Around 2,000 animals face being left without shelter as the Paphos Animal Shelter prepares to close after nearly 40 years of operation, with volunteers launching a protest on Friday, November 14, to demand urgent action from authorities.
The shelter, which houses donkeys, horses, dogs, cats, goats, rabbits, hedgehogs, guinea pigs and a pony named Jessica, must vacate the land after property owners requested its return. Volunteers say they have lost hope of finding an alternative solution.
“The shelter has operated for the last 40 years on land granted by two to three owners for the volunteers’ needs. Now the owners want their land back,” Irini Diamantopoulou, the shelter’s volunteer and education coordinator, told philenews.
“We’ve been waiting for some response, for someone to help us relocate the shelter and all the animals safely. All other shelters are overflowing and cannot accept more animals”.
According to Diamantopoulou, the shelter currently houses roughly 2,000 animals. Around 150 are donkeys and horses, whilst the remainder are dogs, cats, goats, rabbits, hedgehogs, guinea pigs and the pony.
Many were rescued from neglect, abuse and abandonment and have found safety, love and stability at the shelter.
When asked what will happen to the animals when the shelter closes, Diamantopoulou has no answer. “That’s our question too. We’re trying to see what will become of them. The shelter will close – there is no other way out. We can’t do anything else,” she said.
“We’re asking for help from the public. Either we need to be granted some space or some financial help so the shelter can relocate, because by law it must meet certain requirements,” she added.
Volunteers announced they will hold a peaceful protest on 14 November at 10am outside the Paphos District Court.
In their statement, they said they have worked tirelessly, day and night, often with limited resources, to provide food, medical care and comfort to every animal that passes through the shelter’s gates.
“We have built strong bonds of trust and love. To see these animals now being removed without a clear plan for their welfare or future is devastating,” they said, calling on authorities and the public to halt the eviction until proper, transparent and humane solutions exist. The welfare of these animals must come first, they added.
“We ask for society’s support – stand with us, raise your voice and show compassion for the thousands of innocent lives that depend on us. Help us protect them and ensure they remain safe, cared for and loved,” the volunteers said.
“These animals are not numbers – they are lives we have promised to protect”.
The Animal Party Cyprus said it stands with the shelter’s managers, describing it as a shelter with history that municipalities and communities have used.
Whilst it suited everyone, including local government, now that time has run out, no one is taking the serious responsibilities that arise from dog law 184(I)2002, which under article 7(1) states, “The competent authority is obliged to maintain approved and suitable facilities for the keeping of dogs,” the party said.
The party criticised the competent authorities, the state, parliament and the Commissioner for the Environment and Animal Welfare, saying they have failed tragically because they have not managed either to implement the legislation or, even after 23 years, to pass amendments to the dog law.
According to the party, there is a court order calling on the shelter’s managers to vacate immediately, meaning 2,000 animals must also leave the premises.
The Animal Party Cyprus urged the government and judiciary to suspend the order and find solutions through coordinated effort “so we don’t victimise innocent animals for a second time – animals that are there because of our own irresponsibility and the way we manage innocent animals who are not at fault for anything”.
The party addressed President Christodoulides, noting that Cyprus takes over the EU presidency in less than 50 days and that the image being projected is that the country is not European and “not the island of love, but of mismanagement and animal abuse”.
