Karydaki

Horse’s plight highlights vet services inaction
By Joe Lewis

THE STORY of an abused horse that was left to die while Veterinary Services arrived six hours after an emergency call has outraged locals and led to accusations that the offices do little to punish animal cruelty.

An anonymous caller to the paper said she was in the Larnaca district on Thursday morning when she saw an obviously ill horse lying motionless in a paddock, with flies circling over its body. Her first thought was that the animal was dead but as she moved closer the horse opened its eyes and lifted its head.

“It was in a disgusting state, and the fact that it was still alive was awful,” she said.

The vet was called immediately, it being obvious that the distressed animal would have to be put down. After six and a half hours of waiting the vet finally arrived, but the horse had already died. The only action taken against the owner came in the form of a list of information on how to look after horses and an order to have the horse buried by the next day.

The woman, who looks after many horses herself, was sure that this was a case of neglect.

She went on to say that owner has ten horses and that in her opinion they are in a terrible state.

“This is what really upsets me. He has a lot of horses, and if he can’t keep them in decent condition them he shouldn’t have them. He is not a poor man, and so he has no excuse for keeping these horses in such conditions.”

This is no isolated incident, with the source claiming that the man has been reported to the authorities several times, but with little or no action taken in response. “I think the services are more concerned about dogs than horses, and they never seem to do anything about cruelty.”
Toulla Poyadji from the Cyprus Society for the Protection of Cruelty of Animals (CSPCA), said that there is a real problem with the mistreatment of horses in Cyprus, and the authorities do little to help.

“We get around 500 cases a year relating to cruelty to horses. Out of this 500, only one – if any – will be prosecuted by the authorities.”

Poyadji said that in terms of the owners, it is a combination of misinformation and irresponsibility, with the racing fraternity only feeding the problem.

According to Poyadji, a couple of hundred racehorses are retired every year, often sold or given away to irresponsible people, who have little or no experience in looking after such animals. “I believe that it is the racing community’s responsibility to do something about this,” said Poyadji.

A law for the protection of animals that was implemented 12 years ago, which should allow mistreatment of animals to be a prosecutable offence. But many believe that the law is not being properly implemented.

The Green Party recently released a statement in which they said, “following the implementation of law for the protection of animals, the government and animal welfare authorities have failed to apply the legislation to a satisfactory degree.

“The Veterinary Services have not done enough to convince us that the right steps have been taken in the way we look at animal welfare and we will undertake a campaign to educate the public on animal rights under EU law. Everybody should know the law and it is the government’s responsibility to inform the public.”

There is also little given in the way of public finance for the protection of animal welfare, with the CSPCA receiving only £1,800 a year form the government.