BRITAIN’S Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) yesterday issued a press release on the brutal killing of a stray dog by soldiers in Cyprus.
“The RSPCA is shocked and appalled by the reports of this barbaric act of cruelty,” the statement said.
“This kind of act is illegal under Cypriot law and, as the location and culprits seem identifiable, there seems no reason why the Cypriot Animal Enforcement Officers – who were trained by the RSPCA – shouldn’t be allowed to help bring those responsible to justice.
“Indeed, this seems like the ideal opportunity for the Cypriot authorities to show that they are serious about cracking down on animal cruelty.”
The statement was issued by the charity, which has worked to promote kindness and prevent cruelty to animals since its establishment in 1824, after the case was brought to its attention in the UK.
The incident took place about a year ago, but only became public knowledge after the event – recorded on one of the soldier’s mobile phones – was forwarded to a Sigma television reporter’s phone. The National Guard is handling the matter internally and has identified the culprits, who are said to have admitted to the crime.
Although a criminal offence is possible, the police and legal services have not yet received instructions to investigate the incident, which carries a penalty of up to £1,000 and/or one year imprisonment.
The Veterinary Services yesterday reiterated they would be asking the military investigator to hand over the findings of his inquiry.
Animal health and welfare department veterinarian Theofanis Pierides said: “Things are being done. There is no inaction where this matter is concerned. If the evidence exists to support the accusation and the prosecution authority – the police – has the evidence, then the people who did this will be tried… The act has already been condemned.”
Pierides explained it was not always easy to press charges if there was no evidence or witness testimony to support them.
“(Nevertheless) we have every intention of asking the military investigator for his findings and asking police to investigate,” he said.
Pierides confirmed that the Veterinary Services had invited the RSPCA to give a three-day seminar on how to improve animal welfare. The seminar was held in Nicosia in December 2002 and was attended by around 50-60 participants, including veterinary service officials and inspectors, members of the police, local authority representatives and animal welfare organisations, he said.
The seminar, which Pierides said had been very informative, had among other things broached upon how to investigate animal abuse accusations and how to carry out inspections of animal welfare controls.
“It was before the island’s EU accession and its aim was to train various services involved in these matters on a general range of issues,” he said.
But the government vet accused the media of making out that three or four cruel acts against animals over the past 10 years had taken place only yesterday.
Numerous reports of animal abuse by soldiers have emerged since last week’s report. Former soldiers long finished with their compulsory military term have been more than explicit in their descriptions of animal abuse and killings which they witnessed while serving in the National Guard. Examples include setting fire to a cat, smashing a cat’s head with a rock and using clubs to batter a puppy to death.
Pierides said: “Things happen sometimes. Some are real and some are malicious accusations. I’m not saying bad things don’t happen, but it’s not every day animals are killed in the army. We can’t trash everything over one bad incident… There are of course people who commit crimes and we condemn the acts and prosecute when they happen.”
In fact a lot of progress had been made on the island compared to 10 years ago, he said.
“Cypriots are animal lovers. You can’t annihilate everything and say we’re not. Thirty years ago there were only one or two veterinary clinics around the island and veterinarians only spent one day a week dealing with pets and had to look for other work the rest of the time.
“Today there are 35-40 veterinary clinics and they can just about manage with their workloads. This illustrates how much more people have come to love and care for their pets.”
Pierides said animal welfare was much improved compared to the past. He cited new laws protecting the welfare of animals and a special dog law, as well as stricter controls of buying poison, and said the veterinary services were in the process of registering all dogs on the island in order to keep track of which ones had been abandoned by their owners, he said.
Since the dog law was passed, 14,000 dogs have been registered with the services and tagged with a microchip, he added.
THE Cyprus Federation of Environmental and Ecological Organisations yesterday said the dog burning incident was only a small part of the animal abuse which took place on the island.
The Federation, which brings together 15 organisations including Friends of the Earth, the Ecological Movement and the Consumers’ Association, called for stricter implementation of animal protection laws.
The Federation called on the authorities to take note of animal abuse allegations and to press criminal charges without delay. It also called on the House of Representatives to amend the legislation so that dogs were issued death certificates, and stricter penalties were provided for animal abuses, and to only allow the purchase of poison with an agriculturalist’s prescription.
“The portion of thoughtless hunters and whoever else is part of the problem should realise the damage they cause with their attitude and acts of abuse, abandonment and killing of animals, and change their ways,” it said.
The press release ended by threatening to take further action, “which no one will like, but will bring results” if the problem was not dealt with and those who contributed to the problem with their attitude “continued to hide away and insulted the country and the people’s intelligence”.
