A DOGFIGHT broke out in the House Agriculture Committee yesterday during discussion of a proposal tabled by DISY deputy Soteris Sampson to scrap the canine law passed a few months ago.
The spat broke out after Green deputy George Perdikis wrote a letter to the president of the House charging that members of the Agriculture Committee were trying to pass amendments to the canine law through the back door.
Sampson’s proposal came in the face of opposition to the law from the hunters’ federation.
Hunters want to scrap the £10 levy for the use of hunting dogs and the obligation of getting a death certificate from a vet in the event their animal died.
The particular provision was designed to stamp out cruelty to animals, as hunters have been known to shoot their dogs when they do not ‘perform’ up to scratch.
On top of that, hunters want a cut in the levy for dog possession: from £15 to £12 for a male dog, and to £12 from the current £25 for a bitch.
Hunters demand the same levy, £12, to be applicable for spayed bitches instead of £15.
They also want dogs to be tattooed or chipped at the age of six months instead of three, as the law provides – a provision designed to control the number of strays.
Committee chairman Christos Mavrokordatos rejected Perdikis’ charges, pointing out that their job was to examine issues raised by various groups of society as well as checking that laws were enforced.
However, Sampson’s sarcastic comment regarding a point in Perdikis’ letter that in his absence all the proposals would pass without discussion, sparked a brawl in the committee, which resembled a dogfight, as AKEL deputy George Hadjigeorgiou described it.
Mavrokordatos reminded deputies that abusive comments were not allowed, stressing, however, that Perdikis’ letter was unacceptable and that claims made in it were untrue.
After the meeting, Mavrokordatos said there was no proposal to amend the law – through the back door or otherwise.
Interior Minister Andreas Christou, who attended the meeting, urged deputies to let the law “walk before branding it handicapped”.
The minister said the law was an important tool, adding: “we’re denying ourselves when we reject the work we did”.
“We have to allow the law to work for a logical period of time in order to judge its application,” Christou said.
Mavrokordatos said there was a problem concerning the death certificate and suggested to allow hunters to declare their animal dead when they died on the mountains, with false statements constituting a criminal offence.
