To have argued with a beggar (animal abuse content)

[MinnieMoose]

Was I being unreasonable to have an argument with a street beggar?

We were on holiday to Rhodes and visited Rhodes old town one evening with the children.

I had read a campaign in our hotel lobby from a local animal welfare charity, that was informing tourists not to give money to beggars with puppies. As they are taken from their mothers too early and are drugged to keep them quiet, all to gain sympathy for money.

They work as gangs and once the puppies have served their purpose they are killed, they are given no water and left with the beggar in the heat for long periods of time - not to mention the drugs they are given to keep them sleepy.

I was distressed to read this and we encountered a street beggar almost immediately on our evening out.

She was only a young girl (13 at a guess) and had a tiny black pup, asleep next to her.

I couldn't help but feel outraged, should I have turned my head and walked on?

I asked her where the pup's mother was, where was it's water/milk/food? How come the pup was fast asleep and couldn't be roused?

She looked at me blankly, so I informed the tourists around us not to give her any money and suddenly she understands english and begins swearing at me and giving me hand gestures of the "fuck off" variety.

Well then I saw red and an argument followed with lots of swearing and shouting, I am ashamed of myself but as an animal lover I couldn't contain myself.

We informed a policeman and she ran with the poor puppy under her arm.

My husband had taken the children away from the situation before it became heated, but was annoyed with me for causing a scene.

So was I being unreasonable?

She has a voice does she?

Console yourself with that if you like but you are deluded if you believe that. She is probably living in fear.

Hmm - considering the Greek economy is in dire straits I'd imagine that children's services are running on empty

What a mad world we live in if adults are more concerned about puppies than children who need to beg.

OP your actions were heartless and horrid.

How exactly do,you think a vulnerable and abused 13 year old is going to "use her voice"? She's not in a nice middle class area of the UK. It is highly unlikely to work like that.

She is probably subjected to the same treatment and worse by whoever is 'in charge' of her.

Child beggars are often raised on drugs by pimps/criminal gangs and if they become too used up for pedophiles, killed or left on the street to fend for themselves also.

It's a horrible thing that this goes on, ywnbu to feel for the puppy but should definitely have had more feeling for the poor girl too.

Didn't you feel sorry for the CHILD more than the puppy?

Of course I realise her plight but she has a voice and could gain help to better her situation.

Really???? just really??? I take it you never read a paper or turn on the news and know what the economic situation is in Greece then? Lady, you have annoyed me no end this morning, normally I just think the Op is a bit melodramatic but you actually do think this girl has a choice don't you? You come across as a very stupid and uneducated woman.

Have you got a clue at all about what is happening in Greece? Children are being put into orphanages because their parents cannot afford to feed them. This girl will be too old for that. So she is on the streets, give it a year or two and she will be pimped and peddled too.

When push comes to shove this girls life is not expendable - the dog is. End of.

mignonette walking on and ignoring is far far preferable to abusing a vulnerable child

If you google child beggars in Kavos the first thing that comes up is a child Trafficking article from Wiki.
Did you consider this? This child may well not have a voice at all, she may be abused in so many ways she can't speak up for herself never mind the puppy!
I'm sorry but you contributed to the potential abuse of this girl imo.
Animal cruelty is wrong, nobody would argue otherwise, you handled it badly with no thought whatsoever for anything but the cute little puppy, totally ignoring the bigger issues.
You should be ashamed of yourself.

Oh god that poor poor girl. YABU. I wonder if she understood English? Or if some foreign woman just started screaming and shouting at her in a language she didn't understand? How terrified do you think she might have been? (mind you she's probably very streetwise which is just as sad).

How old are your own children? I'm sure they must have caught wind of something, even if your dh did take them away.

The more I think about this the crosser I am getting.

The brackets of "animal abuse content" in the title are really irritating me - its as if the abuse of the child is irrelevant. Either of the child by the gang/parents who sent her to beg or the abuse she took from the OP.

I think you are being unreasonable to get into a vicious argument with a child.

What hollyberrybush said, just that, really

Yes its horrible/sad about the puppies but you just sound vile and i hope that this thread has made you think twice about hoiking up your judgy pants and actually think about other people in future. If you cared so much about hte fucking dog, you should have gone and bought it some food, and got her something to eat and drink while you were at it

What should she do op?

Didn't you feel sorry for the CHILD more than the puppy?

I believe the parenthesised content of the thread title answers that question.

Walking on and ignoring is never better. History bears that out. OP was wrong to be aggressive towards somebody who appeared to be a child (because you can not be sure of age) but ignoring? How complacent.

How do you feel about the abuse you gave a child OP?

Mignonette your are confusing contexts - one should always help when they can but where someone cannot help and indeed intends to only make the situation worse then of course ignoring is the better option.

The OP behaved appallingly - in the circumstances of her post walking by and doing nothing would have been far better than verbally abusing a child.

In the face of inaction I'd take complacency over cruelty any day.

Yabvu she is a young girl too, and might be abused herself by these gangs, so did not have a voice herself. She is a child fgs, I would hav felt for bth o them and reported it to the Police, instead of arguing with a little girl!

What a sick woman you must be to ignore a vulnerable child and show more concern for a DOG! Yes it's sad that puppies are used in this way but more sad is that a young girl is out on the streets attracting who knows what attention and a woman like you....rich in comparison SWORE at her! I wish I had been there to sort you out.

OP read this maybe consider making a donation to a charity helping Greek children

Op you are either very naive or stupidly ignorant. This child would be subjected to worse treatment than the pup. Drugged,starved,sent out to beg in the heat day after day,and this is the best it gets for her.
Nice how your husband shielded your children from seeing you abuse a child .

Everyone has different things that they feel strongly about. The op and many others find the treatment of animals in other countries appalling. I agree it is appalling and if the person were adult then fine but still completely pointless. The gangs who do this are vile to the core and exploit every single method possible to make money and have no scruples at all. Unfortunately especially the Greek Islands have fallen victim to these gangs, mainly from Eastern Europe and the government do little to control it. Tourism has all but collapsed apart from the binge drinking type places and no money is available to invest. In Athens, people are starving, people have lost everything. I don't agree with the ops attitude but we all have things that affect us personally and hope that maybe a thread like this could raise awareness of the horrific trafficking and abuse that is largely invisible. Then, maybe the animal lovers can deal with the problems left behind.