Two things today have impinged on our life in Cyprus. The first is that our young cat, Jaz, was again bitten by a snake. We drove very quickly to Polis to see our lovely local vet, Yiannis, who injected her with anti-venom and another pain-killer (all for the princely sum of €20,00). This is the second and, hopefully, the last time this happens.
But another disturbing story was of a taverna owner near Paphos Airport who has been poisoning local animals with Lanate, a banned substance. I shall post a link to the Facebook page tomorrow, and I hope the bastard rots in hell.
Be aware that Cyprus has a dark side, through ignorance and possibly the teachings of the Greek Orthodox Church, regarding animal welfare. Do not come to live here unless you understand it.
Hi Martin,
ReplyDeleteI agree entirely with your sentiments regarding the taverna owner, and I truly hope that the buying power of Expats and their ability to quickly communicate with each other through Forums and social media ensures that he is put out of business.
However, I am a little perplexed at your reference to the Greek Orthodox Church attitudes towards dogs. Whilst I am no defender of them, this is the first I have heard about any such church teaching. I am, however, aware that Cyprus - once part of the Ottoman Empire - have a culturally ingrained fear of dogs as unclean creatures.
Wikipedia states:
Religion and culture
In Islam, dogs are viewed as unclean scavengers.[205] In 2015 in The Hague in the Netherlands, Hasan Küçük, a representative on The Hague city council for the Islam Democrats, called for the possession of dogs in The Hague to be criminalized.[208] In Lérida, Spain, two Islamic groups asked local officials to ban dogs from all areas frequented by Muslim immigrants, saying their presence violated the Muslims' religious freedom.[208] In Britain, police sniffer dogs trained to identify bombs carried by terrorists at train stations are no longer allowed to come into contact with Muslim passengers, following complaints that it was offensive to their religion.[208]
In Judaism, Jewish law does not prohibit keeping dogs and other pets.[209] Jewish law requires Jews to feed their dogs before themselves, and make arrangements for feeding them before first obtaining them.[209] In Christianity, dogs represent faithfulness.[205]
In Asian countries such as China, Korea, and Japan, dogs are viewed as kind protectors.[205] The role of the dog in Chinese mythology includes a position as one of the twelve animals which cyclically represent years (the zodiacal dog).
Source:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog