The competent authorities will inspect Melios Zoo within the month to identify which facilities must be demolished under existing court rulings. The state is prepared to take over the care of the animals if the owner does not act. On Monday, the Director General of the Veterinary Services, Christodoulos Pipis, said the Nicosia District Local Government Organisation (EOA) is the body responsible for enforcing the court decision.
Mr Pipis was speaking after a meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture with the five livestock farmers affected by foot-and-mouth disease in recent months. The Director General of Agriculture and Rural Development at the Ministry, Andreas Grigoriou, and other officials also attended.
Court rulings and responsibility for enforcement
Mr Pipis said the process for handling the case has already been set in motion. He said it is based on the decision of the Supreme Court and a second decision of the Court of Appeal.
“The decisions of the courts are a given, and on the basis of the Supreme Court ruling and the second Court of Appeal ruling, the entire process for managing the matter has already been set in motion,” he said.
He explained that the EOA was the plaintiff in the case. “In this case, the plaintiff authority is the EOA, so within this framework, the party directly responsible for implementing the court’s decision is the EOA,” he said.
Inspection to identify structures for demolition
According to Mr Pipis, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Interior and the EOA have already coordinated with the services involved to assist the EOA in handling the case.
Representatives of the competent services will visit the Melios Zoo premises. There, EOA officials will show them on site which facilities fall under the court decision and must be demolished.
“This is so that we, in turn, can ask him [the owner] to clarify what he intends to do with the animals currently living in these facilities,” Mr Pipis said.
He said the inspection would take place “within days, within the month”.
State intervention if the owner does not act
Mr Pipis said the state would step in if the owner does not take action.
“If he does not act accordingly, the state will intervene, take over the management, and ensure the animals are placed with suitable, approved and licensed organisations for this purpose,” he said.
He set out the questions now facing the owner. “What does Mr Melios intend to do about the decision? The facilities must be demolished. What will he do with the animals inside them? To which organisations will he hand them over? Because we are talking about bears, tigers, hyenas and lynxes. These are not animals that someone can say they will keep as a personal collection,” he said.
He added that this is the procedure provided for by law.
Planning legality at the root of the case
Responding to a question, Mr Pipis said the case does not concern animal welfare.
“No animal welfare issue has been raised. What has been raised over time is the issue of the legality of Mr Melios’s actions from a planning perspective,” he said.
“The problem does not start with the animals. The problem starts with planning issues and ends up affecting the animals, so to solve the problem of the animals, the planning issue must first be settled.”
Status of the premises
Mr Pipis also rejected the owner’s description of the site. He said that “Melios Zoo is not a farm, as declared” by the owner of the premises, Melios Menelaou.
“Mr Melios has his own version of things,” he said.
