Reports say 50,000 abandoned dogs roam the island
THE PRESIDENT of an animal welfare group yesterday revealed the organisation was being forced to kill 500 stray dogs a week because of a
A meeting of the House Agriculture Committee also heard that over 50,000 abandoned dogs were roaming the island and that legislation passed in 2002 to solve the problem had not yet been implemented.
The Agriculture House Committee met yesterday with Greens Party leader George Perdikis, the Interior Ministry, Veterinary Services and various animal protection organisations to discuss the reasons for the postponement of the law.
Head of the Cyprus Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Toulla Poyatzi, said the issue of stray dogs was a grave social problem that had been left to fester and maintained the government was not prepared to to solve it.
“Some organisations have refused to help in our plight to protect and find shelter for stray dogs – for example the hunters. They abandoned their dogs when they no longer need them,” said Poyiatzi.
She said that her association was tired of carrying the burden alone. “We are forced to put down 500 dogs per week. We work for free; it is volunteer work that is not paying off. We want the new law to be implemented.”
Perdikis was outraged at the government’s attitude towards the problem of stray dogs and stressed that it was a serious social matter that affects everybody.
“The thousands of stray dogs in Cyprus have become a problem and a danger to society. They are left to roam the streets and they cause damage to farmers’ crops and fields as they are hungry and in search of food,” said Perdikis.
He also added that there have been a few isolated incidents where people were attacked. “Every day dozens of dogs are abandoned by their owners, families and hunters who have either grown tired of caring for their pet or feel they are no longer of any use to them.”
Perdikis said he heard stories of the stray dogs coming over from the occupied areas but he maintained the real reason was that people were not taking responsibility for the animals.
“Some people whose dogs breed simply abandoned the puppies on the streets if they cannot sell them. Puppies are young and cannot fend for themselves and most of them die within a few weeks. However older dogs begin to scavenge for food on farms or in garbage bins,” said Perdikis.
He also referred to the cruel acts of violence against unwanted dogs. “Some are hung, others burned and in many cases dogs are poisoned.”
Perdikis said strays must be gathered and given to caring homes, as the dog shelters cannot house all the abandoned animals.
The Hunters Association was outraged at Poyiatzi’s accusation that they do not care about stray dogs. One member said the group was all for the law’s implementation.
“After the law was passed we noticed some articles we were not happy with – namely the expenses of caring for your dog and getting a health certificate. We were not informed what procedures we had to go through to obtain this health certificate and what the cost would be,” Veterinary Services said they also wanted the law to be implemented as soon as they begin their database system of listing dogs and microchipping dogs for identification.
“We will begin the database system as soon as we are given the money to hire staff to operate the system. We are talking about monitoring 100,000 dogs therefore we will need more staff,” said one representative.
He added that once they are given the means to hire staff they would not hinder the implementation of the new legislation.
One organisation, the Pancyprian Social Association that said the tattoos had always been a successful way to identify dogs. “We are asking that microchips are not inserted into dogs. It is more expensive and with tattoos all the person has to do is look behind its ear to identify the animal,” said their spokesman.
However the Veterinary Services representative maintained that microchips are the most effective form of identification. “It is not harmful to the dog and it is in fact cheaper than tattooing. It is permanent and easier to read under a scanner.”
The EU requires pet owners to microchip their pets in order to get the relevant travel documents. The Interior Ministry admitted there was a problem but said though the law was passed but not implemented because some articles didn’t have the proper infrastructure and were under question. The ministry’s representative said he believed the law would soon be implemented once they are given all the facts by all relevant organisations.
Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee Christos Mavrokordatos said that excuses did not concern them. “We just want the law that we passed on October 22, 2002 to finally be implemented,” he added.
“The government can no longer blame organisations for not putting the law into practice. For eight years we were discussing the bill regarding stray dogs and now that it has been passed it has been ignored.”
Mavrokordatos concluded the committee meeting by saying that the law must be implemented by the May 1, 2004, as the current situation of stray dogs cannot continue.
