Reports of animal abuse on the rise

Following two highly publicized cases of animal abuse last week, rights groups say that the number of cases being reported is constantly on the rise.

According to available police data, 1,900 complaints were filed in January-September 2017 compared to 1,307 for the entirety of 2015 and just 809 in 2004. Of those 1,900 complaints, 938 led to a criminal investigation and 157 suspects were arrested.

“We don’t know if this increase is the result of heightened public awareness or whether violence against animals is on the rise,” the head of the Greek Animal Welfare Society (PFO), Irini Molfesi, admits. “The only thing that we do know is that there are too many cases, which points to problems on many different levels of society.”