Licensing of first regional dog shelter within 2025, says Environment Commissioner

The licensing of the first regional dog shelter, that of Nicosia Municipalities, is expected within the first half of 2025, the Commissioner for Environment and Animal Welfare, Antonia Theodosiou, has said.

Speaking to Cyprus News Agency (CNA), she noted that the intention to create regional shelters or temporary shelters to be managed and licensed by the local government had been announced in 2019, with a timeframe of 18 months which expired without any result, and that a new decision was taken in 2022, accompanied by a €1.5 million aid plan for the creation of five regional shelters by local government in the districts and one for the semi-mountainous areas.

By the end of 2024 the target had not been reached, she noted, adding that "as the Office of the Commissioner for Environment and Animal Welfare, among other things, we have set a goal to assist and support the effort to create at least the shelter of the Nicosia municipalities" covering Nicosia, Strovolos, Lakatamia, Agios Dometios, Engomi, and Aglantzia.

Theodosiou also said that a coordination meeting will be held in early January with the participation of the architects, the Municipality of Strovolos, and the managers of the shelter "so that all sides are satisfied and the first shelter can be licensed and implemented simultaneously, within 2025", noting that they expect this to happen in the first half of 2025.

She added that local government "has an obligation" by legislation to have shelters and an animal police, further expressing her conviction that creating licensed regional shelters of the local government "will help 1000% in the proper management of stray dogs."

Theodosiou also addressed the issue of sterilization of stray animals, noting that there are grants from the State and that among the goals of her office is to see if this number of sterilizations is satisfactory or increase the budget if needed.

(Source: CNA)