Environment Commissioner Antonia Theodosiou on Tuesday spreading awareness for animal adoption during the holiday period, underlining a dog is not just for Christmas.

She was speaking to students from the Chryseleousa primary school in Strovolos who visited the SIMBA dog shelter.

“Through information and awareness-raising actions we aim to shape an animal-friendly culture, starting with children and youth. For this reason, I am particularly happy that today we have young students with us, so that together we can offer a warm Christmas hug to the dogs,” Theodosiou said.

She said that during the holidays many of these animals are given as gifts and a lot of times they get abandoned, which she described a troubling phenomenon.

The government has proposed €1.5 million for the years 2024-2029, working out as €250,000 every year, to create facilities in each province for the temporary care of stray dogs.

“As a state, we are called upon to make greater efforts to develop strategies and mechanisms that will lead to the elimination of animal abandonment, to control their reproduction through sterilisation, to terminate their illegal trade and issuance of ownership licences,” she added.

“We are taking actions to make regional shelters, while the creation of the Nicosia shelter is just around the corner while Strovolos municipality is already coordinating the expansion and licensing of the shelter, so that state funding can be utilised,” she concluded.