‘Message to the young’ on World Animal Day
THE need to make the world a better place for all animals has been marked in the TRNC with celebrations for World Animal Day which set out to underline the message to some of the country’s youngest.
Activities for last Thursday’s special day including a parade by second-year pupils from 23 Nisan Primary School in Girne, during which the children wore animalthemed masks and held banners urging animal protection and slogans such as “They have the right to live too”, “Love nature, protect animals” and “Animals are our friends”. Headmistress Bingül Fırat said the event helped to raise more awareness among the children about animal welfare.
Pupils at the Girne American Nursery School were visited by members of the Cyprus Animal Rights Society, including a fourlegged friend, Leo, They learned about a book, Leo’s Sunday Trips, which has been published to raise funds for the charity, and heard how the money was used to provide treatment, food and shelter for rescued animals. A donation of pet food and a framed picture of late TRNC founding President Rauf Denktaş, a great animallover, was handed over to the group by the Denktaş Foundation.
Deniz Osman Cin, of the Golden Paws Association, paid a visit to Necat British College, where she explained to primary school pupils how to care for animals and answered questions about the youngsters’ own pets. Cat and dog food was also donated to the charity to help needy animals.
Golden Paws also held a sale last Saturday at the Lefkoşa Turkish Municipality-run animal shelter in the capital, raising 1,200TL from stalls and receiving donations of 700kg of pet food from individual and business supporters.
Mayor Mehmet Harmancı thanked all who attended, and volunteer helpers, NGOs and political parties for supporting the shelter, and said the most important part of the day had been to see how much “love” was shown for the animals.
The week also saw a visit to the shelter by children from the Yeşilyurt Special Needs Centre, who were hosted on a day trip by the municipality for some fourlegged fun with animals there.
Kyrenia Animal Rescue also had more visitors to its Arapköy rescue kennels on Tuesday, when 40 Year Three students from Girne American International Prep School also brought along gifts of dry and canned pet food.
The charity said the youngsters had been very “excited” to see the animals and learn about why they were there, how the centre cared for them and what would happen to them in future. All were thanked for visiting and making the animals “happy”.