Civil society organizations are calling for an independent expert examination to determine the cause of death of the white lioness that was seized from businessman Gagik Tsarukyan's private residence and transferred to the Yerevan Zoo on July 6.
Reminder: during the pre-trial investigation of criminal proceedings conducted by the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia, three lions and one tiger were seized from Tsarukyan's residence and recognized as material evidence. The environmental damage caused by the alleged illegal hunting was assessed at 30 million AMD.
During the operation, the lions and the tiger were sedated to facilitate their transfer to the Yerevan Zoo. However, the white lioness did not regain consciousness after sedation.
The Yerevan Zoo subsequently issued a statement asserting that the lioness died as a result of advanced age and underlying health conditions, as documented in the official necropsy (post-mortem) report.
However, civil society representatives are not satisfied with this explanation and are demanding an independent investigation and expert examination.
According to Inga Zarafyan, President of EcoLur Informational NGO, the protection of wild animals in Armenia is governed by national legislation and is also guaranteed under international legal instruments. Therefore, she stressed that only an independent professional expert examination can provide a comprehensive and credible assessment of this case.
Silva Adamyan, Coordinator of the Ecological Alliance, has appealed to international animal protection organizations, calling on them to support the following demand: to conduct an immediate, independent, transparent, impartial, and comprehensive investigation in order to establish all the circumstances surrounding the death of the white lioness.
July 08, 2026 at 14:48