ONLY 5-7 PANTHERS IN ARMENIA

AZG Armenian Daily #070, 20/04/2005

Ecology

The World Wildlife Fund is the only major organization of the kind
in the world. It performs a mission of saving the endangered species
in 200 countries of the world. The Fund began its cooperation with
Armenia in 2002. The cooperation was put on jural gears at the
Ministry of Ecology yesterday. The Ministry and Fund signed an
agreement of cooperation. The document means that international
organizations will join Armenia in protecting and caring for the
country’s flora and fauna.

The Fund, being involved in Caucasian region, will possibly help
solving such regional problems that cannot be solved by a separate
state. We have serious problems with both Georgia and Azerbaijan
as regards protection of forests and resorts and pollution of lakes
and rivers.

The Fund has already opened its office in Yerevan and is going to
assign 100 euros to 10 Armenian NGOs in the sphere of ecology.

Armenia’s nature needs not trainings and seminars but compassion. If
we had compassion, there would be no young whitefish in markets fro
sale. Dr. Magnus Sylvan, director of programs for Europe and Middle
East, told daily Azg that they will take up that issue in future
projects. But the office had time to study the Caucasian panther.

Dr. Sylvan says that there are only 5-7 panthers in the southern
regions of Armenia today. They managed to ban the panther hunt,
moreover they cooperate with the locals to prevent hunt. They even
think of ways to supply the panthers with food to prevent their attack
on livestock and thus minimize the chances to be killed.

The Fund plans to spend $1 million on forthcoming projects in Armenia.

By Karine Danielian