Snake George Reptile Centre Closed in 2009

SNAKE George has closed the doors of his Paphos reptile park for the last time in January 2009.

Since then he has been trying to find an alternative site.

Update: 8 February 2010

According to a web cast on Youtube last week by Paphos News Broadcaster, LINTV, George is exploring a good possibility in Tsada and LINTV said that it may be open by April of this year !!

Here is the closure story from the Cyprus Mail in early 2009 by way of background.

An emotional Snake George (Hans-Jorg Wiedl) told the Cyprus Mail that there was no other choice.

I closed the park on January 1 and this was a very difficult thing for me to do. No one can understand how difficult, he said.

Snake George set up the reptile park in Ayios Georgios in Paphos in 1996. He had previously been in Cyprus as a member of the UNFICYP in the 1970s. The 65-year-old Austrian is an expert on snakes and reptiles.

Snake George rediscovered the Cyprus grass snake, which had been believed extinct for the last 40 years, and also proved that the blunt nose viper lays eggs, and doesnt give birth to live young as had previously been thought.

The snakes in the park are rescue snakes and those removed from peoples gardens. Cypriots widely hold a fear of snakes, and Dave Roach, who helped out at the park, believes this is why numerous obstacles to relocate the facility have been raised.

He’s spent around €120,000 on not moving, claimed Roach. Hes gone as far as paying for architects and diggers. We were very close to having a new site recently, as there was land available in Tala close to the monastery. But the mayor of Tala turned up with a petition of 1,500 signatures of people who didnt want the park there.

He added, Cypriots seem to be very anti-snake, because they don’t understand them. But they’re happy to call us out if they want one removed from their back gardens.

People don’t want the park close to them, because they think the snakes will escape, and this isn’t so.

Roach admitted, George is running out of steam. People have been so kind in the past and now they really need to help. We need to find some land in Paphos, and quickly.

There were around 150 snakes at the park, which George had to release back into the wild, with the exception of a few hibernating grass snakes.

It broke my heart, he said. But the conditions were right and the weather was warm, and I hope they will have the chance to survive.

Roach continued, George had a breeding plan for the Cyprus grass snake. Because of peoples ignorance, are they prepared to see a species die out?

Snakes play an important role in the ecosystem and Roach believes without them there would be a huge problem with unwanted vermin in Cyprus.

We live in a hot country and people put rubbish out for collection. We would be knee deep in rats and mice if it werent for the snake, he said.

Snake George is also well known and respected for his attempts to protect the Cyprus environment. He was nominated for the 2008 Paphos heart of gold award because of it.

In Austria I was a ranger, I love nature and I like to protect things, he said. When I was in the peacekeeping forces in Cyprus, I saw how snakes were treated here, and I thought I had to do something to help.

He continued, I took a ten-year lease out on the land, and I built the snake park. The landowner let it to me for a further three years, but now he needs the land back as he is going to develop it. This is fair enough, he added. But for the last three years, Ive been trying to find a suitable piece of land to relocate to, but all I get are empty promises. First it was the land opposite the park, then in Peyia, Tala and Yeroskipou. Promises are made, and then at the last moment, nothing happens.

On a more positive note, Phil Neville, who owns a boat yard in Polis Chrysochous has donated a 1,000m2 of land to Snake George. This will be used to house a permanent snake exhibition in Polis, to inform the general public about snakes, but wont have any live reptiles.

He will be able to have an exhibition here for at least the next decade, and we hope to continue to help and support George to find another site for the park, said Neville. People are always trying to charge him lots of money for this venture; they dont seem to understand hes an environmentalist.

Snake George would like to continue with his breeding programme, and is concerned for the future of the Cyprus grass snake.

Im doing this for Cyprus. These snakes aren’t mine, they live here and I want to protect them. I cant pay the amounts of money some people want for rent, he said.

Roach is of the opinion that the government or the EU should provide funding for the park.

This park isn’t a money making venture, said Roach, its to help the environment, and give information, although its also a popular place to visit.

Snake George added, I’m in 32 European guidebooks, and the park has thousands of visitors every year. A lot of damage has been done, and a lot of people are disappointed. Im ringing round everyone to tell them Im closed. Its heartbreaking.

There are people who may think I will give up. But Im not going to lie down and take it. I wont give up, I will continue to try and find suitable land, I will fight on.

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