Cyprus-Forum.com

[GreekIslandGirl]

The point I am making is that we, too, are part of nature and are the unwilling slaves of greater forces.

Exactly - our limits to reason our governed by our nature.

[Tim Drayton]

... so the world is not really anthropocentric at all!

[GreekIslandGirl]

Through our human perspective it is. What we perceive and do is judged by our personal anthropocentric conscience.

[repulsewarrior]

...some of us have evolved.

[LynInCyprus]

Dear All

I made my 'first' post yesterday and initially was a little unsure where this thread, started by a genuine request for assistance on helping a feral cat was going.

I have been quite frankly horrified to read some of the responses (luckily not directly to me) because they are:

Bigoted! Simply focussed on re-fuelling the perceived Cypriot/Greek dislike to the British residents on the island. GetReal and Sotos you should be ashamed of yourselves over the past couple of days and I personally believe you owe BerkshireScouse and his family an apology for what are vaguely veiled threats of harm - I see no humour in these responses at all and in fact consider them to be the saddest form of bullying I have witnessed.

Bigoted! These cats belong to all - if I live on this island (as I have done for well over a decade now) and I choose accept responsibility I can help or not as my conciousness dictates to me - the same rule applies to any visiting tourist. Having worked within animals shelters (right at the coal face so to speak) I have to state that without the kindness and generosity of many a maybe mis-guided tourist, bringing injured or sick animals to be helped and then paying for the privilege too with their own funds many many more animals (of all varieties) would be subjected to avoidable pain and necessary suffering.

Poorly expressed and just plainly wrong! No cat living a feral existence evolves an immune system that allows them to resist (without medical and/or drug intervention) the diseases that 'generally' kill them. Their feral lifestyle, which by its nature involves scavenging (extremely poor diet resulting in worm infestation, anaemia, gestation of laid poison etc etc) and unrestricted sexual activity (resulting in the mutation and transmission of such genetic illnesses as cat flu, auto immunodeficiencies, parvo virus B19, leukaemia etc etc) all have a cause and effect.

I am not a fluffy wuffy little lady who thinks all cats (feral or fully domesticated) are little cute accessories - although I do willingly admit to having three rescued cats of my own who now live a pretty good lifestyle.

I am not daft about 'animal rights' - I am a meat eater so how can I be - but I will do everything in my power during my time on this earth (and island) to reduce any suffering or proliferation of disease suffered by any species that it is within my ability to reduce, or ideally remove.

Sincerely

[Sotos]

I can only imagine that those of you who have talked of the magnificent feral cats of Cyprus, protecting us from snakes and rats have never seen the reality that faces many of them...?

Diseased, undernourished creatures, riddled with fleas, ticks and worms... destined to breed and pass the diseases onto their infants...

...not roaming the wide open spaces catching vermin but living out of bins in towns and cities only to have their life cut short on the motorway...

I think it is great that people like the OP and other organisations in Cyprus spend time addressing the obvious issues caused by the overpopulation of these creatures.

Off topic I know but some of the comments on this thread are way over the top - imagine what a new poster would think if they found the forum today and read through this lot as their first post...?

What you say is contradictory. If they were so diseased and undernourished their population would decline. Those feral cats are how cats naturally evolved to be. Having an average life expectancy of 3-4 years but making enough offspring to ensure that their population will gradually grow is natures way. Pet cats that live 12 years, are castrated and never have any offspring and are totally clean and fat are human creations whose purpose is to satisfy the psychological needs of their owners and not the interests of the cat species. I am not saying that is bad to have pets... what I am saying is that you should not compare a pet with a wild cat and then decide that the life of the wild one is worthless ... and think that you are making it a favor if you kill it!! "Euthanasia" is something you should do to somebody that suffers an unbearable amount of pain with no chance of recovering. What they did in this case is kill a perfectly normal cat just because it was too late for it to be turned into a pet cat! If you want to get rid of a cat because it tears your trash bags, pisses on your car or you are afraid it could give a desease to your children ... do it and take responsibility for it. But don't call it "euthanasia" and pretend that you are doing the cat a favor and that you are any better than anybody else that kills cats because in that case you are not just a cat killer but your are also a hypocrite!

[Paphitis]

The point I am making is that we, too, are part of nature and are the unwilling slaves of greater forces.

Exactly - our limits to reason our governed by our nature.

Little off topic...


Speaking of nature, just wanted to say your posts here are nice. Honest!

Please don't take anything personally. Just different people with different opinions or ways of thinking. No ill feeling towards yourself or Greece.

Take care and relax a little, and always try to call a spade a spade because that is the only hope Greece has. Greece needs to do a lot. They need to rebuild their country but it is much deeper than that. The entire country needs to modernise. At the end of the day, they are still freeing themselves from Ottomanism inmho.

You can't expect improvements to occur when you are unwilling to identify the issues. I honestly hope they can get back on their feet quickly.

Unfortunately, Greece has lost its way and departed from Hellenism and that is very sad.

Back to feral cats...

[Paphitis]

Dear All

I made my 'first' post yesterday and initially was a little unsure where this thread, started by a genuine request for assistance on helping a feral cat was going.

I have been quite frankly horrified to read some of the responses (luckily not directly to me) because they are:

Bigoted! Simply focussed on re-fuelling the perceived Cypriot/Greek dislike to the British residents on the island. GetReal and Sotos you should be ashamed of yourselves over the past couple of days and I personally believe you owe BerkshireScouse and his family an apology for what are vaguely veiled threats of harm - I see no humour in these responses at all and in fact consider them to be the saddest form of bullying I have witnessed.

Bigoted! These cats belong to all - if I live on this island (as I have done for well over a decade now) and I choose accept responsibility I can help or not as my conciousness dictates to me - the same rule applies to any visiting tourist. Having worked within animals shelters (right at the coal face so to speak) I have to state that without the kindness and generosity of many a maybe mis-guided tourist, bringing injured or sick animals to be helped and then paying for the privilege too with their own funds many many more animals (of all varieties) would be subjected to avoidable pain and necessary suffering.

Poorly expressed and just plainly wrong! No cat living a feral existence evolves an immune system that allows them to resist (without medical and/or drug intervention) the diseases that 'generally' kill them. Their feral lifestyle, which by its nature involves scavenging (extremely poor diet resulting in worm infestation, anaemia, gestation of laid poison etc etc) and unrestricted sexual activity (resulting in the mutation and transmission of such genetic illnesses as cat flu, auto immunodeficiencies, parvo virus B19, leukaemia etc etc) all have a cause and effect.

I am not a fluffy wuffy little lady who thinks all cats (feral or fully domesticated) are little cute accessories - although I do willingly admit to having three rescued cats of my own who now live a pretty good lifestyle.

I am not daft about 'animal rights' - I am a meat eater so how can I be - but I will do everything in my power during my time on this earth (and island) to reduce any suffering or proliferation of disease suffered by any species that it is within my ability to reduce, or ideally remove.

Sincerely

There are many animal welfare experts in Cyprus so the OP could have approached those authorities and got all the information they needed rather than seek praise and advice from strangers on a forum who may not necessarily provide the best advice!

[LynInCyprus]

Dear Sotos

Why are you now inferring that BerkshireScouce acted in this matter to kill the cat - I just don't understand this attacking manner that seems so prevalent.

If you properly read and absorbed his last post on the actions taken it is clear that they were advised and then directed by a qualified veterinarian. This adviser has trained for years to assess, interpret and then diagnosis an animal illness and provide a prognosis which is of best benefit to the animal. I can only assume that you are not implying that all Vets are therefore animal killers who wilfully play god - or are you?

[Sotos]

Bigoted! Simply focussed on re-fuelling the perceived Cypriot/Greek dislike to the British residents on the island. GetReal and Sotos you should be ashamed of yourselves over the past couple of days and I personally believe you owe BerkshireScouse and his family an apology for what are vaguely veiled threats of harm - I see no humour in these responses at all and in fact consider them to be the saddest form of bullying I have witnessed.

I just offered to castrate them and arrange for their euthanasia if any virus is found on them. Are these "threats of harm" now? I thought they were the humane, right thing to do. No?