Several hundred dog owners and their pets have gathered outside Greece’s Parliament in protest against a draft law that will make sterilisation of household pets mandatory.

The dog owners railed against the Bill’s “abolition of amateur breeding, the backbone of dog loving”, as they called it in a statement.

Most of them were also hunters and protested against last year’s ban on hunting due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Government officials have said the Bill does target so-called “amateur breeding” by non-specialists, who do it for the money.

They say there are often abusive practices, with female dogs forced to breed continuously for maximum profit and often discarded when of no further use to the breeder.

The protesters gathered in Syntagma Square, Athens, saw it differently and were often emotional about it.

“We are here to show our love to our children. They are not just our dogs, (they are) what we have been loving since we were kids and those who govern want to take them away from us,” a tearful Christos Xiros, one of the protesters, said.

The protesters dispersed peacefully after chanting slogans and listening to a speech.

The draft Bill is still at the consultation stage. It will then be submitted to Parliament.