Snake George awarded Austrian Cross of Honour

SNAKE George has been awarded the Cross of Honour, one of Austria’s highest accolades for science and art, for his contribution towards the protection of snakes and reptiles in Cyprus.

The 55-year-old Austrian, whose real name is Hans-Jorg Wiedl, will be presented with the award by the Austrian Ambassador to Athens at a ceremony in Nicosia in October.

“This was a big surprise for me,” said Wiedl, long nicknamed ‘Snake George’ by Paphos locals. “I’m very proud that the government in Austria wants to honour my work”.

Wiedl, who runs the Snake George Reptile Park near Peyia, said that his priority has always been to try to educate people about snakes.

Wiedl rediscovered the Cyprus grass snake some years ago and he also produced the ultimate evidence to prove a long-held theory that the blunt- nosed viper – a poisonous snake – is an egg-laying rather than live-bearing creature.

Snake George first came to Cyprus in 1973 as a soldier serving with Unficyp. After sustaining a land-mine injury during a subsequent peace keeping tour on the Golan he left the army.

After a further ten years in the Austrian civil service, during which time he visited Cyprus regularly, he decided in 1986 to return to the island and launch his campaign to preserve the island’s snakes and reptiles.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.