Anyone who wants to understand how the Cypriot state works can skip the inquiry findings and official reports. Just tune in to the Melios Zoo Park saga. It has been running for at least 20 years. That’s longer than even Foskolos’s legendary soaps managed. ‘Lampsi’ lasted 14 seasons. ‘Kalimera Zoi’ managed 13.
And what a script ours has. Complaints, warnings, licences, court cases, and government departments batting responsibility back and forth like a game of ping-pong. Through it all, what ends up as feed for the animals is the credibility of a state run like a village coffee shop.
The bear’s recent escape has brought the show back for another series, and with it everything we have been hearing for years. The director of the Veterinary Services, Christodoulos Pipis, has made serious allegations about the facilities, the licensing and the import of animals. He spoke of unauthorised development, state-owned plots being fenced off and failure to comply with Town Planning Department instructions. He also said the zoo’s licence expired in 2017.
But here’s the outrageous bit. While all this is being alleged by the very officials responsible, the place is still open.
This is not a piece of paperwork that went missing in a drawer somewhere. It is a case that has been in the public eye for two decades, involving wild animals, safety concerns and court proceedings. And the farce? The state cannot settle the most basic question of all: what exactly is allowed to operate on the site, and on what terms?
The state, of course, always has an explanation. One department points to another. The Town Planning Department has its procedures. The Veterinary Services have theirs. The District Officer, theirs. And now the District Local Government Organisation (DLGO) has joined the cast of those responsible.
So, somewhere between the letters, the legal opinions and the court rulings, the substance simply vanishes. Everyone knows something. Everyone has something to say. Everyone is pointing somewhere. Nobody is solving the problem. In Cyprus it has become a rule of thumb: everyone has a remit, nobody has the responsibility.
It is not our job to decide whether the park is legal or illegal. That is a matter for the law, the licences and the courts. But the public wants answers and results. Final and clear-cut.
If laws are being broken, why is nothing being done? If there are court rulings, why are they not being enforced? If the lines of responsibility are tangled, why has nobody untangled them in all these years? If the law has gaps, why have successive governments and the relevant authorities not bothered to close them?
Legality and the rule of law are not a menu from which we pick what to apply today and what to save for tomorrow. For citizens who play by the rules, this is infuriating. Anyone who runs a business without the right licences ends up on the wrong side of the law. And rightly so.
So how is it that, in this one case, various state departments have spent years raising the alarm about serious problems, yet no decisive action has been taken? The law cannot be strict for some and up for negotiation for others.
The Melios Zoo Park is certainly not the biggest problem Cyprus has. But it is a mirror held up to everything that ails it. A mirror of a state hobbled by incompetent administration. A state that mistakes official correspondence for institutional responsibility. A state that cannot tell the difference between enforcing the law and issuing press releases.
Countless times, we have watched the park’s legal status called into question. Countless times, we have heard state officials say it is illegal. Countless times, we have watched government departments talk about animals being imported illegally. Countless times, we have heard its owner hit back at those departments with claims of his own. And all the while, we have heard plenty of talk about court action and rulings. The astonishing thing? Twenty years on, it is still open for business.
If the state machine cannot, in two decades, shut down a park that its own departments say is illegal, then the state itself had better shut up shop.
The bear was on the loose for a few hours. The real problem has been on the loose for years. It wears a tie, carries files around and hides behind departmental nameplates. The conclusion is now staring us in the face. Having European laws is not enough. We need a European state too.
If the authorities decide the site must close, let them enforce the law. Truth be told, they should have done it 20 years ago. Enough of the ping-pong over who is responsible. In the end, the question is not how the bear got out of its cage. It is how an entire state managed to lock itself inside the cage of its own incompetence for 20 years.
