Vaccines Found at the Home of the Veterinarian Who Committed Suicide

In the Ishakyan community of Shirak province, vaccines were discovered at the home of a veterinarian after animals infected with anthrax had already been vaccinated. It turns out that the animals in the Ishakyan community had not been vaccinated.

Cases of anthrax had been recorded in this village as early as the beginning of July. Anush Harutyunyan, head of the public relations department of the State Service for Food Safety (SSFS), confirmed this information in a conversation with Sputnik Armenia.

On July 1, it became known that anthrax had been detected in the Ishakyan community, leading to the hospitalization of 7 individuals and the death of 6 large and 6 small livestock. The next day, it was revealed that the local veterinarian had hanged himself in the barn located in his yard.

“We received a call informing us that anthrax had spread in Ishakyan village. Upon arriving in the village, our specialists found that the veterinarian had not vaccinated the animals, and the vaccines were discovered at his home. However, the man had already committed suicide,” said Harutyunyan.

According to her, since the discovery of the vaccine, the entire livestock has been vaccinated. Harutyunyan noted that vaccines are provided to all veterinarians when necessary, and they are obliged to vaccinate all animals in their communities, which has been done in all communities. The veterinarian in Ishakyan was also given vaccines, but for some reason, he did not vaccinate the animals.

“I assume that he received no benefit from that vaccine. As it was the time to take the livestock to the mountains, perhaps he did not have the chance, but he asked the villagers to sign as if he had vaccinated them. The veterinarian told the villagers that he would do the vaccinations later,” Harutyunyan said.

She also added that after the visit of their specialists to Ishakyan, all the butchered animal carcasses were collected from the villagers' homes and burned. No new cases of anthrax infection have been recorded in Ishakyan, aside from the existing 7 cases.