THE SIRIUS Dog Sanctuary in Limassol is facing the threat of closure due to a problem with the planning permission for the building they are currently using.
Sirius is the main dog shelter serving the Limassol area, and is privately run by a small handful of volunteers.
“They work very, very hard there as lots of people leave dogs there. Limassol is in serious trouble because they are doing nothing and have a large number of homeless dogs,” said Annie Munday of the PAWS dog shelter in Paphos.
There are two smaller dog shelters in Limassol, one in Ypsonas and one in Polemidia (which is state-run), neither of which have the capacity, funding or personnel to really handle the number of dogs brought to Sirius every month from the surrounding area.
In 2008, the Limassol District Administration took the owner of the building where Sirius is currently housed to court as it was originally built without the requisite planning permissions. A successful campaign by Sirius supporters at the time resulted in the authorities concluding that the demolition of the building did not have to go ahead until new premises were found to house the dog shelter.
“Sirius are in the same position now that we were in 10 years ago,” said Munday “It took us six years to raise the money [to build new premises], and the planning authority then gave us a temporary permit and we went ahead with the building”. PAWS shelter has been in its current building for four years now, though they have yet to receive a permanent planning certificate for it.
In January of this year, the owner of the building where Sirius is currently housed was threatened with prison by authorities for not having demolished the building yet. As a result, he has since given Sirius until June 30 to find new premises.
Sirius, named after the brightest star in the Canis Major constellation (Latin for ‘Large Dog’), is a private initiative which currently cares for around 140 dogs and puppies. They do receive a small subsidy from the government, most of which goes towards veterinary fees.
Part of Sirius’s chosen task is to neuter every dog which comes to them so as to help alleviate the “very bad” problem with strays in Cyprus. They also work to re-home as many of the dogs which come to them as possible, working closely with the Cyprus Dog Rehousing Association to get many of them re-homed, both within Cyprus and also in other EU countries and in Russia.
The dog shelter survives through private donations, both in terms of money and in terms of the free time and labour provided by the volunteers who work there. In common with most other animal shelters in Cyprus, the majority of these donations come from foreigners living in Cyprus on an expatriate basis, mainly from middle and northern Europe. Their numbers have reduced significantly over the last two years – Munday estimates by around 50 per cent – due to the economic crisis. This, in turn, makes it even harder for Sirius to raise the money it needs to move to new premises.
