During Storm Byron in December 2025, Greece watched as entire neighborhoods flooded overnight. But while the News focused on road closures and property damage, ordinary citizens started posting videos of something the cameras didn’t show: stray animals discovered lifeless after the water pulled back.

These were not isolated moments. They exposed a painful truth: Greece has no emergency plan for animals. Not for strays. Not for shelter animals. Not even for pets caught inside disaster zones. When nature strikes, animals disappear silently -uncounted, unprotected, and unacknowledged.

And Byron is only one example of a much bigger problem.

Every summer, wildfires scorch Greece. Homes burn, forests fall, and once again animals pay the price. Rescuers repeatedly report burned dogs found near villages, cats with scorched paws wandering ruins, donkeys and livestock left behind during evacuations, wildlife collapsing from smoke. Yet there is still no coordinated state rescue system for them.

But the truth is even harsher: Disasters don’t create Greece’s animal crisis -they simply expose it.

Every single day, suffering continues in silence.
Greece has one of the largest stray populations in Europe. And because municipalities fail to sterilize consistently, female cats and dogs are forced into pregnancy after pregnancy, giving birth alone on sidewalks, in construction sites, or under abandoned cars. Most of their babies never survive.

Meanwhile, shelters are at breaking point. Some are so overcrowded, that animals must be turned away. Others lack veterinary support, trained staff, or even safe buildings capable of withstanding storms or heatwaves. Volunteers -not the State- keep the system from collapsing entirely, but they cannot win a battle this big on their own.

This isn’t a niche issue. This is a national crisis of responsibility, made visible every time a video goes viral of an animal drowning, burning, starving, or giving birth alone in the cold.

 
We are asking for something simple: a humane, modern system that actually works.
We call on the Government of Greece and all municipalities to implement a National Action Plan for Animal Protection, including:

Disaster-response protocols for animals during floods, fires, storms, and heatwaves, with evacuation procedures, emergency shelters, and trained rescue teams.
Significant structural support for animal shelters so they can operate safely, humanely, and with the veterinary resources they need.
A nationwide, government-funded sterilization program to humanely reduce the stray population and end the cycle of suffering.
Mobile veterinary and rescue units for rural areas, islands, and regions hit hardest by disasters.
Strict enforcement of animal-protection laws against poisoning, abandonment, abuse, and municipal negligence.
Genuine collaboration with rescuers, who currently carry the burden of a crisis they did not create.
 
Why this matters now:
The animals seen in citizens’ videos during Byron will never be counted in any official report.
The animals lost in summer fires will never appear in statistics.
The mothers giving birth on our streets tonight will never get help unless we demand it.

But their suffering is real -and preventable.

Greece cannot continue ignoring the animals that live among us. We cannot call ourselves compassionate while letting them drown, burn, starve, or struggle through pregnancies alone. A truly modern country protects all lives, especially those with no voice.

Sign this petition if you believe Greece must finally act -not after the next disaster, but now.
They cry for help every day.
It is time for Greece to finally answer.