Council of State suspends closure of Pakawi Park enclosures ordered by Ben Weyts

The suspension

The Council of State has suspended, at least for now, a decision by Flemish Animal Welfare minister Ben Weyts (N-VA) to close several enclosures at Pakawi Park in Antwerp province. VRT places the park in Balen, while De Standaard describes it as the former Olmen zoo. Reports dated 4 November 2026 say the planned closure has been averted. The suspension is a provisional measure, and the Council will rule on the substance of the case at a later date.

What the minister ordered

Weyts had suspended or withdrawn the approval for displaying several enclosures to visitors because of persistent hygiene and safety problems. Inspection services reported hygiene problems, a shortfall in food supply and unsuitable climate conditions in some enclosures. The approval for the giraffe, panther and meerkat enclosures was withdrawn entirely. According to 7sur7, about 150 animals, including big cats, savanna species, reptiles and birds, were to be removed from visitors' sight from 15 November. De Standaard and VRT put the number of enclosures affected at 16, a closure the minister had announced in October. The minister said months of consultation and several measures that had failed to meet the requirements came before the decision.

The park's appeal and the Council's reasoning

The park's management asked the Council of State to suspend the decision, pointing to improvements made since the last visit by Flemish officials. The Council accepted the request as urgent because of the decision's implications for the park's revenue. It found that the withdrawal rested on an inspection report from April 2025, and that no checks had been carried out at the park since then. The Council's press release stated:

“The operator has in the meantime taken numerous measures to resolve the problems identified and reported on them to the animal welfare department.”

The Council added that the Flemish government did not appear to have taken those measures sufficiently into account.

The minister's reaction

Weyts responded to the news agency Belga by saying the ruling went against the ministry's position.

“We are being proven wrong here because we have given the park a great deal of time and chances to defend itself, time and again.”

He then turned to the animals' care and the costs of legal disputes.

“But fundamentally I hope above all that in the future more money would be put into caring for the animals and less into lawyers and all kinds of procedures.”

Background and what comes next

A similar problem led to a one-month closure of the park in 2017, and a new owner and a new name were meant to put that history behind it. The Council's suspension is provisional, and a final judgement on the case is still to come. For now the closure of the enclosures is on hold.