Minister of Justice and Public Order Ionas Nicolaou said on Friday that out of 107 cases of animal cruelty that have been investigated over the past three years, 63 of them have been dealt with by the Police over the past 18 months prior to 30 of September this year.
This, he pointed out, shows that the awareness demonstrated to ensure the health and welfare of animals begins to bear fruit.
In his address to an event on Welfare and Protection of Animals, the Minister of Justice said that there have been 40 convictions, while six cases are still under investigation.
He expressed hope that with the out-of-court settlement of offenses and in particular the penalties imposed immediately would help towards a more effective animal protection and increased public awareness of the need to protect animals.
Nicolaou said that the Cabinet has recently approved a bill amending the Dog Law and introducing new regulatory provisions that will make its implementation by the Local Authorities, the Veterinary Services and the police more effective and address the issue of lack of appropriate penalties.
Under the new law, the training or use of dogs for dog fights is prohibited as well as the use of materials or tools for training dogs for this purpose. Dog cruelty, abandonment and abuse are also prohibited as well as keeping a dog on roof tops, balconies and common playing grounds in apartment buildings.
The Minister of Justice said that the competent authority is required to maintain appropriate local, district or regional premises approved by the Director of Veterinary Services where to keep dogs, while dog owners are required to have collars on their dogs with the name or the telephone number of the owner written on them.
On his part, the Chief of Police Zacharias Chrysostomou said cases of animal cruelty continue to surprise the Police, adding that some cases show that some people think that animals do not suffer and have no feelings.
The Environment Commissioner Ioanna Panayiotou said the welfare of animals and people`s respect towards them is a matter of culture for a country and unfortunately European Cyprus seems to be short of legislation, responsibility to animals and their welfare.