The implementation of the nationwide plan to sterilize stray cats was discussed on Wednesday by the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment.
As the deputy chairman of the committee Nikos Ketteros said, no one can deny that the ever-increasing breeding of cats causes issues for the quality of life of both animals and people."
"The number of stray cats is estimated by animal welfare organizations at close to 1 million, a number that state agencies have no way of calculating. The question therefore arises as to whether even the increased amount of 100,000 euros allocated for the neutering of cats as approved by the Ministry of Agriculture is enough."
Kettereros went on to say that under the existing programme the provincial committees distribute vouchers to registered animal welfare organisations to carry out sterilisation, while questioning whether this amount is sufficient to cover the sterilisation of the one million cat population.
"We wondered about the rates of cats being sterilised, as we were informed that it is estimated to be between 1,500 and 2,000 a year. As you understand, this amount is not enough as at these rates to reach one million we need about 500 to 600 years," he added, adding that questions were raised about how the voucher system works in municipalities and what are the practical issues that arise, while he said that the committee asked for an update on the revision of the programme because, as it was understood during the discussion, serious issues of implementation of the programme arise.
"AKEL's position is stable and long-standing, the creation of a system of vouchers in municipalities is a matter of concern. We are in favour of all policies concerning the protection and welfare of animals," he concluded.
Animal welfare is one of the priorities of both the Environment Ministry and the government, said DISY MP Savia Orphanidou, who added that there have been long-standing issues of nuisance, pollution and, most importantly, animal abuse, and this raises the alarm that much more needs to be done.
"We have been informed by the director of veterinary services about the nationwide plan that has been in place since 2019, in cooperation also with the provincial animal welfare committees, local government and other animal welfare organisations, which plan is satisfactory to a certain extent, but our goal is to document the problem even better, to strengthen this plan even more, to make it more targeted where it needs to be and to be able to achieve a European definition, which is that we need to have 75% of stray cats neutered in order to be able to function better as a society," he said.
Orphanidou also welcomed the cabinet's recent decision to increase the amount of money given to support this project to sterilize cats from 75,000 to 100.000 and said that it is expected that in the coming period these actions will be seen in practice to strengthen this project in order to enhance animal welfare in this way to address animal abuse, "which will never be accepted by any society."
"It is important to reinforce the culture, the mindset and the education of our children from a very young age to have this right attitude towards animals and in this effort I think we all have a big and important role to play," he added.
Finally, statements on behalf of DIKO were also made by MP Chrysanthos Savvidis, who argued that in reality there is no mechanism to determine the population of cats. "We have been given a number, but it is not the right one, there is just an approximation because as an animal a cat can belong to two or even three households if you give it food," he said.
Regarding the number of sterilizations on an annual basis, Savvidis said that even this cannot be determined as there are municipalities that follow their own sterilization program, so the competent Ministry does not know the exact number of sterilizations. In addition, he described as grotesque the claim that 75% of the cats must be sterilised in order to tackle the problem. "If you don't know what the real number is, how can you lead to the sterilisation of the percentage said by the competent ministry and the European standards?" he asked.
The DIKO MP also described the infinitesimal amount of 100,000, while expressing the party's position in favour of neutering cats both for the welfare of the animals and so that they do not disturb people.
"We cannot have a defined policy once we do not have the actual data. The move is to develop awareness among the people that the neutered animal gets a wider range of life and better living conditions, if this culture is developed we might solve the problem and an amount of enlightenment and education of children might help," he concluded."
Source: CNA
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