Hunting Dogs - Dogs Breeds

A NICOSIA dog owner has been left devastated after thieves broke into his home and stole three of his hunting dogs. The animals, valued at around a total €23,940, are thought to have been the man’s pride and joy. “When you have hunting dogs the connection you have with them is greater than the one you have with any other dog,” the owner said. He is said to be distraught since the break-in occurred sometime between 8.30pm on Monday and 1am on Tuesday. The dog owner was out of the house when his dogs, two Vizslas and a Beagle, were taken.

According to police the thieves knew exactly where to find the dogs which were kept in metal cages in the underground parking lot of his apartment building. The dog owner said the thieves must have come well prepared as the cage were secure and it would have been no easy feat to release the dogs without anyone in the busy neighbourhood noticing anything. “It was a coincidence that on that day and during those times no one was in,” he said.

Nicosia CID officers were dispatched to the scene to gather evidence which was sent for forensic testing. Police said yesterday that hunting dogs, over other dogs, were more commonly stolen. “This is possibly because they are well trained,” an officer said. Investigators are examining the scenario that the dogs were taken by someone known to their owner. It is thought the thieves’ intention is to sell the valuable dogs for a hefty profit. Meanwhile on Tuesday a group of Acropolis Lyceum students in Nicosia handed over a petition of 1,000 signatures to parliament protesting the incidences of dog poisonings in Cyprus. The petition was accepted by House Education Committee Chairman and Green party deputy George Perdikis during a special event in the Plenum Room. The deputies congratulated the student for undertaking such an important step and added their own names to the petition, stressing the need to protect and respect animals.

The students’ initiative began during the previous school year as part of the Animal Lovers Club programme. By December the teens had succeeded in collecting 548 signatures. The group then took to the streets and in one day on Makarios Avenue they managed to gather the remaining signatures from passersby whom they informed about their initiative and the widespread use of certain poisons to kill animals in Cyprus, despite the fact that these poisons had already been criminalised in the European Union. During yesterday’s event Perdikis undertook to add another 9,000 signatures to the existing 1,000 which the Green party had managed to gather in a similar campaign. All 10,000 would then be taken to parliament with the purpose of securing a bill to combat the phenomenon.

Source: Cyprus-Mail.com

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