Cyprus Mail 22 October 2019 - article by Jonathan Shkurko
Police are implementing a monitoring system aimed at tackling animal abuse cases until the approval of the law setting up a special animal police unit, Chief Kypros Michaelides said on Tuesday.
In the interim, officers will be deployed around the country and will respond exclusively to animal abuse complaints. There have been 27 complaints so far this year.
The decision to introduce the measure comes after a meeting between Michaelides and Green Party leader George Perdikis at police headquarters in Nicosia.
After the meeting, Perdikis praised the police for their efforts in improving animal welfare in Cyprus.
However, he was concerned that the bill on an animal police unit had not been sent to the house environment committee but instead to the House legal committee, which he believes could lead to delays.
“We consider it important therefore that the system has been updated so as to monitor and deal with animal abuse cases. There have been 27 so far, the same number as last year.”
Perdikis also said the Green Party fully supported tougher penalties for traffic offences, despite many MPs being opposed to the proposed increase in fines.
Michailides expressed concern over the number of road fatalities and said efforts were underway to reduce them.
Other topics discussed during the meeting were the new police procedures to handle reports of missing people, as well as the handling of family violence, child pornography, sexual abuse and migration flows.
