The latest shocking incident involving dogs in Greece came over the weekend with the fatal mauling of a 50-year-old woman outside the northern city of Thessaloniki.
The incident comes roughly a week after intense media and social media scrutiny focused on the alleged abuse and death of a pet husky in south-central Greece, and specifically in the well-known mountain resort town of Arachova.
The unfortunate woman, a mother of two, was viciously attacked on Sunday afternoon by three large dogs outside her stand-alone residence after she exited her garden to throw away lawn debris. The trio of dogs reportedly escaped through a hole in, or under a fence at a nearby residence where they lived.
The deadly incident took place in the Neohorouda settlement, in the Oreokastro municipality outside Thessaloniki.
The 37-year-old owner of the trio of guard dogs was arrested on Monday morning. He was charged with negligent manslaughter.
As fate would have it, a gardener helping the victim at her house is deaf and did not realize that an attack was taking place, until too late. A neighbor eventually heard the woman’s screams and commotion and retrieved a shotgun, shooting into the air to scare off the attacking canines.
Athens-based Mega TV broadcast footage from the residence where the dogs lived, showing fencing all around but also a hole where authorities believe the animals escaped.
Similar attacks by domesticated and stray dogs, often roaming in packs, have repeatedly been reported in Greece over the years, including fatal attacks against children.
