and the activities listed in the post.
The prosecutor intervened after the horse died on Sunday.
“This horse had a slow and tortured death” – Women’s horror complaint about equine living conditions
Ms. Mirela one of the complaints that spoke to MEGA.
“I have a family estate in the area, I go back and forth to Athens. On the 3rd day of Holy Spirit I went down to the area with a friend to supervise some grass cutting work, because of the fires I wanted to be formal about. Going out of those stables, I found, as I was speeding down that road, that the animals were in a miserable condition. The white animal that ended up a skeleton and limping,” he said at first.
And Mrs. Mirela continued: “I got out of the car, I wasn’t alone, I had a friend, and we saw there that the other horse, the brown horse, was also overweight, one donkey was clipping , and the white horse was in a terrible condition. That day I did not find anyone in the area who could talk to him and see what was going on. I did not find anyone from the neighborhood until God night Sunday and then left. The night we went to Diakopto for food, it was completely deserted. I don’t know if the place had electricity in the dark, it didn’t look like there was a running business that looked after the animals.”
The complainant then said:
“A week later it’s the white horse that the neighbors called me, and they told me that the horse has fallen, it’s gone. I did, and they took action on their part, they called the police. I also called the number given by the police for these cases, 10410, to report the incident. I reported it anonymously so that the problem of anonymous reporting would not be a problem and the problem would not be taken care of.”
“I don’t know anyone from there, we are not related by descent, we bought a property. I don’t know the people there but I had known that this woman had the status of a lawyer and that she deals with the public as well. Despite the fact that the police came and I spoke on the phone to a policeman, who also gave me his information, the horse confirmed to me that the conditions prevailing there are inhumane.”
“He told me that people are ashamed of what he sees. The process was started despite the fact that the patrol car was too late to arrive. This horse remained without water for two hours 24, lying on the ground. This animal died a slow and tortured death and if this is called abuse and neglect, what is it?”, added Ms Mirela.
“A similar incident happened again in 2021” – What the vice-president of the Hellenic Association for the Protection of Horses said
The vice-president of the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Horses, Thanasis Heliotis, spoke to “Society Hour MEGA” about the incident.
“I don’t know if the place is illegal, but it seems from the documents. I know that since 2021, we had a call again from neighbors in the same way, where there was a brown animal with certain characteristics, down on the ground and died in the same way, without help. There was a complete cover, and the animal was simply buried and “forgotten” history. The whole system probably did the cover up, I don’t know 100%. The case has not yet been heard. These affairs are usually regulated by the Veterinary Service of each Region”, he later noted”
“I’m impressed that the police went there and the policeman told the woman that it’s clear there’s abuse here. What happened next; Was there a case file for this? Did a vet call to check things?”, said Mr. Kalliakmanis, honorary president of SE Attica police officers.
“Since Friday evening, I have been in constant communication with the AT to find the owner and convince her to go to the site and see what she will do, and before the animal dies. Finally, nothing happened until late at night. The next day, from what I learned from the AT, she went to the AT and presented herself, she went through the self-incrimination process but because of her discharge status, she’s a lawyer – and according to information she works. in the Municipality of Aegialia. The Region went, we don’t know when but on Saturday it went. On Saturday or Sunday night, the animal died on its own, without receiving any medical treatment”, Mr. Heliotis said then.
And he added: “We have requested the prosecutor to remove the animals. The issue is that we had applied for a necropsy where the AT Aigiou informed us on Sunday morning to go to the area and participate with the Region in the necropsy, that the animal be buried or cremated . We went to the area at 13.30 and they were already buried. The District performed an autopsy without waiting for us. The head of AT Aigiou, Mr. Rodopoulos, informed us on Sunday morning to go to the scene to do the autopsy, which never happened.”