50% of Yerevan Zoo enclosures do not comply with international standards

PanARMENIAN.Net - Director of Yerevan Zoo Sahak Abovyan said that 50% of Yerevan Zoo enclosures do not comply with international standards. “However, any zoo has its small and big problems. Yerevan Mayor’s Office assists us in solving big problems, and we try to solve the small ones ourselves,” Abovyan told a press conference on August 5.

According to him, even under conditions of the crisis, Yerevan Mayor’s Office has not cut the zoo budget. Moreover, it has developed a special program on reconstructing and bringing the zoo into compliance with international standards.

“As wildlife and wild animals are studied in none of Armenia’s higher education institutions, Yerevan Mayor offered to establish a college under the Armenian zoo to study wildlife and wild animals, and it will be the first similar college in the region,” noted Abovyan.

He added that the basic problem faced by the zoo is lack of free enclosures for animals. “For example, there are nine lions at the zoo now, it is much more than we need, and their housing becomes a problem,” said Abovyan.

He added that AMD 57mln was spent out of total AMD 187mln allocated to the zoo under the program. “Meanwhile, the enclosures smell strong as they have а concrete surface. If the enclosures were covered by earth, they would not have smelled strong,” the Director said.

He added that in September-October 2010 the zoo will be supplemented by new types of animals.

Currently, there are over 2300 animals of 215 types in Yerevan Zoo, including very rare species – Armenian moufflons and bezoar goats.

However, the number of zoo visitors has decreased this year due to rains in May and hot weather in June, the best period of zoo attendance.

Answering a question of a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, Sahak Abovyan noted that tourists also visit the zoo, but their number is very limited.