The father of 2-year-old Leo from Zakynthos, delivers heartbreaking statements as he cannot believe that the pitbull he rescued from the streets turned on his son. “The child looked at me, smiled, and closed his eyes,” he says with a trembling voice to MEGA and Live News. “I lost my breath… I lost sight of the child for just 30 seconds.”
The tragic incident occurred in front of the family’s 11-year-old daughter, who witnessed the dog attacking her little brother. The mother describes: “We went into the house to leave some things. I told my daughter ‘go get the child’. She came running and screaming ‘mom, the pitbull has him’. It happened in seconds. One bite and it was over.”
Timeline of the Zakynthos tragedy
Just 30 seconds were enough for the fatal incident to unfold. Everything happened before the shocked eyes of the family’s 11-year-old daughter who suddenly saw the dog grab her little brother and maul him.
“We went into the house to leave some things. I told my daughter ‘go get the child’. She went down to the small street and came back calling me, saying ‘mom, the pitbull has him’. And I said ‘what do you mean the pitbull has him?’. It happened in seconds. It bit him once and let him go. He was the happiest child. He never cried. He never complained. He was always happy,” says his mother.
Zakynthos remains shocked by the tragedy in Agios Leontas last Saturday.
Little Leo loved the animals that his parents collected at the makeshift sanctuary they had created for strays. From small ponies, piglets and geese, to even a boa constrictor they had rescued on their property. Although the family did great work in the area with stray and abused animals, it appears that the needs were constantly increasing and could no longer be properly met.
“If I thought it was dangerous, it wouldn’t be in the house,” says Leo’s mother
The dog, which was chained in the yard of the house, was one of dozens of strays they had found on the street.
“The dog was in terrible condition when we found it and we took it in to live. The child had met the dog many times and had petted it. They had played together. I have my 10-year-old son and he feeds it every day. If I thought it was dangerous for the child, the dog wouldn’t be here at the house,” says the 2-year-old’s mother.
They kept it in a fenced area away from the other dogs, but, as they say, it had never shown aggressive behavior. “We have an animal welfare organization. Someone abandoned it and they called me from the municipality. Other people called the municipality and the municipality gave my number to someone. They told me at such and such a place there’s a dog in this condition. It also had a hole in its head. And I was trying to treat it, to find it a home to go to.”
The area, as they complain, is full of hunters who abandon their dogs, as happened in the case of the pitbull. “I was telling her not to take it but my sister couldn’t bear the sight of the abused dog,” says the child’s uncle.
“I don’t know what to say. This shouldn’t have happened. She should never have taken this dog. That day we told her not to take it because we can’t help such dogs. Because they are such dogs, we can’t send them to England like we do with normal dogs.”
The family promoted dogs looking for homes through social media
Through social media, the family promoted dogs looking for homes. They had founded an NGO through which they organized adoptions both in Greece and in England, where the children’s mother is from.
At the same time, the pitbull has been in Pyrgos since Saturday to be examined by specialists and a decision to be made about its future. A committee will decide whether to euthanize the animal that caused the child’s fatal injury.
Both parents were charged with manslaughter by negligence and were released on prosecutor’s orders.
The Daily Mail also covered the tragic news with extensive reporting.
“There is no stray animal shelter in Zakynthos,” says the mayor
“We’re talking about a family that has given their life until today to save various animals from the streets, to protect stray animals that needed help. They are known to us for their animal welfare work,” says Zakynthos mayor Georgios Stasinopoulos.
“Now studies are being conducted in the municipality to create a shelter, until now there was no shelter. We are trying with veterinarians and volunteers to do this work.”
