Dogs - Armenia
Information from the active veterinarians in Armenia Here is the state of the stray animals in Armenia for the last 6 years. The waste of budgetary funds under the guise of programs to control stray animals has began in 2006 and goes on till now. In 2006, the Mayor of Yerevan, announces a tender for the procurement of services to combat stray animals, and since then every year, the same organization called Unigraph X wins that tender.
Initially, the program itself imposed by municipality is absurd. Not conducted any studies to monitor the number of stray dogs in Yerevan, but it is expected to conduct operations 46 000 dogs in one year. Moreover, nearly 37,000 of them should be killed. And the rest should be sterilized. In Yerevan, with an area of 300 square kilometers may not be so many dogs.
According to the program shooting is prohibited and euthanasia should be carried out humanely. In fact Unigraph X does not perform sterilization, and is engaged in killing the dogs, and frequently it occurs in a shooting on the streets of the city. The corpses of dead dogs do not even buried, but thrown into constant dug pit, right in the city.
We have recently criticized these actions, and presented the facts about the misconduct of Unigraph X. We were asked to bring these facts to law enforcement authorities for legal action. The mayor is willing to meet with us to discuss this issue.
The problem is that Armenia has no laws to protect animals and our actions are directed at the publicity of other offenses to stop operations of the municipality and Unigraph X.
Initially, the program itself imposed by municipality is absurd. Not conducted any studies to monitor the number of stray dogs in Yerevan, but it is expected to conduct operations 46 000 dogs in one year. Moreover, nearly 37,000 of them should be killed. And the rest should be sterilized. In Yerevan, with an area of 300 square kilometers may not be so many dogs.
According to the program shooting is prohibited and euthanasia should be carried out humanely. In fact Unigraph X does not perform sterilization, and is engaged in killing the dogs, and frequently it occurs in a shooting on the streets of the city. The corpses of dead dogs do not even buried, but thrown into constant dug pit, right in the city.
We have recently criticized these actions, and presented the facts about the misconduct of Unigraph X. We were asked to bring these facts to law enforcement authorities for legal action. The mayor is willing to meet with us to discuss this issue.
The problem is that Armenia has no laws to protect animals and our actions are directed at the publicity of other offenses to stop operations of the municipality and Unigraph X.
Killing street dogs has a reverse effect and in fact leads to increased reproduction and to strays becoming more aggressive towards humans, warn Armenian animal rights activists concerned with the recent trend of dog population control in capital Yerevan.
Save the Animals NGO representatives say they have been receiving a large number of calls from residents with a request to stop the carnage of stray dogs that usually happens in Yerevan backyards and streets in the dead of the night.
“There is a more civilized way of solving the problem of street dogs than a mass slaughter of animals. After being sterilized, hormonally dogs become less dangerous, and there are no more concerns about their getting together in packs, reproducing themselves, etc.,” says the charity’s head Nune Mehrabyan.
Dogs that undergo sterilization and are later released back to the streets have red or green ribbon collars around their neck as a sign that they are sterilized. But Mehrabyan says such dogs are a rare sight also because they get killed along with other non-sterilized dogs indiscriminately. The NGO’s head holds the Yerevan municipality responsible for this. She says they annually budget 180 million drams (more than $460,000) for street dog sterilizing purposes, but in reality commit a ‘savage slaughter’ of the animals.
The state of the stray animals in Armenia for the last 6 years. The waste of budgetary funds under the guise of programs to control stray animals has began in 2006 and goes on till now. In 2006, the Mayor of Yerevan, announces a tender for the procurement of services to combat stray animals, and since then every year, the same organization called Unigraph X wins that tender.
Initially, the program itself imposed by municipality is absurd. Not conducted any studies to monitor the number of stray dogs in Yerevan, but it is expected to conduct operations 46 000 dogs in one year. Moreover, nearly 37,000 of them should be killed. And the rest should be sterilized. In Yerevan, with an area of 300 square kilometers may not be so many dogs.
According to the program shooting is prohibited and euthanasia should be carried out humanely. In fact Unigraph X does not perform sterilization, and is engaged in killing the dogs, and frequently it occurs in a shooting on the streets of the city. The corpses of dead dogs do not even buried, but thrown into constant dug pit, right in the city.
Lilit Grigoryan, the public relations officer of Unigraph-X Ltd, a private company that has engaged in sterilizing stray dogs in Yerevan since 2006 and in “neutralizing” (by putting them down) since 2008, says that they spend 120 million drams (about $307,000) of the annual 180-million-dram allocation from the mayor’s office for sterilization purposes, while the rest is spent on “neutralization”. The company says during the two months of 2012 it sterilized 920 stray dogs, ‘neutralizing’ 4,200.
The only dog shelter in Armenia is situated in Yerevan. It was set up by Mehrabian and her animal loving friends. The dog shelter today has about 250 dogs that get all the care they need, including vaccinations. Animal rights advocate Elen Barseghyan says that often they have to treat the dogs that survive the brutal culling in the streets. “In many European countries even dog owners can be held responsible for the death of their pet, but here policemen shoot at dogs upon instructions from municipal authorities and warn people not to come out of nearby kiosks or buildings while they cull the animals,” says Barseghyan.
“Dogs behaving aggressively should be isolated in dog shelters not to pose danger to humans rather than get killed off,” says Mehrabyan, adding that often the howling of the dogs suffering at the hands of their killers gives a lot of stress to residents of nearby buildings.
Veterinarian Arman Elbakyan also makes the case for sterilization as the best way to control the stray dog population in the city. He insists that once sterilized, street dogs cease to be a public danger and can be released back into the streets. Source
Save the Animals NGO representatives say they have been receiving a large number of calls from residents with a request to stop the carnage of stray dogs that usually happens in Yerevan backyards and streets in the dead of the night.
“There is a more civilized way of solving the problem of street dogs than a mass slaughter of animals. After being sterilized, hormonally dogs become less dangerous, and there are no more concerns about their getting together in packs, reproducing themselves, etc.,” says the charity’s head Nune Mehrabyan.
Dogs that undergo sterilization and are later released back to the streets have red or green ribbon collars around their neck as a sign that they are sterilized. But Mehrabyan says such dogs are a rare sight also because they get killed along with other non-sterilized dogs indiscriminately. The NGO’s head holds the Yerevan municipality responsible for this. She says they annually budget 180 million drams (more than $460,000) for street dog sterilizing purposes, but in reality commit a ‘savage slaughter’ of the animals.
The state of the stray animals in Armenia for the last 6 years. The waste of budgetary funds under the guise of programs to control stray animals has began in 2006 and goes on till now. In 2006, the Mayor of Yerevan, announces a tender for the procurement of services to combat stray animals, and since then every year, the same organization called Unigraph X wins that tender.
Initially, the program itself imposed by municipality is absurd. Not conducted any studies to monitor the number of stray dogs in Yerevan, but it is expected to conduct operations 46 000 dogs in one year. Moreover, nearly 37,000 of them should be killed. And the rest should be sterilized. In Yerevan, with an area of 300 square kilometers may not be so many dogs.
According to the program shooting is prohibited and euthanasia should be carried out humanely. In fact Unigraph X does not perform sterilization, and is engaged in killing the dogs, and frequently it occurs in a shooting on the streets of the city. The corpses of dead dogs do not even buried, but thrown into constant dug pit, right in the city.
Lilit Grigoryan, the public relations officer of Unigraph-X Ltd, a private company that has engaged in sterilizing stray dogs in Yerevan since 2006 and in “neutralizing” (by putting them down) since 2008, says that they spend 120 million drams (about $307,000) of the annual 180-million-dram allocation from the mayor’s office for sterilization purposes, while the rest is spent on “neutralization”. The company says during the two months of 2012 it sterilized 920 stray dogs, ‘neutralizing’ 4,200.
The only dog shelter in Armenia is situated in Yerevan. It was set up by Mehrabian and her animal loving friends. The dog shelter today has about 250 dogs that get all the care they need, including vaccinations. Animal rights advocate Elen Barseghyan says that often they have to treat the dogs that survive the brutal culling in the streets. “In many European countries even dog owners can be held responsible for the death of their pet, but here policemen shoot at dogs upon instructions from municipal authorities and warn people not to come out of nearby kiosks or buildings while they cull the animals,” says Barseghyan.
“Dogs behaving aggressively should be isolated in dog shelters not to pose danger to humans rather than get killed off,” says Mehrabyan, adding that often the howling of the dogs suffering at the hands of their killers gives a lot of stress to residents of nearby buildings.
Veterinarian Arman Elbakyan also makes the case for sterilization as the best way to control the stray dog population in the city. He insists that once sterilized, street dogs cease to be a public danger and can be released back into the streets. Source
Open disposal of dog carcasses in a Yerevan suburb are not only evidence of brutal elimination of strays, but are a health hazard.
Veterinarian Arman Elbakyan, who deals with issues of stray dogs, found three pits near Nubarashen highway, each containing corpses of 20 dead dogs.
“We have found the territory, because we knew that the Yerevan Municipality had given a space for neutralized dogs somewhere here. But the most terrible thing is that they [the holes] are open and they are a source of epidemics,” Elbakyan told ArmeniaNow.
According to Elbakyan, at least the external examination shows that the dogs have been killed by a weapon and by an application of violent force.
“There were traces of blood on bellies of some of the dogs, which appears to be caused by a weapon. There were traces of beating and blood on the heads of the dogs; this is unacceptable, because the organization, which is in charge of the dogs’ neutralization, must do it only by putting them down,” Elbakyan says.
Unigraph-X Ltd private company has been in charge of sterilizing stray dogs in Yerevan since 2006. Elbakyan is sure that the mass dumping of the dogs is also the work of this company.
The representatives of the company, which gets the annual 180-million-dram allocation (about $460,000) from the State Budget for sterilization purposes, state that they neutralize the dogs by putting them down (the company says during the two months of 2012 it neutralized 4,200 dogs) as it is prescribed by law, and before burying the dogs, they treat the dogs with special solution.
Meanwhile, Nare Aramyan representing the Armenian office of Pro Paws British charity organization is sure that Unigraph-X Ltd simply does not have the means for properly exterminating the dogs.
“They [Unigraph-X Ltd representatives] simply kill the dogs violently, because they do not have drugs to put the dogs down, and do not have a license to buy those drugs, either.
They have chosen an easy way – to kill the dogs, and such a state of the dumping ground is astonishing. I wonder how an epidemic has not started in Yerevan yet,” Aramyan told ArmeniaNow.
According to Aramyan, the neutralized dogs must be cremated. Source
Veterinarian Arman Elbakyan, who deals with issues of stray dogs, found three pits near Nubarashen highway, each containing corpses of 20 dead dogs.
“We have found the territory, because we knew that the Yerevan Municipality had given a space for neutralized dogs somewhere here. But the most terrible thing is that they [the holes] are open and they are a source of epidemics,” Elbakyan told ArmeniaNow.
According to Elbakyan, at least the external examination shows that the dogs have been killed by a weapon and by an application of violent force.
“There were traces of blood on bellies of some of the dogs, which appears to be caused by a weapon. There were traces of beating and blood on the heads of the dogs; this is unacceptable, because the organization, which is in charge of the dogs’ neutralization, must do it only by putting them down,” Elbakyan says.
Unigraph-X Ltd private company has been in charge of sterilizing stray dogs in Yerevan since 2006. Elbakyan is sure that the mass dumping of the dogs is also the work of this company.
The representatives of the company, which gets the annual 180-million-dram allocation (about $460,000) from the State Budget for sterilization purposes, state that they neutralize the dogs by putting them down (the company says during the two months of 2012 it neutralized 4,200 dogs) as it is prescribed by law, and before burying the dogs, they treat the dogs with special solution.
Meanwhile, Nare Aramyan representing the Armenian office of Pro Paws British charity organization is sure that Unigraph-X Ltd simply does not have the means for properly exterminating the dogs.
“They [Unigraph-X Ltd representatives] simply kill the dogs violently, because they do not have drugs to put the dogs down, and do not have a license to buy those drugs, either.
They have chosen an easy way – to kill the dogs, and such a state of the dumping ground is astonishing. I wonder how an epidemic has not started in Yerevan yet,” Aramyan told ArmeniaNow.
According to Aramyan, the neutralized dogs must be cremated. Source
