Storks in Yerasxahun Polluted with Oily Black Substance: 2019 Disaster Repeats

Biologist Vasil Ananyan has raised an alarm on his Facebook page regarding the pollution of storks bred in the Yerasxahun community. He captioned the photos he shared: "The same issue as last year in many backyards of the area." Some citizens who responded to his post noted that dirty storks have also been spotted in both Ararat's Armash and Hovtashen communities in recent days. This information is reported by ecolur.org.

In 2019, a decline in the stork population was recorded in several communities of Ararat province due to the contamination of bird feathers by an oily black substance. Efforts were made to identify the causes of the stork pollution by the Scientific Center of Hydroecology of the National Academy of Sciences, the American University of Armenia, and local activists.

In July 2019, the Environmental and Mining Inspection Body initiated administrative proceedings regarding the pollution of storks in Hovtashen community of Ararat province. Subsequently, the Water Committee stated that the cause of stork pollution in Ararat province was the fatty waste from fish farms. An investigation that lasted nine months concluded without results.

To identify the causes of stork pollution and the culprits, the Investigative Committee of Armenia initiated a criminal case in September 2019. After around nine months of investigation, the committee informed "Haykakan Zhamanak" that it could not determine where, when, and under what circumstances the stork feathers were contaminated, what group the substance on the feathers belonged to, and closed the criminal case for lack of crime.

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