ELEPHANT IN YEREVAN ZOO FEELS BLUE WITHOUT FEMALE COMPANION

YEREVAN, JANUARY 19, ARMENPRESS:An Armenian delegation is negotiating with Sri Lanka authorities to get a female companion for the only male elephant in Yerevan’s Zoo. The male elephant was brought to Yerevan in 1998 from Moscow’s Zoo and since then it has been leading ‘a bachelor’s life.” The director of the Yerevan Zoo Sahak Abovian told Armenpress that the elephant, named Hrantik, has a big open-air-cage, a pool to splash in hot summers, and its winter premises are heated by floor-built-in electrical heaters. Mr. Abovian said the elephant even has its personal chef. According to him, since elephants are gregarious animals it would be desirable that Hrantik has a girl friend. “Certainly he will go on living as a bachelor, but it will be a sad life with little pleasures,” he said, adding that sexually mature elephants even cry when they are left without a companion for a long time. The government has earmarked 176 million Drams as a subsidy to the Yerevan zoo this year, up from 156 million last year. Mr. Sahakian said this sum is enough to meet all demands. He said animals have as much food as they can eat. The Zoo has stored 100 tons of hey, 20 tons of condensed fodder, 15 tons of meat for predators. In winter all cages are warmed by electrical heaters. Mr. Sahakian said the Zoo will undergo a major reconstruction with new specious cages to be built for felines and apes. A natural gas system will be laid and many new trees will be planted. He said the reconstruction will be launched as soon as the design and final calculations are prepared, expected in several months. The Yerevan Zoo was built 66 years ago and was one of the best zoos in the former Soviet Union. Despite a chain of hardships experienced in early 1990-s following the collapse of the former Soviet Union, it has risen to its feet in the last several years and has acquired several animals. Overall it has 2,300 animals of 180 species. Around 60 percent of them are registered in the Red Book. Mr. Abovian said in 2005 the Zoo brought 8 species of wild animals from the Kiev Zoo in Ukraine. He said international organizations keep a vigilant eye on all animal exchanges. “We can bring an animal here only after ensuring appropriate conditions,’ he said. Mr. Abovian said also zoos are very important in terms of preserving and ensuing reproduction of some species which are nearing the edge of extinction in wild life. The Yerevan Zoo has one such specie-it is Przhevalsky horse. Armenian bezoar (Capra aegagrus) and moufflon are being bred by the Zoo and released. Within the frameworks of cooperation with WWF the Zoo has exchanged 10 bezoar goats for deer in neighboring Georgia. In 1994 the Yerevan Zoo joined the Eurasian Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The Association coordinates exchange of animals among zoos, information, new management experience and new animal treatment methods. The Yerevan Zoo cooperates also with several zoos in Europe.