Want to adopt a lion?

FOR THOSE daring people out there dreaming of adopting a pet lion or camel, the waiting is finally over.

In a bid to salvage the Limassol zoo, backed by little state financial help compared to other countries, the city’s municipality has announced an adoption programme for all the animal and bird life on the site.

Prospective “foster parents” can be anything from individuals, families, school classes, clubs, foundations and companies. Adoption is for one year, with the fees corresponding to the cost of feeding and maintaining the animal. In return, foster parents are given a photograph of their pet, a sticker and one year’s free entrance to the zoo.

Fees start at £30 per year for smaller animals, such as canaries, hamsters and rabbits, going up to a hefty £1,500 for lions, bears and tigers. The lucky ‘parents’ will be issued an adoption certificate.

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.