Plans to neuter some 70 cats living at the central prisons have stalled over the availability of €5,000 needed to carry out the procedure, the Animal Party said on Sunday.
The party said preparations for the programme had been completed in cooperation with the relevant authorities, including securing permission from the acting director of the central prisons.
It said its president had also contacted the relevant ministers, the environment commissioner and the veterinary services in an effort to coordinate the programme and set a date for the neutering.
However, according to the party, the project has been unable to proceed because funding of around €5,000 has yet to be secured.
The party described the situation as an example of excessive state bureaucracy, arguing that the relatively small sum was preventing an otherwise ready-to-implement programme from going ahead.
It said neutering the cats would help control their population, prevent uncontrolled breeding and improve animal welfare at the prison.
The party called on the state to find a legal and transparent mechanism to provide the necessary funding, saying it was not seeking preferential treatment or for established procedures to be bypassed.
It also called on President Nikos Christodoulides to intervene and ask the relevant authorities to find a solution.
The party said it was contradictory for the state to repeatedly acknowledge the need to tackle the stray animal population while being unable to proceed with a specific neutering initiative because of a relatively small amount of funding.
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