AHEAD OF the 2004 Olympic Games, to be held the Greek capital Athens, the authorites are to sterilise 10,000 dogs. The £1.25million project is an attempt to halt the steady growth of dog packs in the city.

The mayor of Athens Dora Bakoyanni said that the sight of the dogs was an insult to the Greeks ‘as a civilised people’. The government in Greece is picking up part of the bill for the scheme in which dogs will be rounded up, sterilised and released.

But dog lovers in the country have criticised the scheme saying the authorities have been operating a culling policy and that more than 3,000 dogs have been destroyed in recent months.