Sweeping changes, higher penalties for animal abuse approved by cabinet

[Paphos Life]

The cabinet on Wednesday approved a slew of new measures on animal welfare following proposals tabled by agriculture minister Costas Kadis.The measures are part of a series of amendments to the animal welfare law.Specifically, it will be forbidden, first, to keep a pet permanently tied up or to keep or isolate a dog or cat on balconies or roofs....

Read the article and chat about it below...

[trevnhil]

Well I hope this new make a difference, but I doubt that people who have dogs chained up outside are going to take much notice of the new law .. Sorry to be negative, but it is what I feel..

[WHL]

Its a step in the right direction, which should be applauded.

[Cherry345]

I do agree with you Trev when you say the people themselves that are tying a dog up etc are not going to change but I think if we see anyone that has a dog chained up or kept on a balcony it is now worth reporting it as by rights of the new law they have to investigate, it is definitely a step in the right direction.

[Lucie]

If they don't enforce the existing laws, what is the point in adopting a new one?

[WHL]

Why all the negativity, Cyprus is now getting serious about Animal welfare, get behind it instead of rubbishing it.

[Lucie]

Why? Because I live in reality? Because I have seen so many cases of animal abuse where the police said they will investigate, find and punish the offender (under the already existing laws), but have never seen an outcome.

[Kili01]

Lucie is so right in what she says. The law is an ass unless it can be enforced properly by the police and the Govt vets should also have a responsibility. Mind you, actually trying to enforce these animal protection laws is not easy as some owners of these poor animals can turn really nasty if threatened with or by the law....

Dee

[Cherry345]

I guess I wrote on this thread because I did get a good outcome at the beginning of this week, it was to do with a little dog that was tied to a tree and he had been tied up there since last Easter, thanks to this site someone put me in the right direction of contacting the Government Vet office, I wrote a letter and took it down to the offices, a month or so later when nothing was done I took a second letter down to the Government Vet offices, and eventually I did a third letter with a copy of the new laws that I saw in the Tala news email last week, this week the dog has gone, I have a feeling it was the third letter with the new laws printed out that did the trick.