Animal Activists Visit Armenia Concerned About Bunka the Elephant in Yerevan Zoo

International experts traveled to Armenia in December 2022 to access the sole elephant in the Yerevan Zoo.

The Armenian Report went to the zoo during the two days when the foreign experts were assessing the majestic creature.

Visiting Bunka, the only elephant in Armenia, was British travel journalist Mark Stratton and Director of International Operations at Global Sanctuary for Elephants, Ingo Schmidinger.

Last year they launched a campaign called “Free Bunka” — which currently has over 73k signatures on change.org

They suggest that Bunka be moved into a sanctuary in south-east Asia.

However, the Armenian authorities say that the intended space for Bunka meets all international standards. But they are prepared to make more room for Bunka in addition to bringing another female elephant as a companion for the male elephant.

Stratton and other elephant experts are worried for the well being of Bunka and his quality of life in solitary confinement. They say that male elephants need other male companions.

We would like to remind our readers about the historic incident from 1970 when the elephant Vova escaped the Yerevan Zoo on June 28 causing a threat to people and therefore was killed by authorities.

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Disclaimer: This report was shot in December 2022 days before the blockade in Artsakh began. Due to the ongoing humanitarian crisis, The Armenian Report refrained from publishing this story until now. The Artsakh blockade continues for 80+ days now.