Thank you Mr Mayor

So often we go through life believing that people in authority do not care about simple things that mean a lot to people.

I was reminded by this today when I walked through Girne and as I turned the corner into the town square close to the Girne Municipality building I spotted a piece of equipment that had just been installed by the Municipality and this was a posh white enamelled animal feeding station with a tray for water and a tray for food.

Well now that was a surprise and I am sure will draw comments from people and some will favour it and some won’t.

I called into the Municipality building to find out about this and learned that it is a new project with a number of these feeding stations being placed in areas where many tourists or visitors pass by and also eat. Stray animals have always been a problem and it is not acceptable to eradicate them so the Municipality are trying an option of placing feeding stations close to areas where people pass but away from public eating areas.

Now I have a dog and my partner loves cats but I do resent either getting under my feet when I am eating at an outdoor restaurant. This happens because they are encouraged to take scraps from the table by some diners. So this initiative is ideal as visitors and restaurants alike can take their scraps and water to the local feeding station which may just encourage animals to stay away from the public eating areas.

Mr Sumer Aygin, Mayor of Girne Municipality, if I could, you would get my vote for some very impressive projects both large and small that are being introduced locally.

As I walked away from the square and into the old Baldöken Ottoman cemetery on the way to the car park I spotted another feeding station which may cause a few rows between the local birds that cluster there and the visiting cats.

By Chris Elliott