Questioning Our Morality

While Thessaly faces an outbreak of sheep and goat plague, along with insufficient inspections and understaffed veterinary services — as public sector veterinarians themselves point out — a shocking new incident reminds us that our failure to protect animals reflects a deeper failure to uphold the very foundations of ethics and human decency. Even when, in this case, "protection" refers to a quick and as painless as possible death.**

Anyone who glances at today’s headlines will be confronted with titles like:
“Public health at risk: Infected animals buried alive,”
“Plague in goats and sheep: Veterinarian accused of burying animals alive,”
“Shock in Trikala: Sick animals buried alive – Public health in danger,”
“Veterinary official dismissed – Allegations of live burial of diseased animals,”
“Plague alert in Trikala: Infected animals buried alive – Public health warning”…
And many more in the same tone.

Reading these reports, you genuinely don’t know where to begin: With the legal implications? The public health threat?
The ethical horror?

None of this is accidental. Behind this incident lies our own negligence, systemic failure, and apathy.

Yes, the abuse and illegal treatment of animals in Greece is a serious issue that never goes out of relevance.
Burying live animals is illegal. It violates animal welfare laws and constitutes a criminal offense.
And yet, it happened: sick sheep and goats suffering from plague were buried **alive** on a farm in Trikala. None of the legally mandated procedures were followed.

This unlawful act — *while the animals were still alive, let’s emphasize* — is not just a matter of cruelty against animals. It poses a severe risk to **public health**.
Decomposing animal bodies can contaminate soil and water, spreading disease.
The lack of oversight amplifies the threat of outbreaks.

But the ethical dimension cuts even deeper.

To bury animals alive is morally unacceptable and indefensible, no matter how you look at it.

The suffering and fear inflicted are immense.
These animals feel pain. They feel fear. They are fully conscious of what is happening.
They endure agonizing terror until their final breath.

Such unjustifiable violence and mistreatment reveal a chilling absence of ethical restraint.
To bury a living being alive is to demonstrate complete disregard for its life and suffering.

And perhaps the most disturbing part of all:
**A society that tolerates or permits such acts reveals a deep erosion of its humanity and values.**

The Trikala case highlights the urgent need for stricter controls and serious consequences for such actions.
But above all, it serves as a warning about the path we’re heading down as a society,about what we’re willing to tolerate,
and how much we’re letting go unchallenged…

Because if we stop being shocked,if we become numb,then we are not simply failing the animals... we are watching life itself pass us by.