Cyprus-Forum.com

[CBBB]

Record numbers of dogs abandoned
By Nathan Morley

Britons packing up are not only kissing goodbye to their life in the sun, but their pets as well

Despite UK's reputation of being a nation of animal lovers, British expats are rapidly becoming the main culprits behind the growing scourge of pet dumping in Cyprus.

A bleak picture has recently emerged, with Animal charities and shelters being forced to deal with the heartbreaking situation of caring for once loved pets that have been tossed aside.

Dazed and confused, many family pets have been discarded because owners face financial problems or are returning home and refuse to relocate their pets, an endeavour which some claim is too expensive.

“We’ve heard all about the Cypriots and their treatment of animals, now it’s time for some home truths, this is simply not a question of money, it’s about morality” one animal activist told the Sunday Mail.

“The British are quickly getting a reputation, for some, once their lifestyle changes; the dog is their last worry. They are more concerned in making sure the flat screen TV is shipped back.”

Shockingly, there is also a growing trend of people leaving their pets at dog hotels and private kennels for ‘short breaks’, never to return, leaving unpaid debts, fake phone numbers and of course their dogs and cats.

“We get many instances where private boarding kennels call us to take animals after families have dumped their own pets, on the pretence that they will come back for them, this is the picture across Cyprus,” says Stella Stylianou the President of the Argos charity.

“Owners would rather dump their pets at a kennel than on the street, because they know it will be taken care of.”

Celia Shayler, the co-ordinator for animal support group Helping Hands, says she also has first had experience of the worrying new trend.

“The worst cases are when people come into our shop and say, for example, on a Wednesday that they are leaving on Saturday, and then they ask, what can I do about my dog? It’s terribly upsetting; some people have had their dogs for as long as 8-years how can they suddenly do this?”

Shayler also believes that there are many people who have been forced to return home that do everything possible to re-home their pets.

“Some people do find homes for their pets, I’m not saying everyone dumps them, but if their flight is coming up and they have to go, they go. It’s because these things are left to the last minute.”

Stylianou partly blames the bureaucracy surrounding exporting animals from Cyprus, and says she can sometimes comprehend the motives for leaving animals behind.

Shipping a dog to the UK can take up to eight months, with a pet passport required, a series of blood tests and course of injections and then finally the actual transportation.

A recent case in Paphos left animal rescuers close to tears when they were tipped off by an anonymous caller that a dog had been left alone in an apartment.

Rescuers were forced to break down the door, only to discover the family had packed up and fled to England, leaving the dog locked indoors and left to starve.

And only last week a family had abandoned their pet dog and cats in their garden and left for the UK, a concerned neighbour told the Sunday Mail, “they were such lovely people, I cannot understand it.”

Ex-serviceman Gerry Farrally has been tending stray cats in the Protaras area for the past five years, but in recently he has been receiving a different type of cat dumped at his door.

“Tame pets, loving cats just left here in boxes, because they know I will not let them starve, its bloody disgraceful,” he said.

“It is shocking,” said Stylianou, “especially when we know the British as a nation of Animal lovers, I simply believe this is down to the costs of getting their pets back home.”

A similar picture is emerging elsewhere, with the number of unwanted pets abandoned by expats and left to starve has lately soared in Spain, Dubai and Bahrain.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php

[cyprusgeoff]

These people who treat animals like this are a disgrace to the human race and they should be treated in the same way as they left their pets.

Locked up and left to starve.

[BOF]

These people who treat animals like this are a disgrace to the human race and they should be treated in the same way as they left their pets.

Locked up and left to starve.

I presume you mean ALL people who treat animals like this in Cyprus both sides of the divide?
BOF

[cyprusgeoff]

I have nothing to do with the north/south divide and I cannot see anything in my post that would suggest that I did.

I have never been over to the north side and while it is under Turkish rule I never will.

My post was directed towards the people who abandon pets generally and if they do that in the north of Cyprus then in applies to them as well.

[baby-come-fly-with-me]

I have nothing to do with the north/south divide and I cannot see anything in my post that would suggest that I did.

I have never been over to the north side and while it is under Turkish rule I never will.

My post was directed towards the people who abandon pets generally and if they do that in the north of Cyprus then in applies to them as well.

This is so sad and has put a lump in my throat.
my partner and I have been driving on the paphos to limasol highway on a number of occasions when we have seen dogs literally throan out of the windows of trucks where the owners simply do not want them anymore.
We were driving one night and of course it was dark and we were both sure we had seen something in the road, we put our foot down, and took the next exit went back and yes two large dogs running up the highway very stressed, we parked up and was trying to get them to come to us so as we could put them in our truck to take them both to safety.
sadly we were unable to catch them, and being on the highway we had to think of our safety too.
that night and days to follow we were upset about the fact we didnt catch them, and hoped the dogs were okay.
another time again on the highway, we passed a Z car parked up with tourists running around chasing it looked like puppies two or maybe three, trying desperatly to catch them, the look on their faces showed they had never seen anything like it before.
We are big animal lovers and cant understand this cruelty, its upsetting and so so wrong.
put the arseholes in jail who do this I say.
Where we go our two dogs go too.

[cyprusgeoff]

Pets being abandoned and left to suffer and eventually die.

Animals being poisoned, others chained by the neck all day and night

Dogs shut in small wooden containers sometimes with a metal roof that
must be hell in this hot weather.

Others kept on balconies and shut out on it all day.

A policeman kills two dogs by leaving them shut in a car.

A shocking and disgusting way to treat animals and those responsible should be ashamed to call themselves human.

Even in the animal world they don't treat each other with anything like the cruelty the poor animals have to endure in Cyprus.

[CBBB]

I am very surprised at rhe few posts this thread attracted, if it had been Cypriots being accused of animal cruelty there would have been loads of Brits moaning about it. I guess they all went home leaving their pets behind!

[shahmaran]

Where is Dr J when you need him

What I don't understand is, are there animal shelters in the South, and if so what is the problem, and if not then why not?

Just look after them there and find them new owners and make regulations about who can and can't own pets, simple really.

Ironically, the British do a great job with their system over there and Cypriots should take note.

[BOF]

I am very surprised at rhe few posts this thread attracted, if it had been Cypriots being accused of animal cruelty there would have been loads of Brits moaning about it. I guess they all went home leaving their pets behind!

the replies refer to animal cruelty in general - irrespective of bloody race.
Go to my vet and ask him if the "brits" have all gone home an left their animals...
i certainly havnt - and where i go my animals go -end of.
I wouldnt send them to prison - i would take a baseball bat to them.. any race or creed.

[BOF]

I have nothing to do with the north/south divide and I cannot see anything in my post that would suggest that I did.

I have never been over to the north side and while it is under Turkish rule I never will.

My post was directed towards the people who abandon pets generally and if they do that in the north of Cyprus then in applies to them as well.

Fine - thats a yes then.