The dogs/cats risk being hit, poisoned, or even driven into the mountains where they are left to starve. This is NO exaggeration!. If you feed dogs/cats, don't hang around, but leave while they're eating.
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In many Greek cities, walking one block without seeing a stray cat or a dog is impossible. Whether a person is eating, walking, driving, or even at the beach, you are almost guaranteed to find at least one stray animal.
Over the years, thousands of people abandoned their pets, leaving them to fend and provide for themselves. A study conducted by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki found that the number of stray dogs and cats exceeds 3 million and is heading to 4 million in the coming years.
In Greece, like much of North America, dogs are regular additions to family units. Therefore, dogs are permitted, by law, in all open, outdoor public spaces, including parks and the sidewalks, so long as you abide by the regulations.
Greece and the Greek islands are inundated with stray, abandoned and feral cats. The majority of them are born in the spring and survive through the kindness of tourists who feed them. At the end of the summer season the tourists leave, and some cats survive through the kindness of local Greeks.