Already 50 sheep have died, and I still don't know, maybe another 50-100 will die. Sheep have died from poisoning in Vaghashen.

This morning in the Vaghashen community of Gegharkunik Province, according to preliminary reports, 50 sheep have died as a result of poisoning. In a conversation with ArmDaily.am, farmer Arman Galstyan, who owned the sheep, stated that he had kept these sheep for two years. “I couldn’t sell the lambs because of the coronavirus to pay off my debts and buy hay. I pawned my gold, I have purchased hay from the same person three times. I have two barns, and the hay I bought has been given to the animals in both barns. In one barn, the sheep have not died; there are no problems there, but in the other barn, the sheep are dying. Already 50 sheep have died, and I still don’t know, maybe another 50-100 will die,” he said.

When asked if, besides hay, he had fed them any additional feed, the farmer replied, “I haven’t given any feed or medication; the doctors also asked if I had done any vaccinations, I said I hadn’t done anything. And the water is filled directly from the tap into their trough.”

He noted that he had bought the sheep on credit. “The loss of the 50 sheep is about 4 million drams because the sheep were pregnant and the unborn lambs also died, so I have suffered double losses. Right now, I have pawned 1.2 million in gold and sold about 10 million drams worth of my equipment – I sold a combine harvester, bought sheep, and sold a baler. I have invested about 15 million drams into all this. I have taken about 8 million drams from the bank; I have paid back a part of it gradually, but now I don’t know what I will do; I can’t do anything. I call the banks and ask them to at least freeze the loans, and they say they have nothing to do with it, they can’t do anything. The government also washes its hands of it; I don’t know what this situation is, no one is here to help, and the penalties should be reduced a little,” he concluded.