One of the bears kept in a cage at a restaurant in Ashtarak, Armenia, yesterday bit off a young woman\u2019s finger as she put her hand inside the cage to pat the bear. The 23-year-old native of the Kotayk province Balahovit village was rushed to the Ashtarak medical centers, but doctors were unable to reattach the portion of her middle finger, the director of the medical center told Epress.am on Monday.<\/p>\n
An employee of the \u201cAshtaraki Dzor\u201d restaurant complex, in turn, insisted in conversation with Epress.am that the blame for the incident falls squarely on the visitor. \u201cWe have a two-layer cage. You should phone that girl and ask her why she put her hand in the cage in the first place,\u201d the man said.<\/p>\n
According to Nare Adamyan, a member of the Yerevan-based Pro Paws animal welfare charity, incidents of this kind happen almost daily but rarely receive any media coverage. Adamyan recalled that last year Armenia\u2019s then-prime minister Hovik Abrahamyan called for the development of laws on animals contained in unfree and semi-free conditions, after the British Daily Mail printed an article<\/a><\/strong><\/span> about animals living in horrifying conditions at an abandoned Armenian zoo. Lawmakers, however, have yet to take any action in this direction.<\/p>\n