Zero Stray Pawject Inc

🌆 This week, Zero Stray Pawject joined ICAM (International Companion Animal Management Coalition), Battersea, Dogs Trust, Four Paws, Soi Dogs and the SPCA Cape Town, at the World Urban Forum 12 #WUR12 in Cairo Egypt, hosted by UN HABITAT to discuss how humane dog and cat population management reshapes #urban #cities and makes them more #safe and #healthy. 🗣️ Zero Stray Pawject’s Co-Founder & CEO Silja Schiller-Moumtzidis was invited to speak about our #stray #prevention work as a global best practice: ✅ Our work through Zero Stray Academy, providing education to #municipalities, #government, the #police and the #judicial in order to change mindset, drive behavior change and promote and enforce #responsible #pet #ownership. ✅ Followed by our implementation, with our account managers working hand in hand with municipalities while funding #subsidized #microchipping, #neutering and promoting #DNA as alternative to neutering of owned pets.. all to INTERVENE BEFORE A PET ENDS UP STRAY or HOMELESS, which represents a paradigm shift. With the wonderful help of our funding partner Battersea 🫶. 👥 We presented alongside an excellent #panel of speakers from Cape Town including the Mayoral Committee member of the municipality of #CapeTown and Chief Executive Officer of the #SPCA, #SoiDogs from #Bangkok, and the counselor of the animal welfare department of the Ilfov municipality in #Romania, moderated by Dr Elly Hiby. ‼️ The event was attended by 5 #heads of #state, 182 #nations, over 300 #mayors including the mayors of Moscow, Madrid, and Kuala Lumpur and 20,000 in-person attendees in total. UN Secretary General Guterrez spoke as well. 💦 🏘️ For the first time, ever, the topic of dog and cat population management was part of the WUF agenda, alongside the 17 Sustainable Development Goals #sdg2030, including #poverty, #affordablehousing, #safety for women & children, #cleanwater and more. 😢 Strays pose a #public #health and #safety risk in communities with a large amount of strays. But sadly, all too often, rather than a focus on systematic stray prevention, responsible pet ownership and stray management, municipalities opt for culling. But culling has been proven not to work as it does not tackle the root-cause of strays. It’s also not economically viable. 💡 Our discussion helped to shed light on more efficient and economical viable ways forward. ☑️ Many country representatives came up to us afterwards to #exchange #ideas how they can implement our best practices and shift their focus towards prevention which makes us immensely proud to inspire other countries to follow our model. 📌 ICAM launched the #PositiveCityPledge to inspire more municipalities, which we endorse. #change #zerostraypawject World Urban Forum World Urban Forum 12 Egypt UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme)

🌆 Why are strays a key issue to solve for cities and local governments? ‼️ Because reducing the number of stray dogs and cats sustainably and systematically means better Public Health, better Public Safety, more Tourism, a better local Economy and better Quality of Life for people and pets. ❓But how to solve it? 📌 Join us on Wednesday, Nov 6th at 1pm Eastern European Time at the World Urban Forum UN HABITAT in Cairo, Egypt at the Multipurpose Room 3 to hear about success stories and a path forward. UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme) World Urban Forum 12 Egypt #zerostray #government #publicpolicy #zerostraypawject

🐕🐈 On World Animal Day, a group of scientists, veterinarians, animal welfare and experts are all coming together to discuss the subject of ‘DNA and companion animals: Greece 2030" at the auditorium of the Medical Biological Research Institute of the Academy of Athens (IIBEAA) from 3:00-6:00pm (Athens time).

🐈🐕 For World Animal Day, Zero Stray Pawject proudly organizes the seminar "DNA and companion animals: Greece 2030" on Friday, October 4, 2024 at the auditorium of the Medical Biological Research Institute of the Academy of Athens (IIBEAA) from 3:00-6:00pm (Athens time). 🧨 There are certain misconceptions about DNA and how it is used to encourage neutering and reducing high birth rates to bring down the unwanted overproduction of pets that end up stray. 🫶 Greece is paving the way internationally by ensuring all pet owners either neuter their dogs and cats, or provide a DNA sample so that puppies and kittens can be traced back to their owners.  DNA samples are taken by a simple blood sample taken by a local veterinarian who then sends it to the National Lab for Companion Animal Genetic Material.  The genetic material is decoded (420 markers) and the results are stored digitally. If a puppy or kitten is found abandoned, these digital records can be used to match with the DNA of the abandoned animal. 👮♂ Abandonment of puppies and kittens is a felony in Greece since 2021. 🗣 The objective of this event is to explain DNA and its use for: (a) the protection of companion animals from abandonment, and (b) the increase in the percentage of neutered pets.  The National Lab for Companion Animal Genetic Material has already helped to uncover criminal activity against animals in Greece. 👀 We often hear that DNA would ‘punish’ responsible pet owners who microchip their dogs and cats. That is a misconception: ✅ While it is important to regulate illegal breeders, the high number of births among dogs and cats in Greece is NOT predominantly caused by illegal breeders, but instead by the average, otherwise responsible, pet owner who underestimates a dog’s ability to escape from a contained environment to procreate.  For cats, unwanted breeding is even higher as most owners do not ‘own’ their cats.   ⚠ Over the course of our work over the past 7 years, we have heard hundreds of stories from pet owners who truly love their pets, microchip, register but end up with unwanted litter because they either cannot afford (the law now mandates free neutering for financially challenged groups), or don't understand the importance of neutering. 📣 As a result, for 7 years we have driven campaigns to raise public awareness in collaboration with municipalities. 🎓 Distinguished scientists of the Academy of Athens will present their latest research in DNA analysis, explaining how genetic identification can contribute to the protection of companion animals and discuss the perspectives that open up for the reduction of stray animals in Greece by 2030, utilizing genetic science. 🧍♂🧍♀ The event is addressed to scientists, animal welfare but also to the public interested in the protection of animals. 🙏 Entrance is free. For more information please contact our organization. #publicpolicy #publichealth #DNA #science #endpethomelessness #change

📣 Our team is growing. 📉 We are looking for an experienced Account Manager working with a portfolio of ~30 municipalities in the Attica region, Greece 🇬🇷, to improve public health, public safety and quality of life for pets and people by helping municipalities to end pet homelessness in their constituency. 🎓 Each municipality has undergone an intensive training course through Zero Stray Academy. 🎯 The role will provide the support needed as well as influence key stakeholders within each municipality to implement a 3-year strategic and operational plan to reduce the number of strays significantly and sustainably while improving quality of life for pets and people. 📌 This is a remote paid job which is currently limited until October 2025 but with the possibility to continue if the candidate is successful. 💪 If you are a self-starter, highly driven, an excellent communicator, highly persuasive and can easily influence key stakeholders in local municipalities, have a passion for pets & people and want to be part of a winning team to change Greece, please contact us on  labrini@zerostraypawject.org 🖥️ Read more about this job here: https://lnkd.in/eYVsvDW7 #publicpolicy #publichealth #animalwelfare #municipalities #persuasion #changemagement

Sharing #knowledge, listening and #learning from each other is important to end #pet #homelessness and reach zero #strays in countries where there is a supply-demand mismatch of #companion #animals. Zero Stray Pawject Inc was invited by Humane Society International to present our work how we collaborate with #municipalities, the #police and #judicial to reduce the number of strays to an audience of #government officials, #animalwelfare, #veterinarians from around the world and animal lovers at #animalcareexpo organized by HSUS in San Antonio, Texas this week. Our co-founder Silja Schiller-Moumtzidis presented for 75 minutes our journey and a step by step guide to an engaged audience. Government #collaboration is crucial in reaching our goal. State representatives from around the #world asked questions and there was productive #dialogue how collaboration can be fostered. Animal Care Expo saw 2500 attendees last year. We hope our #presentation inspires others to follow down the path of focusing on #prevention and responsible pet ownership to intervene BEFORE a pet ends up #homeless, stray or #surrendered and ultimately reduce the number of stray #dogs and #cats sustainably and systematically to improve welfare of pets and quality of life for people. The presentation is recorded and can be viewed through the animal care expo portal. #policy #pets #zerostraypawject #responsiblepetownership #responsiblepetowner #communityengagement

Our co-founder and CEO was recently interviewed about how she started Zero Stray Pawject Inc Silja Schiller-Moumtzidis

Last weekend, we reached a #milestone. In the presence of the #President of the #SupremeCourt Ioanna Klapas-Christodouleas, the #Prosecutor of the Supreme Court Georgia Adeilini, the Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court Anastasia Masoura and under the auspice of the President of the Republic of #Greece Katerina Sakerallaropoulou, #judges, #prosecutors, specialized #lawyers, forensic #veterinarians and other judicial officials attended the two-day seminar explaining the link between ANIMAL ABUSE and DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, CHILD ABUSE, ORGANIZED CRIME and TERRORISM. The seminar was organized by Zero Stray Pawject Inc and solely funded by Battersea and Zero Stray Pawject. The seminar was moderated by the journalist Ioanna Mandrou. Esteemed #subjectmatterexperts from around the #world shared #knowledge and best practices and pointed out that abuse has many faces and ALMOST EVERY case of animal abuse is related to either domestic violence, sexual abuse or even organized crime and terrorism with real life cases from the USA, UK and Greece. The esteemed speakers showed graphic pictures and gruesome case studies what has happened in the past to human beings when animal abuse was NOT prosecuted. #scientists laid out scientific evidence of a young child’s brain that was exposed to animal abuse and how the mental development gets negatively impacted, explaining why children should NEVER be exposed to animal abuse. Dr. Dimitrios Thanos, President of the Scientific Council of the Medical Biological Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (IIVEAA), showed how the newly established DNA laboratory can be used and how its results are indisputable evidence in a court of law. Unfortunately, Greece has a history of extreme animal abuse. Past incidents of animal abuse were rarely prosecuted as the law mandates and the perpetrators were "often let go free" with the argument made by judges that "this is how animals are treated in our country". The seminar highlighted how prosecuting animal abuse can prevent serious harm on human beings and build a safer place for all of us. This is only the beginning! We received so much positive feedback that we are planning more of these seminars and further education classes collaborating with judges and prosecutors in Greece for drive systematic and sustainable change. Theo Moumtzidis Silja Schiller-Moumtzidis Stamatina Stamatakou Labrini Vergou Hekeanna Tzitzi #animalabuse #SupremeCourt #OrganizedCrime #domesticviolenceprevention #judiciary #prosecutor #judge #zerostraypawject #prevention

Why should #society care about animal abuse? 🧍 Animal abusers are 5x more likely to harm humans. 👧🏼 9 out of 10 #child abusers started harming animals first. 🔪 Almost 1 out of 2 mass murderers have a history of animal abuse. 👩 1 out of 2 rapists and 1 out of 4 pedophiles have a history of harming animals first. The list goes on... 📌 Zero Stray Pawject organized our first 2-day seminar to raise #awareness and #educate #judges and #prosecutors in #Greece about the link between #animalabuse and harm to human beings. 🧑🎓 The seminar is under the auspice of the #President of the Republic of Greece Katerina Sakerallaropoulou, with the assistance of the #SupremeCourt, the Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court and with the participation of the Special Secretariat for the Protection of Companion Animals of the Ministry of Interior to share and discuss best practices, exclusively aimed at judges and prosecutors regarding the current legislative framework for animal protection and to understand the link of animal abuse with DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, CHILD ABUSE, ORGANIZED CRIME and TERRORISM. 🐕🐈 Animal abuse is the first indication that something is broken in society. 🦾 Greece is one of the few countries that made torturing and killing an animal a #felony. Raising awareness of the importance of prosecuting active or even passive animal abuse protects our society and makes the lives of our #children safer! A desire we all share! 🇬🇷 Greece has an estimated 3m homeless #pets and one of the highest number of animal abuse cases in the world. #Change is desperately needed! 🧑🏫 More than 13 #lecturers from both Greece, the USA and the UK will share their knowledge, including Michelle WELCH, Senior Assistant Attorney General and Director of the Animal Law Unit at Virginia Attorney General's Office, Mark RANDELL, specialist in crimes against animals within society, Nicole BLUMBERG, Chief of the Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Bureau at New York County District Attorney’s Office, and many more. 📍 The two-day seminar will take place on the weekend of May 11 and 12, 2024 in #Athens. The judicial journalist Ioanna Mandrou, the most well-known and respected journalists in the judicial of Greece is kindly helping to coordinate the event. 🐾 the seminar is exclusively sponsored by Zero Stray Pawject and Battersea, a leading animal welfare charity in the UK. #publicsafety #safety #judicial #advocacy #zerostraypawject Theo Moumtzidis Silja Schiller-Moumtzidis Stamatina Stamatakou Labrini Vergou Heleanna Tzitzi, Nicole Blumberg , Michelle Welch, Mark Randell Sofia Tzoniki Marsha Dimopoulou

Kick off meeting with our team on January 2 in Athens to plan for the year of 2024. 💪🐶🐱 🫶 Lots of new programs are planned, including: ✅ revamping our 5-week intensive Zero Stray Training for municipalities towards a starker focus on stray prevention (away from stray management). ✅ offering 100,000 EUR for microchip subsidy programs in collaboration with select graduating municipalities and local vets across 10 regions to promote microchipping and registering an additional 10,000 owned pets. Programs started in Salamina, Istaia, Mitilini, Sparta and Oreokastro. With the newly established National Pet Registry EMZS, and the, in 2021 legislated DNA requirement and its enforcement in 2024, we want to ensure as many pet owners microchip and register their pet to reduce abandonment and irresponsible breeding from the average pet owner causing an overpopulation of unwanted puppies and kitten. ✅ more advanced trainings, similarly to what we started in 2023 to provide intensive shelter training, stray management, dog and cat catching to municipalities, training for teachers as education of the next generation is tjr backbone of change management and much more. ✅ more advanced training courses for the Hellenic Police - in 2023 we trained 1 police officer of EVERY police station across Greece. In total 446 officers were trained by our team of how to deal with the mandatory requirements of enforcing the companion animal welfare legislation (ie mandatory microchip controls) and how to respond to animal abuse swiftly. ✅ training and collaboration of the judicial (prosecutors and judges) in collaboration with the Supreme Court of Greece. ✅ additional neutering subsidy programs. And much more. 🙏 And our team is growing. We will soon add 2 more account managers to our team working with municipalities post graduation to ensure municipalities are able to implement the learnings and drive real change. Watch this space. All thanks to the generous partnership and funding through Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. We couldn’t do it without such an amazing partner on our side. To zero stray and homeless dogs and cats in Greece and systematic and sustainable change in animal welfare, public health and linked to tourism and a flourishing economy through less strays and better public safety. Happy new 2024 PS: Caprice (our founders’ dog) is what started Zero Stray Pawject and Zero Stray Academy in 2016. And he is always part of every Team Meeting, making sure our team stays on track ! 🐕🙏❤️ Stamatina Stamatakou Silja Schiller-Moumtzidis Theo Moumtzidis Pantelis Kosmidis Labrini Vergou Heleanna Tzitzi Spiros Romanos ** special guest: Caprice #publichealth #municipalities #changemanagement #endpethomelessness #pets #greece #police #judicial #academy #implementation #sustainablechange