PAFIAKOS and CCP animal welfare charity based in Paphos have put out an urgent call for blankets, sheets and towels.
Christine Panayiotou, who founded the organisation in 1980, told the Cyprus Mail, “We desperately need them; it doesn’t matter if they’re old and have holes. We use them for bedding, to cover the cages at nighttimes and in our rescues.”
The special cages used by the charity are lined with newspaper, but this alone isn’t warm enough during winter months and the newsprint often comes off on the animals’ fur. So blankets or towels are used to create a warm bed on top.
“I think this is a very important programme, and all animals who undergo these procedures with us are given a small nick on their ears. This ensures they aren’t brought into us again,” said Panayiotou.
She has been campaigning for the welfare of animals in Cyprus for close to 30 years and expressed pleasures that during that time, progress has been made.
“Instead of farmers just poisoning cats, we now get them coming in with the mother and kittens in old hessian sacks. It takes a lot for an old boy to come down from the village and do that. We are getting there slowly.’
Panayiotou says she’s noticed a dramatic change in attitudes to animals and says this has happened with the help of the authorities, schools and volunteers. Surprisingly, about eight per cent of complaints made about cruelty to animals are from Cypriots.
“Maybe a large number of these people have been educated abroad but they are very good about it,” she said. “About eleven or so per cent of the tip-offs are anonymous and anyway, we wouldn’t give out people’s details if they didn’t want us to, as we co-operate with the police and the government in these matters,” she advised.
Sue Busfield of Tremithousa village in Paphos often does what she can for Pafiakos, and has sent out numerous emails to request assistance in collecting these items.
Busfield has lived in Cyprus for seventeen years and looks after more than 20 cats in her village.
“I have six cats that live in the house and about 22 stray cats, which I feed twice a day,” she said.
Pafiakos is currently running a spaying and neutering campaign in an attempt to reduce the number of unwanted animals roaming the streets.
“I’ve taken quite a few cats to be spayed,” she said. “Just the other day I took three feral cats there. The difficulty is catching them, otherwise I would take more,” she added.
Panayiotou pointed out, “It’s important to stress that this programme is free for all unwanted street cats and dogs. Last year we spayed and neutered 1,565 cats on the island and 785 dogs.”
This campaign incorporates all the main cities of Cyprus.
Cyprus has long faced the problem of poisoning. Lumps of meat are often laced with fatal poisons and thrown onto waste ground and fields. The last three years in Paphos has seen cases of multiple poisonings in the lighthouse beach area, various district villages; and a Paphos show winner, a rescued Rottweiler, was poisoned close to Yeroskipou beachfront.
Busfield has had a number of her cats poisoned in the past, and a few months ago, found two of her cats dead.
“They’d been poisoned,” she said. “I’ve nursed a cat before it died and they die in agony and excruciating pain. People should think about that before they put these poisons down.”
Panayiotou added, “We had three poisoning cases in last night, but I must point out that these instances seem to be decreasing. Fewer poisonings were recorded during the last hunting season, and hunters do seem to be trying to stop this practice. I’m pleased to say that the ban on Lanate and other methomyl poisons will be enforced in Cyprus this year.”
During the welfare organisation’s latest campaign to ban poisoning last year, more than 75,000 signatures were collected and presented to the government.
“We’ve come along way,” said Panayiotou, “!and sadly cruelty can be seen everywhere, not just with animals, but with people as well.”
n Blankets, towels and sheets may be taken to the Pafiakos and CCP animal welfare centre
12 Dedalos Buildings 8049 Kato Paphos Telephone: 26-946461
