Cyprus-Forum.com

[Mik]

Two dog were recently stolen from a Kennel, from the re homing section...
As for there being more dogs, the increase of burglary on the island probably has something to do with it?

[supporttheunderdog]

In your efforts to blame Cypriots for this newly emerging problem .... I spot another contradiction - firstly Cypriot hunters are accused of hanging their dogs ... and then they are accused of abandoning them. Which is it to be?

There is no contradiction necessary: some hunters might kill unwanted dogs, others just dump them. I otherwise merely report what I hear but you as usual like to play shoot the messenger.

[GreekIslandGirl]

No, I don't want to shoot any messengers, but I don't have to believe everything they tell me either.

There are a lot of factors contributing to this problem it seems and it's not enough, like the flippant OP, to blame the natives. Cypriots are not singularly responsible - most have very little to do with pet ownership.

We've already identified that a lot of animals have been dumped in the last few years by Brits returning to the UK and not forking out to take them to the UK. Also, I agree there are some hunters who might think it's better to release their unwanted dogs rather than shoot them, but just as easily, some dogs do get lost on hunts or from home when unattended - this is a general problem and has not changed much over the years.

The other contributing factor to the increase in the animal population, which is probably the greatest element, is the vast number of pets that have been brought into the country in the last decade by the tens of thousands of Brits who have come to settle here either permanently, or for just a few years - only to return to the UK and be replaced by yet more couples and their pets.

I'm pleased to see this last point has been addressed, in part, by they fact there is a limit of 5 animals per household which can be brought to Cyprus (but I do see that as too generous for such a small island).

[supporttheunderdog]

So the mayor does not know what he is talking about when he discusses the stray dog issue?

Btw I estimate about 30 to 50% of houses round here keep pets, eg dogs and cats, or birds. This is based on the houses where dogs bark as I walk my pooch. Most of them are Cypriot.

[Mik]

Seems to be a big problem in Greece, Athens in particular.... Is this the Brits dumping them there too?

[Tim Drayton]

I know of a house with a large garden close to where I live with something in the order of 10-20 pet dogs inside, and they are all rescued strays - I know this because I have seen the teenage daughters of the house owner bringing them in off the street. And they are local people.

My experience, too, of living in a suburban area is that middle-class Greek Cypriots tend to keep pets. This seems to be a universal feature of urbanisation all around the world.

All the British people living in Cyprus that have pets, in my experience, are in the same shoes as me - they have them because they took in puppies or kittens off the street, and not because they brought them into Cyprus with them.

As a regular hill walker, I can confirm that the hills used to be full of abandoned hunting dogs. Their number declined significantly after compulsory microchipping for dogs was introduced, but they can still be found.These dogs gravitate towards urban areas because they cannot survive out in the hills.

There are absolutely no cats out in the hills, by the way, they are also only to be found in built up areas, which shows that they are feral and not wild.

This thread is moving into the realms of the absurd.

[GreekIslandGirl]

Seems to be a big problem in Greece, Athens in particular.... Is this the Brits dumping them there too?

Greece is NOT an island like Cyprus. The problem of strays there is similar to all over the continent, except for the pick-up rate to put down strays.

Brits resident in Greece (or holiday-home-owning) are of a completely different calibre to the ex-Pats in Cyprus. The Brits that tend to come to live in Cyprus do so because they still harbour feelings of superiority and view Cyprus as a British colony ( btw. this is an over-simplification, but don't want to change the topic of the thread) and hence already look down on the habits of the natives.

Dog-dumping is a huge problem in many places:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... -charities

[Mik]

The detestable 'Little Briton' mentality. (shudder)
Anyway the thread has gone off topic and I for one am going to abandon it....

[GreekIslandGirl]

The detestable 'Little Briton' mentality. (shudder)
Anyway the thread has gone off topic and I for one am going to abandon it....

Of course it's supposedly gone "off topic", for you, because instead of us accepting the anti-Cypriot premise of the starter topic, we have some evidence to counter this prejudice.

[RichardB]

Tim said

There are absolutely no cats out in the hills, by the way, they are also only to be found in built up areas, which shows that they are feral and not wild.

Not strictly true Tim ..There are packs of cats up in the mountains and have been since I first came to the Island in '77 ...Now admittedly they do tend to congregate around the villages ...which are hardly IMO built up/urban areas...Lemythou where we have a house only has a population of around 60...Are these ''feral'' or ''wild'' Cats ?? well what is the difference ? , as I understand it a feral cat is one which has become wild due to circumstances of being abandoned...so they are pretty much one and the same ..Also I can honestly say that I cannot remember any occasion when a household in the village has had a ''pet'' cat..so presumebly these cats have been around the village for many years surviving in the wild.