Via Unzipped, Armenia Now reports that a 59-year-old cleaning woman has been killed by a bear kept by the head of Armenia’s Military Police. According to the report, it is also believed that the Military Police headquarters in Yerevan is home to a tiger raising serious concerns as to the rule of law and abuse of position in Armenia.

The family refuses to give the alleged victim’s surname; they only say that a woman named Jasmine, 59, who was a cleaning lady at the department, was killed on Thursday. The sources say the bear escaped its cage while attendants entered to feed it. It is said that the woman was taken to hospital where she died of wounds. The family says it was called to identify the body and saw that she had suffered an attack.

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The family refuses to give further information. The Military Police refused to answer ArmeniaNow’s question concerning the alleged event.

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Zoo, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

It’s kind of funny to think that in the nearly nine years that I’ve been living in Armenia I hadn’t ever visited the Yerevan Zoo until today. In part that has been because I’ve nearly been one for viewing animals in captivity, but also because few people are able to talk highly about the zoo which has been at the center of quite a few significant news stories since I’ve been here.

In February 2005, for example, animal rights activists successfully campaigned and protested to prevent an Indian elephant from being sent to join Yerevan zoo’s solitary male, Hrantik and the story even made the BBC.

A plan to gift an Indian elephant to Armenia has led to an outcry by animal rights activists.

They say six-year-old Veda will find it difficult to adjust to the colder climate in the former Soviet republic.

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“There are 50,000 elephants in India but they [protesters] just do not want to give us one,” he is quoted as saying.

“They do not want the elephant to leave their country. They are very odd people.”

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People for Animals, which is spearheading the protests, says Veda will find it difficult to adjust from India’s tropical climate to a land where temperatures regularly fall to -14C and below in winter.

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“Another worry is moving her from a biological park to a zoo where she will be confined,” says Dr HA Tanuja, a veterinarian attached to the group.

The winter enclosure meant for Veda in Armenia is said to be less than 2,500 sq ft, which is not enough to house an elephant.

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