Animal rights activist sounds alarm: Pets from Tsarukyan`s private  zoo risk starvation due to law enforcement actions

ArmInfo.As a result of the actions of Armenian law enforcement, the animals from the private zoo of businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, are facing potential starvation, as reported by Narine Kirakosyan, founder of the "Eco-Media" NGO.

Kirakosyan reported that zoo staff have been denied entry to the  park, as the premises have been sealed by police. Authorities are  allegedly preventing zookeepers and caretakers from accessing the  site, thereby blocking them from watering plants and feeding the  diverse collection of birds, fish, nine Nile crocodiles, and 12  purebred sport horses (including Arabian and English stallions). 

"According to zoologists, the horses cannot survive without water and  food for more than a day.  Tsarukyan's horses have now gone without  water for over 24 hours. While the crocodiles are typically fed once  a week, their feeding schedule has been disrupted, and they have now  been starving for over 10 days.  The birds and other animal species  are in equally dire condition, as the caretakers have not been  permitted to provide them with even a single grain of feed since  Saturday. Access to the territory has also been denied to the  equestrian trainer and their students," Kirakosyan wrote in a  Facebook post. 

"The animals are being treated cruelly; they are being starved and  deprived of water. These animals were never intended to be victims of  political retribution, yet they have become exactly that. Our state  bodies have chosen this path. Every government official should have  acted in the interest of the animals in this matter, rather than out  of fear of losing their jobs," she added. 

Kirakosyan emphasized that relocating these animals is not a viable  or humane solution, noting that the conditions at the Tsarukyan  estate were specifically designed for their well-being. She further  recalled the death of a lioness confiscated by investigators, which  she attributed to the improper organization of transport for wild  animals. Kirakosyan raised concerns that the lioness may have been  pregnant and expressed skepticism regarding the official version of  the cause of death. She also noted that the fate of the remaining  animals confiscated from Tsarukyan two other lions and a  tiger remains unknown.

In light of these developments, Kirakosyan has appealed to the  Armenian Ministry of Environment, the Yerevan Municipality, and  several international environmental organizations, urging them to  intervene in what she described as an "unacceptable situation." .   Note, on July 6, law enforcement officers confiscated three lions and  one tiger from Tsarukyan as part of a criminal case involving  "illegal hunting." On July 7, it was reported that one of the lions,  a female, who was anesthetized for transport to the Yerevan Zoo,  never woke up. Zoo management claimed the lioness died because she  was "of advanced age and had numerous illnesses." Experts, however,  believe the lioness's death was caused by either malicious intent or  negligence on the part of those transporting the animals.