The Federation of Environmental Organisations of Cyprus (OPOK) called on the state on Tuesday to stop tolerating the operation of Melios Zoo Park, after a bear escaped from its enclosure on Saturday, October 10. Any action should put the animals’ protection and welfare first, it said.
The escape prompted a police response and warnings to residents from the Palaiometochos community council. The bear returned to its enclosure with no injuries reported, and the owner says it stayed near the facility. The federation said the absence of injuries did not remove the need to investigate how the escape happened and what was needed to prevent it happening again.
Concerns about how animals are kept at the park are not new, OPOK said. In a letter on August 30, 2023, the federation and other environmental and animal welfare groups raised concerns about how the park’s two brown bears were kept, their living conditions and the relevant licences. They also asked for an immediate check on whether the site was fenced well enough “so that the animals do not escape and lives are not threatened”.
Any inspection should cover the safety of the facilities as well as the animals’ living conditions and welfare, the federation said. It also called for the public to be told what checks were carried out after the 2023 letter, what they found and what corrective action was taken.
The park’s zoo licence has not been renewed since 2017, OPOK added, citing public statements by the director of the Veterinary Services on Monday, October 12. The owner says the facility still receives visitors.
