JEDDAH, 27 February 2008 — For the first time in Saudi Arabia, a municipal council held a public hearing yesterday. The hearing involved Jeddah’s Beautiful Creatures Zoo, a privately held animal park that is partially residing on government property.

“We called 20 people living near the zoo to share their complaints and opinions during the meeting along with the owner and people who are supporting the zoo,” said Dr. Hussein Al-Bar, a member of the Municipal Council, adding that the city council would like to hold more public hearings in the future.

“In Islam we are obliged to hear both parties in order to get a clear and neutral picture of any situation and that would be the method of the council,” he said.

The municipality would like to see the zoo relocated because a residential area has come up around it over the years as a result of the city’s rapid growth. The zoo is located in Jeddah’s Al-Rihab district, west of the Madinah Ring Road.

Some locals are now complaining of noises, bad smells and vermin caused by the zoo. The zoo’s owner disputes these complaints and says he would like to come to some agreement that would allow the zoo to remain where it is.

Yesterday was the first time the owner officially came out publicly to address directly the concerns of the community. Municipal officials and the media have withheld the name of the zoo’s owner.

Al-Bar pointed out that not everyone in the vicinity support razing the zoo. “We have a paper signed by 100 children requesting the continuation of the zoo,” said Al-Bar. “And many people say that the zoo is one of the few entertaining and educational places in Jeddah,” he said.

Al-Bar said that the council would send a couple of members to the area to conduct a door-to-door survey to gauge public opinion on the presence of the zoo in their neighborhood. He said that they would also investigate the situation to clarify the accuracy of the charges.

“We want to assess the situation and opinions of all the people living near the zoo and see how big or small the damage is,” he said.

After making the survey and assessing the situation from a clear view, the council said it would issue its final recommendation. The next meeting would be held on Sunday after the survey and investigation.

On Feb. 9, city contractors began demolishing the portion of the zoo located on government property but stopped after the Municipal Council intervened and said they were still reviewing the case.

The Municipal Council held an emergency meeting on Feb. 11 that temporarily suspended orders to close the zoo until the council could complete its investigation.

Municipal spokesperson Ahmad Al-Ghamdi told Arab News then that the order to close the zoo had come from the governor’s office.

Now it seems that the decision will involve the first public hearing for a municipal council.

In 2005, Saudi Arabia instituted elections of half of the members of the Kingdom’s municipal council. All men over the age of 21 were allowed to cast ballots. Government officials have indicated that women would be allowed to vote in these elections in the future.

Public participation is not anything new in Arab culture, which has long placed a high value on the concept of majlis (council) where members of a community come together to reach consensus on issues that affect them.