Demonstrators say protests will continue until zoo is closed down

Demonstrators at Limassol zoo on Sunday said they would continue their protests until the facility is closed down.

“We’re not kidding. We cannot let animals live in these conditions. Animals are not criminals who have been caged. People want a public garden with greenery, not one full of concrete,” president of The Animal Party Kyriakos Kyriacou said.

He added that many animals have died in the zoo.

The protest was held by The Animal Party, the Movement of Ecologists and the citizens’ group The Garden is Ours.

Protestors had planned to deliver a memorandum outlining their demands to Limassol mayor Nicos Nicolaides but he did not attend so they handed it to a representative instead.

They will wait to hand it to the mayor himself, Kyriakou said.

“The memorandum will be given at the next protest, which will take place in January 2023,” he added.

The memorandum states, among other things, that the people of Limassol “thirst for greenery, for a place that is not used only for festivals once a year, such as the wine festival.”

It also asks the Limassol Municipality to “take the brave decision to close the Limassol Zoo and put an end to the misery, pain and lack of freedom for innocent animals”.

The protest came after a deer died at the zoo last week.

The deer’s antlers were caught in a metal mesh that was around a tree, which should not have been there, according to The Animal Party.

This resulted to the animal’s “slow and agonising death” which shows the “unacceptable negligence and irresponsibility of people in charge,” the party added.

Berton the Savvanah cat which was taken to Limassol and then Paphos zoo also died recently while there have been incidents of animals found in a garbage dump in Vati.