YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Director of Yerevan Zoo Vladimir Simonyan has been named Interim Director. Deputy Mayor of Yerevan Tigran Virabyan held a meeting today at Yerevan Zoo with the facility’s staff.

In his speech he thanked the former director, Ruben Khachatryan, for the large-scale work during the years.

Virabyan noted that the zoo has several problems which must be solved already next year. He was namely speaking about security issues and the reinforcement of fences. Khachatryan had resigned after a pack of stray dogs entered the zoo and killed kangaroos and mouflons.

“Changes are the imperative of time, but this doesn’t mean that abrupt changes are expected among the personnel. People who are dealing with selling and purchasing animals or have other interests cannot be here,” he saud.

Simonyan thanked for his appointment and said he will invest his experience in developing the zoo.

He said that Iranian veterinarian Iman Memarian has been invited to assume the position of Deputy Director of the Yerevan Zoo. Memarian will be appointed after necessary paperwork is done to grant Armenian citizenship. Iman Memarian was the Director of the Tehran Zoo for many years.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan