DAUNTING TO-DO LIST ON ANIMAL WELFARE, NEW REPORT SHOWS

Cyprus Mail - 9 October 2018

By Evie Andreou

Heavy workload at the state legal services has left six bills and regulations on animal welfare gathering dust and unable to go before parliament for a vote, the Animal Party has said.

In its report on progress made on animal welfare issues in the four years since it was founded, the party said that much progress has been made but many issues are still pending. The report was delivered to the agriculture minister this week to mark the World Animal Day.

The Anastasiades administration, the party said, has shown great interest in animal welfare issues.

“Some changes have been made since 2014, emphasis was given on some animal welfare issues, some have been forgotten,” it said.
An example of the latter is a 2015 bill on the creation of an independent agency to coordinate all state services concerning animal welfare was rejected, and there has been no effort to revise it and re-introduce it.

There are 35 state services involved in the treatment of animals but there is no cooperation or coordination between them, the party said.

“This creates serious problems in effectively addressing animal welfare issues, results in collision between strategies and plans, and sometimes duplication of work.”

It said that the bills on wild animals in zoos, on the creation of an animal welfare police force, on the operation of private veterinary clinics, amendments of the law on animals to include provisions on the sale and possession of pets, and a set of regulations on animal shelters, pet hotels and breeding facilities, are all pending before the legal services for vetting.

Due to the delay, the party said, these bills have yet to reach parliament to be voted on and implemented.

It said that a set of regulations stipulating, for instance, which animals pet shops were allowed to sell, have been pending at the legal services since 2014. As a result, pet shops are allowed to sell any animal they want.

“There is also a serious problem with the uncontrolled imports of various exotic or other animals, and most end up with irresponsible owners or some of them escape into the natural environment of Cyprus with unpredictable consequences for our country’s biodiversity.
For example, crocodiles, lizards, snakes, raccoons and others.”

Another very serious problem, it said, “is that hundreds of different birds or other exotic animals are imported from the occupied areas and they end up in pet shops in the free areas.” It added that they would further investigate the matter.

It also said that the four licensed zoos in Cyprus – those of Paphos, Limassol, and in particular Melios pet park (whose licence has not been renewed since September 2017) and the aquarium in Protaras – all raise various animal welfare concerns.

No changes have been recorded as regards farm animals, it said, citing substandard establishments but also the wretched conditions these animals live in.

“Cows live in their own faeces,” it said, while regulations on the proper transport of animals to abattoirs are completely ignored.
The report also mentions irregularities in the transport of meat but also improper management of dead farm animals.

“We have noticed that in some cases, dead animals have been left exposed, in large dustbins,” it said.

It also said that there are still problems due to lack of implementation of the law on dogs by local authorities.

While the law provides that municipalities and communities should maintain suitable premises for the temporary guarding of abandoned dogs, it said, unfortunately most of them are breaking the law by failing to apply this provision.

“As a result, a lot of dogs who are abandoned end up in the few shelters that are run by volunteers and which, of course, all of them have exceeded their capacity.”