ANIMAL CONCERNS: STRAY DOGS CONTINUE TO BE AN ISSUE IN CAPITAL
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow
15.12.11 | 14:45
Stray animals in the streets of Yerevan continue to be a matter of
concern for animal-lovers who believe that the municipality is not
taking proper measures to solve the issue.
Nare Aramyan representing the Armenian office of Pro Paws British
charity organization, implementing a stray animal control project,
told the press on Wednesday that if the number of sterilized and
eliminated dogs reported, actually matched reality, there would not
be a single non-sterilized stray dog in the city.
The only organization authorized by the municipality of Yerevan to
be in charge of this task is Unigraph-X which had been sterilizing or
eliminating stray dogs since 2006. According to their official data,
more than 35,000 stray dogs were sterilized between 2006 and 2010
and around 90,000 were put away.
Over the past two years the municipality has allotted 180 million
drams (around $473,000) per year to the organization for the project
implementation, and a total of 120 million drams (around $315,000)
during the previous years.
Aramyan claims that despite Unigraph-X’s impressive data, the number
of stray animals and their aggressiveness have, in fact, grown.
“If the stray animal issue is settled there won’t be a need for budget
allocations any more, so if they [those in charge of the project]
have received $3 million in six years’ time, why not have as much
[money] in another six years?” says Aramyan.
In an interview with ArmeniaNow Lilit Grigoryan, deputy director
of Unigraph-X, said the organization puts away stray dogs if their
laboratory examination reveals that the dog is old, aggressive,
infectious or a virus carrier. And if it’s none of those, then it’s
sterilized. Their data for 2010 say more 25,000 have been put away
and 11,610 sterilized. It is noteworthy that according to the recent
years’ statistics, the number of killed dogs is much higher than that
of the sterilized.
“Mayors change, but the stray animal control projects don’t. They were,
are and will keep killing them,” Aramyan says accusingly.
Pro Paws suggests that Armenia join international conventions for
animal rights and pass a law that would prohibit cruel treatment of
animals. Aramyan says that Unigraph-X does not render anesthetic to
prepare for sterilization and the process turns into a torture.
In response to these accusations Unigraph-X’s Grigoryan says that
they do not subject dogs to any torture, they do anesthetize and
then only perform sterilization; and that their experts are using all
the legally permitted medications. She says that the average cost of
sterilization is 8,000 drams ($21) that covers also various vaccine
shots to protect from plague and rabies, in particular.
“It is thanks to Unigraph-X’s efforts that no cases of rabies have
been registered in Yerevan over the past years,” says Grigoryan.
She says that dogs become more aggressive in winter time when food
is hard to find, and are calmer during warm seasons. Grigoryan
also counterclaims that the number of stray dogs in Yerevan has not
increased; their number is kept at an optimum level.
“Stray animal control is done only in Yerevan, but there is a large
stream of them coming form the provinces. If measures are taken there
too, our work would be much more effective,” says Grigoryan.