‘No one cares’ about dog beaches Greens complain

A LAW passed in 2003 mandating that each coastal municipality must designate beaches on which pet dogs are permitted has been completely ignored, claims Green Party President George Perdikis.

In the intervening years the law has been implemented by just one municipality in Ayia Napa, which did not even appoint a dog-friendly beach until mid-2008.

“After five years of zero implementation of the law, dozens of letters and articles written in newspapers and the bad experience of the killing of a [dog owner] on the beach in Latsi two years ago, nobody cares,” said Perdikis.

The Central Committee on Beaches is currently considering proposals that would allow it to impose monetary penalties on any municipality that neglects to designate a dog-friendly beach within its jurisdiction and to require them to make the designation within a specified amount of time.

But Perdikis claims that the law has no teeth. “Nobody cares, not the local authorities, not the government. They are sleeping.”

In 2005 Ombudswoman Iliana Nicolaou ruled that the government had to either implement the law as it stood or amend it. So far, neither has been done.

“We are still pushing the government and the local authorities but our effort is not enough, Perdikis said. “No one believes there is an issue with animal welfare, or with the rights of the owners of animals. So the people, if they want results, have to be active. Write a letter to Parliament saying there is a law and we, as dog owners, want it to be implemented.”

In 2008 a man began arguing with a dog owner on a Paphos beach because he did not approve of the dog’s presence on the beach. The man subsequently got into his car and drove it into the dog owner and his dog, killing both on impact.

Prior to passing its dog-friendly legislation, Cyprus had a formal ban on dogs at all of its beaches, the only state in the European Union to boast such a ban.

“There are thousands of dog owners in Cyprus,” Perdikis said. “I think it is time for people to protest.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.