Dutch hospitality for Limassol and Larnaca raccoons

A DUTCH voluntary animal welfare organisation will this week give shelter to two raccoons currently housed at the zoos of Limassol and Larnaca.

The animals will fly out from Larnaca airport onboard a Cyprus Airways direct flight to Amsterdam on Wednesday where they will be relocated just outside the city with an animal sanctuary called AAP.

According to reports all the necessary travel arrangements have already been made including who will take delivery of the two raccoons as well as their anaesthetisation so that they can be microchipped and transferred in special cages. A representative from Animal Responsibility Cyprus (Kivotos) will travel to Holland with the two animals.

The animals were relocated in line with European legislation which bans the operation of zoos where wild and exotic animals are kept in unsuitable conditions. Limassol zoo has in the past repeatedly come under fire for its unacceptable conditions with animal activists campaigning to have the premises shut down.

EU law stipulates that it is important to keep animals in a manner that meets their biological needs, to ensure the protection of wild fauna and the preservation of biodiversity while retaining a role in education of the public and scientific research.

According to news reports the mayor of Limassol had originally refused to sign the AAP document regarding the raccoons’ relocation because the paperwork did not exclusively refer to the raccoons but to all wild animals. Local daily Politis said the thinking behind the mayor’s actions was that some of the wild animals remaining at Limassol could eventually be housed at a new zoo and environment park which the town is considering building.

Based in Almere in the Netherlands, AAP is a European sanctuary for exotic animals. The animals that end up with AAP often come from illegal trade, research laboratories, circuses, illegal zoos or directly from private people. The foundation specialises in hosting apes and monkeys. Other small exotic mammals can also find a shelter there, including raccoons, skunks and prairie dogs.

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.