An animal rights debate is building in Armenia, centering on plans to open a dolphinarium in Yerevan. Local environmental activists and some city residents contend that the project’s owner, who remains anonymous, is prepared to sacrifice marine mammal welfare and environmental sustainability for the sake of commercial gain.
The dolphinarium, which will come with four dolphins, two fur seals and one sea lion, is expected to open on December 15 in Yerevan’s Komitas Park. Able to handle 900 guests, it will be open-air in summer and covered with a glass dome when the weather becomes cooler.
The Yerevan city government has presented the dolphinarium as a way to jumpstart the park’s rehabilitation. The grounds, which also contain the tombs of prominent Armenian cultural figures, have become derelict in recent years.
“Dolphinariums are wonderful recreation sites in many developed cities of the world,” the Yerevan mayor’s office observed in a September 30 statement. “Yerevan should also have such a nice place of leisure.”
The structure is not a first for the Caucasus; a dolphinarium opened last month in Baku as well.
But while some Yerevan residents say they are excited by the prospect of seeing dolphins “in real life,” the dolphinarium’s plans to have five-meter-deep, 36-meter-wide tank is sparking concern. Local ecologists and environmentalists argue that Armenia does not have the right conditions for holding sea mammals in captivity. “How are they going to feed them in a country without a sea -- with frozen fish?” asked Silva Adamian, the head of an alliance of 50 non-governmental organizations that oppose the dolphinarium.
The dolphinarium’s glass dome does little to reassure Adamian and the alliance that the dolphinarium’s inhabitants will be easily able to survive Yerevan’s winter temperatures of 16 degrees Fahrenheit (-9 degrees Celsius). “We must do our best to protect the interests of these mammals,” said Adamian, head of the Bird Center, a Yerevan-based NGO.
Transporting the dolphins, fur seals and sea lion to Armenia could prove another challenge. Land access to the country is possible only via mountain roads through Georgia and Iran. The Ukrainian company charged with building the dolphinarium declined to discuss with EurasiaNet.org details about how the mammals would be delivered to Yerevan, or their country of origin.
The identity of the owner of the dolphinarium also remains unclear. The order to clear Komitas Park for the building’s construction was given by Yerevan Mayor Gagik Beglarian, but the city has no ownership stake in the project. The pro-opposition news outlet A1 had earlier reported that Beglarian’s predecessor, Yervand Zakharian, owns the property, but the reports could not be independently confirmed.
The lack of transparency over the dolphinarium’s ownership has created a potential stumbling block for opponents of the project. In late September, the anti-dolphinarium NGO alliance sent letters to the mayor’s office and Ministry of Environmental Protection, expressing concern about the dolphinarium and requesting a project review by experts who can testify that the sea mammals can survive in Yerevan’s climate. The group also requested to see documents authorizing the import of the four dolphins to Armenia and their use in an entertainment center. Alliance members say they have not yet received a response.
The chief executive officer of the Ukrainian company building the Yerevan dolphinarium maintains that the dolphinarium will contain the right living conditions for the dolphins, fur seals and sea lion. “Armenia’s climate is favorable for sea mammals. I confirm this,” said Alexander Merlian, head of Nerum, which has built dolphinariums in the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Odessa and Kharkov. “I don’t have an opinion from experts, but I have read some literature and I know that the climate is suitable. If the environmentalists disagree with this, that’s their opinion.”
Merlian conceded that the project faces “both subjective and objective” challenges, as well as “both internal and external” obstacles, but said that the problems are not expected to delay the dolphinarium’s opening. He did not elaborate.
Like other alliance members, the chairman of the Greens Union of Armenia, Hakob Sanasarian, suspects that environmental well-being will ultimately play second fiddle to commercial profit for project stakeholders. “This is a well-known practice: First, turn the park into a dump, abandon the grounds, then cut down the trees and destroy the flora, put aside ethics, and build an entertainment area next to the Pantheon,” said Sanasarian. “Is this at all acceptable?”
The lack of public discussion about how the project will affect Yerevan’s longstanding shortage of indoor water supplies has added to that skepticism. Some city residents wonder if the 1,500 cubic meters of water required for the dolphinarium’s tank will come at their own expense.
“I’m carrying water from the yard in buckets in the morning and in the evening, and they will spare no water for the dolphins, right?” fumed 50-year-old homemaker Hamest Yeghoian. “Do you think that’s reasonable?”
Yerevan’s government-run water company, Yerevan Djur, maintains that the dolphinarium will not infringe upon the water needs of Yerevan’s 1.1 million human residents. “They will also become [our] client,” said Yerevan Djur spokesperson Murad Sargsian in reference to the dolphinarium, “but we must manage it so that others do not suffer.”
Despite those assurances, the NGO alliance pledges to keep on fighting against Yerevan’s dolphinarium. “Armenia’s climate is tough, and, therefore, not suitable for dolphins. It’s clear they will exploit these mammals for two to three years to reimburse their expenses, and they don’t care what happens next,” charged Adamian, in reference to the dolphinarium’s unknown owner. “But we’ll do our best to prevent this.”