Director of Dilijan National Park Shot and Killed His Own Dog

The director of the Dilijan National Park, Suren Agajanyan, shot and killed his own dog today in the area of his restaurant. This was reported by the 'Dingo Team' NGO, citing eyewitness Arpi Tagoyan's words. The incident occurred in the presence of at least four witnesses.

EcoNews.am, an environmental information website, interviewed eyewitness Arpi Tagoyan, who provided details of the incident. “Before we sat down, I approached and took a picture of the dog, which wanted to play. I also saw a puppy. Then we sat in the cottage eating, and suddenly we heard a gunshot and the dog's yelp. We immediately jumped up and saw the dog limping and whimpering into the car parked nearby, trying to hide. Several men ran after it with a gun and immediately shot it before we could reach there, and the dog died right away. I shouted in tears, asking them what they were doing and how they could do such a thing. They approached us, apologizing that this happened before our eyes, saying they ruined our day... They apologized for half an hour, not for killing the dog, but for it happening in front of us. They claimed they had to kill it, but shouldn't have done it in front of us. The dog looked so pitiful...

Later, the police arrived to see what was to be done about these people, stating that it was a legal loophole and that our city hall wasn't addressing it; the criminal liability law they mentioned wasn't yet in effect. The officer listened carefully and said it was very wrong, but they further stated that the law doesn’t apply if the owner does it.”

EcoNews.am also contacted Suren Agajanyan, the director of the Dilijan National Park, who did not deny that he was the shooter. “Yes, yes! It was a rabid dog; it’s my dog that was rabid, so it wouldn’t harm children in a public place; we had to eliminate it. What should we do, let it attack children? It had been rabid for the past 3-4 days, attacking the waiter and local people; we couldn’t do anything else, we had to stop it before it bit someone. It was a Sunday. Yes, completely legal hunting weapon. This dog had attacked someone again today; it bit a waiter but didn’t manage to fully bite him; it just hit him with a tray; it was rabid, and it had to be neutralized; it was a public eating place, there was nothing else we could do.” Agajanyan elaborated further, saying he had owned the dog for over a year. “If that dog had bitten someone’s child, would we have gotten away with it? I immediately came to that conclusion. I could have done it at a later hour when no one was around, but that was the moment when the waiter said, ‘Boss, I can’t take it anymore,’… there was nothing else to do.”

The eyewitness also mentioned that a puppy was seen in the area, and it could be inferred from the pictures that the deceased animal had recently given birth. This clearly indicates the mother dog’s desire to protect her puppies. It appears that Suren Agajanyan killed the mother dog, and the fate of the puppies is unknown.

It's evident that Suren Agajanyan is completely ignorant of both rabies and the legal procedures for using firearms, as well as his responsibilities towards animals. Below, we outline the numerous legal norms that Suren Agajanyan has violated:

Cruelty to Animals
It should be noted that following recent changes in the Armenian Criminal Code, Suren Agajanyan is liable for criminal liability. Article 258.2 of the Armenian Criminal Code defines cruelty to animals as the interruption of an animal's life through methods such as suffocation, hanging, dismembering, beating, whipping, firing with firearms, poisoning, or injecting substances causing cruel or painful death; skinning alive, dismembering, throwing it into flames, dropping it from heights or vehicles, organizing and conducting animal fights, as well as performing scientific tests in violation of established procedures and other cruel treatments. Violators are subject to fines ranging from a hundred to three hundred times the minimum wage, or imprisonment for up to one year.

Because, as Suren Agajanyan stated, there were “children” nearby, the article stipulates that the same act performed in the presence of a minor is punishable by a fine of three hundred to five hundred times the minimum wage, or imprisonment of one to three years.

Illegal Use of Firearms
According to Article 173 of the Administrative Offenses Code of Armenia, discharging a firearm in populated areas or in locations not designated for that purpose, or in violation of established procedures, results in a fine of a specified multiplier of the minimum wage, with or without the confiscation of weapons and ammunition.

Risk of Rabies Spread
Per the government decision establishing the list of quarantined, especially hazardous, and mandatory notification infectious diseases, rabies is classified as a quarantined, especially dangerous, and mandatory notification disease. Therefore, if signs of the disease are present in an animal or even a slight suspicion, immediate urgent measures must be implemented. In this case, if the animal exhibited symptoms of rabies, Suren Agajanyan’s illegal actions could lead to an outbreak.

The incident took place in the territory of the 'Getap' restaurant, which is Suren Agajanyan's private business. Incidentally, the restaurant, which combats illegal logging, is made of wood.

Suren Agajanyan was appointed as the director of the Dilijan National Park following the political events in Armenia in August 2018. According to some information, he is a well-known public figure, including ties to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the former governor of Tavush, now a parliamentary deputy, Vahe Ghazaryan.

This publication serves as a report of a crime, thus EcoNews.am calls the attention of the Police of Armenia and other law enforcement agencies to this issue.