Save Yerevan’s Dolphins – In Memory of Yerevan Resident Dibar Tcholakian

A new community page “Save Yerevan’s Dolphins – In Memoriam Dibar Tcholakian” has been created on Facebook to raise awareness on issues with the recently built dolphinarium (an aquarium with dolphins) in Yerevan, while honoring the memory of a friend who held this cause close to his heart.

In the early hours of the morning on Jun. 16, Dibar Tcholakian, a 41-year-old Lebanese-Armenian Yerevan resident, passed away after a heart attack. According to the information posted on the Facebook page, Dibar made no secret of his love for dolphins, and he was strongly opposed to the construction and operation of the dolphinarium in Armenia. However, according to the description posted on the Facebook page, it should be noted, Dibar’s firm belief was that the dolphinarium should be closed.

Note that along with four dolphins, the aquarium is home to two fur seals and one sea lion, who perform three, sometimes four times daily. Local press earlier reported that the dolphins are Pacific Ocean natives brought to Armenia from Japan and are kept in heavily chlorinated water, which environmentalists say might lead to blindness. Apart from the issue of the chlorinated water, activists say the pool where the dolphins are kept is only 18 meters in diameter and 5 meters deep, much too small and not in line with international standards. Local NGO representatives and environmentalists have been protesting the dolphinarium since it opened on Dec. 24, 2010.

According to Onnik Krikorian, creator of the Facebook page, “Although [the Facebook page] was only set up this weekend, the intention is to raise awareness to press reports on the dolphinarium as well as to create an online space for activists to coordinate their campaign and activities in general. Dibar really loved dolphins and would speak about them constantly.

“From their protection of swimmers against sharks, through their therapeutic capabilities, to their social norms of behavior dolphins and Dibar were almost synonymous with each other.

“No longer with us, the Facebook page will carry on that ‘evangelizing’ about the rights of dolphins, raising awareness of something that Dibar was very critical of — the opening of the dolphinarium in Yerevan.”

The image used for the Facebook page comes from Dibar’s own personal Facebook profile picture and it seems only fitting to his memory to launch this Facebook page in order to raise awareness of conditions at the Nemo Dolphinarium and to demand accountability and transparency in its operation.

The group is open to anyone who is interested in joining.