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27.04.2015

WE MADE IT: The wolves and the bears are being removed from Thessaloniki’s Zoo

After a struggle that lasted several years, Arcturus’ efforts as well as the struggles of civil society which with thirty thousand signatures demanded the removal of the wolves and bears from Thessaloniki’s zoo, were all vindicated!

The City Council of Thessaloniki had a meeting on Friday, 24th of April and decided to accept the suggestion of the Deputy Mayor of Technical Works, Environment and Cleanliness about the conversion of the Zoo into a park for domestic animals and the removal of the two wolves and the two bears to the model Sanctuaries of Arcturus in Agrapidies and Nimfeo, respectively.

The four wild animals, after several years of captivity in Thessaloniki’s Zoo, will be removed to Arcturus Sanctuaries where they will live the rest of their lives in a place which constitutes a natural habitat of wolves and bears.

The removal of the animals will happen in collaboration with the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki on Friday 5th of June, a day which has been introduced as the World Day of Environment.

Since 2011, Arcturus, in collaboration with the organizations ANIMA, Action for Wild Life, Greek Herpetological Society and Greek Ornithological Society as well as with the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, had demonstrated the serious problems which the animals of Thessaloniki’s Zoo faced. Additionally, the three-year research for the Zoos of European Union which was conducted by the Pan-European Network of Organizations for the Elimination of Wild Animals’ Captivity (ENDCAP) in collaboration with Arcturus, which materialized the research in Greece, proved that zoos in our country as in almost all of the countries in Europe, fail to secure a sustainable environment for the wild animals they host.

The removal of wild animals from Thessaloniki’s Zoo is yet another important victory of the civil society who massively supported the request of Arcturus by co-signing the relevant appeal.

With the belief that wild animals belong to their natural environment and not in human facilities, Arcturus works intensively for Greece to have free animals and real wild life.
For more information: Panos Stefanou, (communication responsible) 6946001618

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