ATHEN, Greece - Hundreds of cats
are loose on the streets, and food is running low for some residents of Athens'
zoo. It isn't just humans who are suffering as Greece tries to claw its way out
of economic crisis.
"I'll have to call the bank
again," sighed Jean-Jacques Lesueur, the founder of Athens' only zoo.
The Frenchman had been trying for
days to place a 6,000 euro ($6,600) order of frozen fish for the zoo's six
dolphins. Without fresh supplies from abroad, he feared he would have to put
them on a diet.
Normally the order would be
simple enough, but Greece imposed strict capital controls on June 29 as
panicked account holders began emptying the nation's banks.
The measures have stopped the
flight of cash from the debt-crippled country but in doing so have made life
extremely difficult for Greek firms that do business abroad.
All bill payments to foreign
countries must be approved by a government commission, a process that is
proving so slow that distrustful suppliers are now asking Greek firms to pay in
advance.
Lesueur, who is in his seventies,
finally managed to get the dolphin food payment approved late Thursday. But he's still unable to pay for a shipment of meal worms, beloved of the zoo's two giant anteaters, and nutritional supplements for the rhinos.
The zoo feeds most of its animals with local meat and vegetables, but it also spends some 80,000 euros (S$120,000) a year.
The
zoo feeds most of its animals with local meat and vegetables, but it
also spends some 80,000 euros (S$120,000) a year on imported food for
its more fussy residents. - See more at:
http://news.asiaone.com/news/world/cats-rhinos-greek-crisis-takes-toll-animals#sthash.VxLVdW5m.dpuf
Source: AFP(yahoo)
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