Is the recognition of the Aphrodite cat a private project or a common project of Cyprus people and breeders of Cyprus Feline Society (CyFS)?
This is the CyFS’ response to the letter written by Mrs Litherland, “Global recognition for our cats but no such luck at home” published in the Sunday Mail on November 15
The sensational announcement of ‘global recognition’ of Cyprus’ indigenous cat breed Aphrodite’s can confuse the public. A project launched two years ago by the Cyprus Feline Society (CyFS) and supported by the state government, has been portrayed as a personal achievement in founding a new Cyprus Cat breed. The cats presented by an individual breeder in close collaboration with one World Cat Federation (WCF) judge was just the starting point of a story seriously gone astray.
Aphrodite’s is a Cyprus’ indigenous cat. The breed is under-development and research and cannot be presented as a final result at this stage.
This was clearly stated by Cyprus Feline Society in the letter to World Cat Federation (WCF) as a first presentation of the project run by the society for recognition of two Cyprus natural cat breeds developed from Cyprus random cat population.
In her letter, Mrs Litherland claims she has been breeding Aphrodite’s cats for four years – omitting the fact that a breed must be proven through breeding from the certified parents. We would like to clarify that the first certification process of Aphrodite’s cats started in January 2009 by international judges invited to the task by the CyFS.
Non-recognised breeds cannot compete at the WCF Best in Show together with other recognised breeds. A non-recognised breed can compete only in Class 22a of the WCF show classes for non-recognised breeds and get classifications only but not titles
It must be clarified that the Aphrodite’s breed presented at the WCF Supreme Berlin Show does not represent the final result of the breed. Furthermore, according to our judge’s opinion, the basic and the main Cyprus breed is St. Helens, from which the Aphrodite’s breed derives. Until now the standards went through revision by three international judges with over 20 years of experience. The new preliminary standards were applied in judging of Aphrodite’s and St. Helens at the CyFS International Show in Limassol on November 14-15, 2009.
They say that what is too soon is always too short. God did not create the world in one day and the same can be said of the elaborate effort to establish formally the ‘Cyprus Cat Breeds’.
The Cyprus Feline Society, (CyFS) is opened to collaboration with bona fide parties genuinely in the matter at hand. Thus, we aim to collaborate in our program for selection of cats from the random population in our Island in order to establish Cyprus breeds from the natural cat population. We are aiming to achieve several important elements in our program;
(a) To develop the Cyprus breeds from the existing cat population,
(b) To properly make these selections during our shows,
(c) To register such selections with our society,
(d) To provide a proper breeding program to each member in this project,
(e) To thoroughly and systematically check the results of each breeding and finally,
(f) To register these breeds with the recognised international federation
It is also very important after the official recognition of the breeds, to maintain the population of registered cats in Cyprus and to promote them worldwide in order to firmly establish them as Cyprus’ own!
Cyprus Feline Society
