The House Plenary approved two major sets of amendments on Thursday to make, what MPs argued, the Dogs Law more practical for citizens and hunters while maintaining a total ban on euthanasia.
The first key change, aimed at addressing systemic “unworkability,” targets provisions in the recently passed legislation to prevent the over-penalisation of law-abiding owners. The second set of amendments introduces a financial incentive: allowing hunters to register up to four dogs under a single license without paying additional fees.
The revisions also secure the status of assistance dogs and uphold mandatory microchipping, but they move to strip away what lawmakers described as “anachronistic” clauses that could have led to the killing of healthy strays.
Despite the approval, the session was dominated by a consensus that legislation remains without state-funded infrastructure.
Lawmakers from across the aisle blasted the government and local authorities for failing to build the shelters necessary to house the growing stray population, leaving animal welfare volunteers to carry the state’s burden.
The debate grew particularly heated over the role of the executive branch.
Ecologists MP Charalampos Theopemptou accused the state for allowing unregulated dog sales to continue, while AKEL’s Giorgos Loukaides highlighted that local authorities cannot comply with the law if they have nowhere to take abandoned animals.
DISY members, though supporting the changes for hunters, warned that the legislation still lacks the municipal support required to be effective.
Ultimately, the amendments passed through two separate votes.
The proposal by ELAM and DIKO MPs was approved with 24 votes in favour, while the AKEL-Green Party initiative received 29 votes.
While the amendments provide immediate relief for the hunting community and remove certain bureaucratic hurdles, lawmakers concluded that the Republic’s animal welfare crisis will not be solved by legislation alone.