170 wolves have been shot and killed by hunters in Armenia so far this year under a government plan that places a 100,000 AMD bounty on each hide.

The government, citing dangers to livestock and rural residents, has given the green light for 200 wolves to be killed in 2012.

Ashot Avalyan, Deputy Chief of Staff at the RA Ministry of Nature Protection, serves as the committee president tasked with collecting the hides.

He said that most of the 170 wolves have been killed in the regions of Vayots Dzor, Aragatzotn and the Ararat plain.

Avalyan confessed that some of the hides were not from wolves and were rejected.

Committee member Aram Aghavasyan, Chief of the Ministry’s Division of Specially Protected Areas, argued that often times hunters confuse wolves with other animals, especially dogs, and that such mistakes aren’t intentional.

Hunters will receive payment at their local post office once their wolf hides are accepted and the paperwork processed.

Aghavasyan noted that such a wolf extermination program was carried out during the Soviet period with success.

The official stated that those villagers whose livelihood has suffered due to wolf attacks are adequately compensated.

He claimed that only wolves that approach villages and livestock are killed. The official didn’t explain how this claim could be substantiated.

Committee members were adamant – there is no other method to combat the wolf problem other than killing them. They also considered that it might be possible to export the animals to those countries with a demand.

Silva Adamyan, who works at the Zoological Institute and serves as coordinator for the EcoAlliance NGO, said that such a program was barbaric and that there are other measures to keep wolves from rural settlements.

She argued that it is the loss of habitat that forces wolves and other predators to approach villages and farms.

Adamyan said livestock herds can be better protected through the installation of fences and even low voltage wires.

She urged the government to look to the methods effectively employed in other countries rather than blindly killing wolves.

Adamyan argued that the government should be sending its specialists overseas for training and education, rather than funding the hunting of wolves.

Artur Gevorgyan, Deputy Chief of the Nature Protection Inspectorate, said they were taking all precautions to see that other animals are harmed during the hunt, and that traps and poison are prohibited. Those found to have employed such measures are fined 150,000 AMD, he said.

Silva Adamyan said that while there is no overall estimate of the wolf population in Armenia, it is considered to be around 700.

She urged the government to allocate some of its funds to the Zoological Institute in order to conduct a wolf research program.

Killing wolves won’t solve the problem, Adamyan concluded, a better understanding of the problem will.