Bill to regulate stray dogs ‘full of holes’

A bill approved by the previous government covering stray dogs has too many gaps lawmakers said on Wednesday after they discussed making changes to it.

In statements after the House environment committee meeting Diko MP Chrysanthos Savvides said the “bill does not solve but creates problems”.

In an hour-long discussion he said they had only got as far as paragraph B on article 2. “This highlights how many loopholes this bill has,” he added.

The session also addressed the serious problem of the pack of stray dogs in the municipality of Strovolos.

“We have received complaints from parents of students who use either the Linear Park or Ayios Demetrios park during the start or end of the school day that they encountered these dogs. We ask for everyone’s cooperation so that the problem with the pack of dogs is solved so that we do not have any victims from it,” Savvides added.

He said municipalities must also have the means to control strays.

“Let me give you an example. There is currently no anaesthetic dart gun in Cyprus, although it is advertised. Therefore, hitting an animal, a dog, with anaesthetic since they cannot collect it with any trap, this means does not exist. But let them sit down soon and provide solutions to this issue,” he concluded.