YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24. ARMINFO. Yerevan Zoo is going to fight against bird flu by firing at migrant birds. True, the intention is to scare off the birds and not to shoot them, the zoo director Sahak Abovian told ARMINFO.
According to him, Yerevan Mayor’s Office allocated recently 1 mln drams to the zoo for purchase of toy bullets. There are 70 bird species at the zoo, with 75% of their population of 700 being rare or endangered species included in the Red Book. The existence of rare birds continues to be under threat, as the bird flu virus spreads with lightning speed, the zoo director noted. According to the Russian experts from Moscow Zoo, vaccination of wild birds is not recommended. The vaccination of exotic bird species may be carried out as a last resort, if bird flu virus penetrates Armenia, S. Abovian said. Another measure is quarantine, that is, keeping of birds indoors to exclude their communication with zoo nonresidents. The zoo will use this quarantine method in the near future, since the spring period of bird migration will start soon.
There are 490 animal species at Yerevan Zoo, with the total number of animals amounting to 2,300. This year 150 million drams was allocated from the state budget for their keeping, which is by 40 million more than in 2005. However, according to S. Abovian, these funds are insufficient and the zoo receives the main assistance from Armenian businessmen.
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