By Heidi Trautmann

On Friday October 12 many animal lovers came together in front of the Parliament in Nicosia to protest against a new law which permits the collecting and killing of stray animals. The protest was organized by "Sevimli Dostlar Derneği/Cute Friends Society" in Nicosia. The President of the association, Mrs. Oya Demirsöz, spoke to us and for the audience of five TV stations which were present and other newspaper journalists.

I went there to join the group in front of the Parliament to see and hear what they have to say.

It is a fact that we have many stray dogs but is it the fault of the dogs? The domestic animals are not well treated by many, another fact is that hunters ‘lose’ their dogs to run wild, a further fact: people who chain their dogs to trees and never release them, summer and winter, day and night; animal shelters such as KAR (Kyrenia Animal Rescue) are full and cannot take on any more.

There are other ways of restricting the number of stray animals by sterilizing them.

The new law coming into force on October 15, 2012, makes the killing of animals running free legal; it also permits to use the animals in laboratories for research.

So you better watch out if you are the holder of animals that your pets are not caught or shot on the spot or land in laboratory cages.

The protest was organized by "Sevimli Dostlar Derneği/Cute Friends Society " in Nicosia and you can get further information from Oya Demirsöz, President of the association. (Tel : 0533 868 97 67)