On Friday the 29th July 2011 we had press from all over cyprus as well as some international tv crews. Please find below article in the Cyprus mail on the 30th July 2011.

TWO SEVEN-month old lion cubs arrived at Paphos Animal and Bird Park after a sixteen hour flight from South Africa late Wednesday and began settling into their new home yesterday. They are currently the only lions in Cyprus.

Dias and Hera are the names given to the two lions by park founder Christos Christoforou,

“Many people have been asking us to get lions for a long time and we are all so happy to finally have them here with us. They are so friendly and playful and settled into their new enclosure immediately,” he said.

“They are very beautiful creatures and we now have our first cats at the park,” he said adding, “We will get some more lions from a zoo in Denmark, they will be arriving in the middle of September.”

He stressed that all of the relevant permissions and licences from the Cyprus veterinary department regarding the lions, had been issued to the park and that the inspectors were ‘very happy’ with the enclosure and other provisions which have been made for the lions.

Christoforou says all of the birds and animals at the park are ‘like his children,’ his first love is his extensive collection of birds which is the third largest in Europe.

The park was originally started to house Christoforou’s private collection of birds, but says he decided to open the park to the public and to educate the local community about the importance of caring and conserving all bird and animal life.

Paphos bird and Animal Park took three years to construct and opened in September 2003.