Cyprus: The island of cats has a cat problem

Officials in Cyprus, the small island nation in the eastern corner of the Mediterranean, estimate there is roughly one feral cat for every one of its 1 million inhabitants — though activists contend the actual population is hundreds of thousands higher.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

In late September, the island's parliamentary committee on the environment was told that an existing sterilisation programme is too limited to contain the burgeoning cat population.

“It's a good programme, but it needs to expand,” said Environment Commissioner Antonia Theodosiou, noting that the programme conducts only about 2,000 sterilisations annually on a budget of just 100,000 euros (USD 117,000).

While there is no official comparative data, Theodosiou said Cyprus has gained a reputation for having a cat population that is exceptionally large relative to its human inhabitants.

Change might be on the way, but funding alone won't solve Cyprus's cat problem.