In Cyprus it is impossible to walk down a road, whether in the city or the countryside, without seeing a cat being hit. This has become an ordinary detail that many have stopped paying attention to. In rural areas you can also see dogs abandoned to the mercy of fate, often former hunting dogs. Why don't locals value pets?
Stories of cruelty to animals often appear in the Cypriot media. Someone bagged the dog and threw it in a trash can, someone left the animal locked in a car in the sun, someone shot several donkeys at point-blank range. The police response to these incidents is sluggish, cases rarely go to court, and fines, if imposed, are symbolic. One gets the impression that violence against animals on the island is perceived not as a crime, but as an unpleasant, but everyday episode.
The roots of this problem are deeper than it seems. Urban culture in Cyprus is a relatively young phenomenon. Until two or three generations ago, the vast majority of Cypriots lived in villages where animals were seen primarily as labor or a source of food. The cat caught mice, the dog guarded the yard, the donkey carried water or cargo. An animal had value as long as it was useful. When it became old, sick or simply “superfluous”, no one particularly worried about its fate.
With the transition to city life, a lot has changed - but not everything. Outwardly, Cyprus has become a European state, but in the mentality there are still rural ideas about the world, where man is the center and animals exist for his needs. People have started having pets, but not everyone understands the responsibility that comes with it. When a dog gets in the way, when a cat starts to get sick, when you need to pay for sterilization, the easiest solution for many remains the same: get rid of it.
The paradox is that Cypriots are generally friendly, family-oriented and warm-hearted - but their empathy is often limited to the human circle. It turns out to be more difficult to understand the suffering of an animal that does not bring “benefit”. Hence the indifference to a cat crossing the road and even the cruel passion of some drivers for the deliberate killing of animals that get in their way.
This is a reflection of the transitional state of society, which has not yet fully absorbed the values of urban civilization, where animals are not property, but a part of the community that requires protection and compassion.
However, the situation is changing. In recent years, dozens of animal protection organizations and shelters have been operating throughout the country, often working with the enthusiasm of volunteers. They sterilize, treat, look for owners, and conduct educational activities. On social networks, Cypriot users are increasingly condemning cases of cruelty, reporting downed or injured animals, raising funds for help, and calling on the police to respond to cruelty towards our little brothers.
These are signs of a slow but noticeable cultural shift. A new generation of Cypriots is emerging, raised in cities where the cat is not only a mouser, but also a friend; where the dog is not abandoned after the hunt, but is walked on a leash; where an animal killed on the road causes not indifference, but shame. The path to truly humane treatment of animals is long, but it has already begun - and depends not only on laws and fines, but on the ability of society to feel that life, even small and silent, has value.
