The Cypriot cat shelter has become a hero of the French news: the AFP agency released a story about an unprecedented – about 30% – increase in the number of abandoned animals. Animal rights activists attribute this increase to the pandemic: many foreigners left Cyprus, but did not take their cats with them.

In the cat shelter in Tala village near Paphos there are about 800 residents. As explained to reporters by a representative of the institution, some owners of cats and cats, which were forced to leave Cyprus coronavirus in their native countries, could not take their pets with them just for lack of money. The pandemic has deprived many of their income, and the international transportation of animals is quite expensive, including the execution of all documents and the purchase of a special air ticket.

The number of stray cats in Cyprus is also growing at the expense of local residents – they throw away animals, deprived of the opportunity to feed and treat them.

The coronavirus has also taken away some of the options for rehoming and rehoming cats from volunteers. Activists are no longer able to find new homes for their animals abroad, and because of restrictions in the country itself, shelters are not open to people who want to find a pet.