The feeding of homeless animals sometimes turns into a very acute question. Zoo defenders equip the places where stray animals, mainly cats, can eat and drink water, which becomes especially relevant on hot days. However, often these equipped places are defeated or simply removed without any notifications.
Residents who do not sympathize with homeless beasts claim that there are “infection” in the places of their accumulation, that cats can carry fleas and other parasites, etc. Such prejudices make the places of feeding animals unwanted in the eyes of some. According to zoo defenders, the number of complaints about the destruction of places for feeding is growing. Stella Stilian, the head of the Argos shelter and a member of the Famagusta Regional Committee for the Protection of Animals, complains that the police are refraining from the investigation of complaints about the destruction of the feeding sites. As a result, animals remain hungry, and volunteers risk meeting with dissatisfied residents face to face.
The law prohibits ...
The legislation of the Republic of Cyprus is definitely in this matter. The Law “On the Welfare and Protection of Animals” in Article 5 (κα) definitely prohibits “the destruction of places of feeding and the production of homeless animals and/or removal from such places of feed and water intended for stray animals.” At the same time, it is specified that water and food should be in the suitable dish for this (the law can be read here). Along with this Art. 18a allows local authorities to clean the places of feeding homeless animals within the boundaries of their administrative territory, although it does not oblige them to do it.
... but not performed
The amendment that the destruction of the feeding places is prohibited by law was adopted in 2020. After that, the police were literally flooded with complaints from zoo protection organizations about the actions of residents. Stella Stilian explains that, faced with so many statements, the police decided to “reduce the amount of work” and requested the opinion of the General Prosecutor's Office on the application of the law. Based on this expert opinion, the police are now responsible for volunteers that the law applies only to the places of feeding, which were officially indicated by the local authorities as such. “We are talking about a dangerous and incorrect interpretation of the law. We declared many cases of destruction of places for feeding, and the police answered us that there was no corpus delicti, since those places were not “official”. But the law does not say anything like that. This is a hand -willed interpretation, ”Stella Stella Steelian expresses his concern.
"The authorities are afraid to take responsibility"
She also reports that there are more and more aggression to the zoine defenders. “The volunteers interfere, threaten, some attack, their labors are subjected to vandalism. We care about the health and well -being of animals, sterilize them, mine, but in response we only get accusations. And all this is simply because the competent authorities are afraid to take responsibility, ”says the zoo defender.
She is perplexed why the expert opinion of the General Prosecutor's Office surpasses the authority of the law adopted by parliament, and why the police cannot give the zoopriers this expert opinion in writing. The zoo defender believes that if the authorities are not able to support volunteers, then they themselves should take care of street animals.
The Cyprus Federation of Zooz protection organizations appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture with a request to clarify this issue. In 2023, the department already officially stated that it did not support the destruction of the feeding sites, as this contradicts the law.
The text is prepared based on the materials "Filelefteros".
