Animal welfare volunteers across Cyprus are receiving death threats and being attacked — the result of unverified cat-theft rumours that went viral on social media while police ignored complaints. Parliament’s Environment Committee heard the fallout this week.
It started with a complaint on 25 January about cats reportedly removed from a supermarket car park. The complaint went to police, the Veterinary Services and the district animal welfare committee the same day. No response came. A follow-up letter sent on 3 February was also ignored, the committee was told.
Dinos Agiomamitis, president of the Cat Protection and Welfare Association, told the committee that the police’s silence allowed online rumours to multiply. Theories circulating on social media included claims that cats were being stolen for sale to laboratories, for their fur, or for export abroad.
A rescuer told In-Cyprus that AI-generated images — showing rescuers loading cats onto aircraft or throwing them into vans — had gone viral, despite being fabricated. None of the allegations have been substantiated, and no supporting evidence for this was presented to the committee.
Mary Anastasi, president of the Voice for Animals federation, said there are various reasons cats may move or go missing, none of which necessarily point to deliberate theft. She confirmed, however, that police delays were a problem.
The rescue worker, speaking to In-Cyprus, dismissed the claims as “completely absurd,” pointing out that organisations sending cats abroad for adoption follow strict and costly procedures: Veterinary Services inspections, export and health certificates, microchip registration and, for the United Kingdom, DEFRA approval.
Dismissing suggestions that cats are being sold to laboratories in mainland Europe, she said: “There is no logic.”
Volunteers and rescuers at the committee session described the impact on their daily work. “Volunteers are now afraid to do their work and carry out trap-neuter-return programmes, fearing harassment, invasion of their privacy or accusations of stealing cats,” the rescue worker told Phileleftheros.
Konstantina Konstantinou of the SPD Cyprus dog shelter said several rescuers had received death threats and that some were afraid to go out at night to feed strays. Attacks had also taken place in the days before the committee session.
One volunteer described the online atmosphere as “mass hysteria,” saying anyone who questions the prevailing narrative becomes a target.
The committee also heard about a visit by members of the Nicosia District Animal Welfare Committee to a home that had been the subject of a complaint alleging a woman was keeping a large number of cats and dogs in poor conditions.
Around 50 to 60 cats were found in a clean, well-maintained environment with adequate food and water. No welfare violations were identified, Agiomamitis said.
A police representative told the committee that an investigation was under way but had not yet concluded, and that police take all such cases seriously. Committee chair Charalambos Theopemptou demanded police issue a public statement to reassure the public and ease tensions.
The Environment Commissioner’s office confirmed it received a complaint in early February about two cats removed from a supermarket car park in Latsia, and had written to the relevant police station requesting an update — without receiving a reply.
The Commissioner repeated a call for implementation of an action plan drawn up last August and submitted to the ministries of Justice, Health and the Interior.
The plan includes an online complaints platform with case-tracking, digital mapping of stray populations, and expanded sterilisation programmes — none of which have been implemented.
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