"Zhoghovurd" daily writes: "After the arrest of Gagik Tsarukyan and the 13-hour long search of his private house, not only the details of the criminal case, but also the animals that were kept in his private house came into the spotlight. The RA Investigative Committee officially announced that 190 scarecrows of various animals and birds, as well as 3 lions and 1 tiger, were seized from the private house, which were recognized as material evidence and transferred to the Yerevan Zoo.
"Damage of 30 million AMD was caused to the environment as a result of illegal hunting. C. The other animals kept in Ts.'s private house are planned to be seized and handed over to the responsible guardian in the following days. "The preliminary investigation of the criminal proceedings is ongoing," the message states. "Zhoghovurd" daily newspaper tried to get permission from the Yerevan city authorities to visit the Yerevan zoo and film in order to find out where and under what conditions Tsarukyan's animals are kept, what condition they are in, whether they have already been put to sleep and how their care is going. However, the Yerevan Municipality stubbornly refused to meet our request and give the public an opportunity to present the animals. storage conditions.
At first we were informed that the animals are under quarantine conditions and any kind of meeting with them is prohibited. When we explained that the quarantine regime refers to possible contact between the animals, while we only wanted to videotape their conditions from a distance without any contact with the lions, a completely different justification was presented from the municipality. This time, it was announced that the investigative operations are ongoing, and therefore they cannot organize filming or allow the media to enter. What was the municipality hiding? What did the lions kept in the zoo have to do with the investigation process, it remained unclear. In the second half of the day, it became known that a tragic incident happened with one of the female lions entrusted to the care of the Yerevan Zoo under the supervision of the Yerevan Municipality.
According to official reports, one of the sedated lions did not wake up. After that, the Investigative Committee hastened to announce that appropriate checks have been ordered to find out why the animal did not wake up after being sedated. In other words, the committee hastened to distance itself from the responsibility of the alleged death of the animal.
However, the issue here is not only the fate of one animal. There is a question of responsibility, and maybe also of collective irresponsibility. Who is responsible for putting animals to sleep, transporting them, keeping them and their consequences? What did those animals do, who were at the center of this whole process and, regardless of themselves, became the victims of state actions? The journalists of "Zhoghovurd" newspaper wanted to get answers to these questions, seeing with their own eyes the conditions of keeping animals and presenting them to the public. However, we were not given that opportunity. In this situation, the Yerevan Zoo operating under the Yerevan Municipality cannot avoid public issues and responsibility, because the protection of animals is already carried out under its responsibility. Therefore, both the municipality and the other state bodies involved in the process are obliged to provide maximum transparency and give comprehensive answers to all the questions that concern the public. After all, what was the fault of Tsarukyan's lions that one of them died? He, who bears political responsibility for the lion's death, wrote on the Internet: "The skins of many animals killed by Tsarukyan, which are lined up on the walls of his house, did not bother anyone. Now they say that you took them away from him, that's why the lion fell, he was very animal-loving, and the municipality is a "barbarian." All oppositionists will now become "animal lovers". The reason for the decline of the lion is caused by old age and accompanying diseases. The organ-systems of the animal were affected: the spleen, liver, lungs, heart, cholecystitis changes in the gallbladder, there is obesity, and free fluid in the abdominal cavity, which caused it to not wake up from sleep." Meanwhile, the lion's guardian stated that the animal was healthy, 12 years old, which is not a great age. According to him, the animal was hungry in the morning, and the employees were warned that a hungry animal should not be put to sleep and injected. However, according to him, the warning was not taken into account and the animal was injected. In addition, Galjian should perhaps also take into account the fact that a significant part of the scarecrows seen in the shots of Tsarukyan's house are not found in Armenia and do not live in our conditions, and the state even provides compensation to hunters for the destruction of some animals. Tsarukyan, as is known, has been a member of the hunters' union for tens of years. At the same time, let's remind that, according to Gagik Tsarukyan's defense attorney Yerem Sargsyan's statement yesterday, he has not been charged with illegal hunting. He also informed that the criminal proceedings regarding tax evasion have been terminated. According to the presentation of the defense side, at the moment, two charges remain, regarding money laundering and fraud assistance." Details in today's issue of "Zhoghovurd" daily newspaper.
