Melios Zoo in Agioi Trimithias, from which a bear recently escaped, continues to operate without a zoo operating licence or planning permit, according to official records, amid a dispute with the authorities dating back to 2008.
The escape ended without incident. The park still admits visitors and runs a website advertising animals and birds, some of them for sale.
Court decisions are outstanding on halting the use of cages built without permits, on unlicensed plots and on neighbouring state land where deer are kept, and on demolishing them.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, together with the Nicosia District Local Government Organisation (DLGO) and the Veterinary Services, is drawing up a plan to remove the animals and manage the situation. The authorities say the premises are not licensed and the state cannot guarantee the safety of visitors. The owner, for his part, repeatedly files complaints with the police against the authorities.
Two decades of incidents
The owner’s dispute with the Veterinary Services spans almost two decades and has involved a series of incidents that ended up in court, according to the official records.
In 2008, lions and jaguars were imported from the Netherlands or Germany without approved facilities to house them. The animals stayed in a lorry at Limassol port and were re-exported.
In 2010, 20 caiman crocodiles were imported from the Netherlands without suitable holding facilities. When the owner refused to arrange for them to be sent back, the Veterinary Services seized and euthanised them.
In 2016, the owner tried to import three white lions from Poland. The authorities initially stopped the flight, but the animals were later brought in illegally and placed on an unlicensed plot. An administrative fine of 5,000 euros was imposed for the breach, which the Administrative Court upheld in December 2022.
In 2023, two bears without accompanying documents were found at the premises.
The zoo’s history
Melios Zoo Park was first licensed on 26 September 2012 for five years, until 25 September 2017. The licence covered a specific list of approved species and came with conditions, including keeping a register of animals, holding third-party liability insurance and providing suitable living conditions.
The licence expired on 25 September 2017 and was not renewed because of non-compliance with the law, including the lack of a register and failure to renew the insurance, as well as planning violations. The owner challenged the decision, but first the Administrative Court and then the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Republic, upholding the refusal to renew the licence.
Despite convictions in criminal courts following complaints by the Veterinary Services, the penalties imposed proved no deterrent and the site has continued to operate, according to the official records. The Ministry of Education has been formally informed so that school visits to the site are prevented.
The owner had been registered since 2004 in the Register of Traders and Businesses for intra-Community trade. According to the records, he exploited that status to bring wild and exotic animals into Cyprus under the guise of the zoo or a pet shop, without the required prior approvals and health checks.
On 4 July 2017, the Veterinary Services permanently removed him from the register. He challenged the decision, but on 20 December 2022 the Administrative Court dismissed his appeal. It found that the Veterinary Services had acted on the basis of established illegalities and the illegal use of premises for trading in animals.
The records also show that he would send notifications of incoming consignments outside working hours or over long weekends and public holidays. He also imported animals through intra-Community trade without notifying the TRACES system, presenting the authorities with a fait accompli.
Plans to remove the animals
In 2025, the agriculture ministry, the Department of Environment, the Department of Forests, the Game and Fauna Service and the Veterinary Services decided to draw up a plan to resolve the animal protection issue for good. They contacted international animal welfare organisations about possibly removing the animals.
However, many of the animals were found to have no accompanying documents and could not be taken in by those organisations. The authorities therefore decided to record the animals through an inspection, though without an exact record of the species and number of animals in each enclosure, or for all species.
In May 2026, amid the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and after court decisions ordering the demolition of certain enclosures, the Nicosia DLGO, the ministry and the Veterinary Services met to coordinate a plan to remove the animals, at least from the enclosures covered by the demolition order. The Veterinary Services were then sent a plan of the enclosures to be demolished, to record the species there and prepare a management plan.
Under Regulatory Administrative Act (KDP) 95/2021, which regulates the keeping and sale of animals under the Animal Protection and Welfare Laws of 1994 to 2025, the owner was required to declare to the Veterinary Services all the animals in his possession that may not legally be kept. The deadline, which included a transition period, expired in 2021. He has not declared them. He no longer appears to be importing large wild animals for the zoo, at least not himself.
The pet shop
The pet shop operated on the same plot, although the law required it to be kept completely separate from the zoo.
