Poisoning of cats and dogs is inhumane, cruel, and causes many animals very painful and prolonged deaths. It also damages the reputation of Cyprus, disgusting tourists and causing bad publicity. How can Paphos deserve the title of European Capital of Culture 2017 when this behaviour is condoned by the authorities?
Sadly many cars and dogs are poisoned deliberately in Cyprus every day by rat poison or other home-made poisons added to food for the cats and dogs. They often suffer agonising deaths. However, because of the many feral cats and dogs in Cyprus, there is not a rat problem! It should therefore be made illegal to put down rat poison, because it is causing death not only to many feral cats and dogs, but often to household pets. Additionally if it were not for the cats there would definitely be a snake problem in Cyprus. According to Wikipedia "The Cyprus cat is linked with the Byzantine monastery peculiarly named "St. Nicholas of the Cats" (Greek Άγιος Νικόλαος των Γατών), which was founded in the fourth century AD. It is located near Akrotiri (village). According to Byzantine legend, St. Helen imported hundreds of cats from Egypt or Palestine in the fourth century to control venomous snakes that had infested the monastery. The monastery had two bells, one to call the cats for meals and the other to send to the fields to hunt snakes. The monastery's population of cats once dwindled but has now revived thanks to the resident nuns.[2] The Nobel Laureate, Giorgos Seferis, wrote of the Cyprus cat in his poem, "The Cats of St. Nicholas" translated by Edmund Keely and Philip Sherrard in 1995.[3]" The authorities currently do nothing to investigate the poisoning of cats and dogs. (Even on a leash, dogs can find a tasty snack in the hedgerows and wolf it down only to die in agony within an hour or two. This petition is aimed at making it illegal to put down poison. Instead, more funding should be given to the rehoming centres to buy traps so that feral animals can be caught and neutered. Within a few generations the overpopulation of Cyprus with feral cats and dogs should solve itself. In addition, it should be illegal to abandon a domesticated cat or dog after giving it a home. This happens all the time in Cyprus as people go back to their homeland after years in Cyprus. Vetinary surgeons should have to put in a microchip in every cat or dog before it leaves their surgery, and register the owner's address. The law needs to be changed. Allowing the current poisoning situation to continue is to condone it. Condemning this situation and doing something to change it would enhance the President's reputation and give his good publicity in addition to ending vast needless suffering.
