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Greek dog attack: Family 'looked death in the face' on mountain

Family picture The father and three children on a beachFamily picture
The attack happened as the family visited a tourist spot in the Greek mountains

A family has described the horror of being attacked by a pack of wild dogs on a mountain trail while on holiday in Greece.

Greek national Stamatis, 52, his son Danny, nephew Teddy and niece Roxy, had gone to see a dormant volcano to the west of Athens on 13 August.

As the family, from Tenterden in Kent, followed a signposted footpath, the dogs appeared and attacked.

They suffered multiple injuries and Stamatis said he feared they would die.

"I knew that if I quit [fighting], the life of the kids, that would be the end," he told the BBC.

Roxy's mother, Suzie, said: "They looked death in the face, all of them. They all thought they were going to die."

Roxy added: "I felt scared and I still feel scared."

Family picture The father in a hospital bed with bandages onFamily picture
Stamatis suffered multiple injuries and feared they would all die in the attack

Stamatis was bitten multiple times as he tried to protect the children. He lost part of his ear and following nerve damage has lost the use of his left hand.

Meanwhile, two of the children were badly bitten on their legs.

Stamatis said: "I am feeling happy that I am still alive - it could have been so much worse."

However he described the problem of stray dogs as "like a pandemic in Greece" and said something needed to be done.

A sign to the Sousaki volcano
The family said they were attacked on a signposted route to the volcano

Diane Chapman, of Greek Animal Rescue, said there was a "massive problem" with stray dogs in Greece and that the country had "some really good laws" but they were not being implemented by the authorities.

"They don't believe in sterilising, nobody euthanises, and most shelters are awful - dogs starving, dying of diseases," she said.

Meanwhile, the family fear that as the site they were visiting was a tourist destination others remain at risk.

Suzie said: "The dogs that attacked my family are still up in Mount Souzaki today. We don't want anyone to die.

"If that means taking them to a shelter or a home, just get the death trap off the mountains."

The BBC contacted various Greek authorities to discuss the issue but has not received a response.

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