ANIMALS die or suffer constantly and no one is being punished, animal organisations said yesterday.
“Whether it’s dogs, horses, donkeys, we repeatedly see examples of their mistreatment,” said Stella Stylianou, secretary of Cyprus Voice for Animals (CVA).
“They often kept in bad conditions, in cages, tied up all day under a car or truck, kept on building roofs and malnourished,” she said.
Often people didn’t even know what they were doing to animals was wrong.
“Our biggest problem is peoples’ ignorance,” CVA president Mary Anastasi said.
“Most people are not cruel, the just don’t know how to treat animals or how they should be kept. They don’t necessarily want to harm the animal but the animal ends up harmed because some people don’t know any better,” she said.
Anastasi and Stylianou were speaking to the Cyprus Mail following the CVA’s second meeting with government officials including representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture, Interior and Justice, the police, the Municipalities Union, and the Game Fund Service. The meeting was chaired by Agriculture Ministry Permanent Secretary Panicos Pouros.
Its purpose had been to address a number of animal welfare issues and how best to approach them. These include the implementation of the Animal Welfare Law, the Dog Law, the EU treaty for pet animals, setting up an inspectorate for animal cruelty complaints, and enforcing the EU acquis communautaire on animal welfare.
The two women said the outcome had been extremely positive.
“It looks very promising. For the first time everyone involved showed the will to try to solve these chronic problems,” Anastasi said.
“They not only wanted suggestions but the Permanent Secretary tried to find better ways to improve and implement the law,” she said.
Suggestions put on the table included the creation of approved dog pounds in all districts where stray dogs would be kept for a period of 15 days before either animal welfare organisations or other interested parties took them on.
Animal welfare organisations are also asking for the construction of more sanctuaries and to increase grants given to them. The latter is expected to happen in next year’s budget.
Another important issue is the need for an inspectorate made up of two officers per district who would be responsible for following up all animal cruelty complaints.
“The will accept all calls on abuse and cruelty. They will be trained and able to implement the law,” Stylianou said.
The two women said the CVA was also calling for the introduction of on-the-spot fines.
Anastasi said: “The law is strict but nobody is enforcing it. We also need to amend it to include fines. You have a dog. If the inspector sees its living conditions need improving, the owner can be given 10 days to improve them. If in that time the conditions have not changed the inspector should be allowed to fine them on the spot and to remove the dog from the home until the conditions improve.”
She added: “People either don’t know that cruelty to animals is a punishable offense, or if they do know it, they know they will get away with it.”
If convicted for an act of animal cruelty, offenders can face up to one year imprisonment and/or a €1,710 fine. The penalty doubles for second time offenders.
The problem is that no one is ever punished, the women said.
Stylianou said: “The police and veterinary services are repeatedly told about abuses of the animal welfare and dog laws and they keep saying it’s not their job [to do anything]. According to the animal welfare law an animal must be kept according to its physiological and ethological needs. If this is law and animals are kept on balconies or permanently tied up, are they being kept according to the law? How can the law stipulate this is the law and yet when the Veterinary Services see a Great Dane being kept in a 2X2 cage and chained they do nothing?”
The CVA said that following yesterday’s meeting they felt, for the first time, that there was “light at the end of the tunnel”.
“We know any changes to the law have to go through parliament first but at least the issues are on the table and are being discussed. Until now we haven’t had that, so we are hoping we will give animals a voice,” Anastasi said.
The CVA, which earlier this month received its registration number, is a union made up of nine societies. These include Animal, Rescue and Protection Association Argos, Zootropion Humane Education Society, Famagusta Protection Society, Malcolm Cat Protection Association, CAPCA Protection Society, Donkey Sanctuary – Vouni, Limassol Shelter, Nicosia Dog Shelter, and Cat Neutering Association.
“For years we’ve been trying to give animals a voice. Everyone tried to do it alone and no one paid attention to a single voice. We decided we need a strong voice and decided to unite the voices of the majority of animal welfare societies in Cyprus,” Anastasi said.
