AUA Acopian Center for the Environment Continues to Support White Storks with the Help of Villagers and the Yerevan Zoo
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YEREVAN – More than a year after the completion of its White Storks Project, the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment (AUA ACE) continues to engage in conservation of the stork population, thanks to the interest and support of villagers in the Ararat Plain, as well as the cooperation of the Yerevan Zoo.
“We are pulling together the community resources as best as we can,” says AUA ACE Chief Scientist Dr. Karen Aghababyan.
The four stork nestlings at the Yerevan Zoo with cranes, a swan, and ducks. In August the storks will be returned to the Ararat Plain.
AUA ACE continually receives calls for support from villagers, especially in the Ararat Plain, seeking advice on how to care for stork chicks that are displaced or injured from natural or human causes.
AUA ACE has also partnered with the Yerevan Zoo to continue to serve the needs of the stork population. Four storks were recently rescued and brought to the Zoo to be cared for until they are old enough to survive on their own in the wild. Director of the Yerevan Zoo Ruben Khachatryan explains, “To serve nature conservation and wildlife is one of Yerevan Zoo’s main objectives.”
The White Storks Project, which received the Whitley Award, Britain’s highest conservation award, in 2007, focused on using white storks as a bio-indicator of environmental change and on raising awareness in Armenia by using villagers as citizen scientists.
Media Coverage by CivilNet: Armenian Storks Fly the Nest
The AUA Acopian Center for the Environment (AUA ACE) is a research center of the American University of Armenia. AUA ACE promotes the protection and restoration of the natural environment through research, education, and community outreach. AUA ACE’s focus areas include sustainable natural resource management, biodiversity and conservation, greening the built environment, clean energy and energy efficiency, as well as information technology and the environment.
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