DUSHANBE, July 12, 2016, Asia-Plus – Dushanbe Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev has sacked director of the Shohmansour bazaar and director of Dushanbe Zoo for failure to fulfill their duties properly.

Dushanbe mayor signed decrees on sacking Shohmansour bazaar director Bakhtiyor Laqayev and Dushanbe Zoo director Qurbon Odinayev on July 11.

According to the Dushanbe mayor’s office, Laqayev was sacked for failure to make food stocks and fulfill mayor’s recommendations regarding prices for basic food products during the holy month of Ramadan. 

As far as Dushanbe Zoo director Odinayev is concerned, he was also sacked for failure to fulfill his duties properly.

We will recall that a seven-year-old lion that was brought to Dushanbe Zoo from Tashkent (Uzbekistan) under the exchange program and a five-year-old white claw bear that was brought to the zoo from the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) died on June 12 and 13.  

Dushanbe Zoo or Dushanbe Zoological Park was founded in 1960 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Founded in 1960, the zoo is located in the center of the city on the Luchob river bank (on Ismoili Somoni Avenue).  By 1974, with 1059 animals of 254 species, Dushanbe Zoo was regarded as one of the best zoos in the Soviet Union.  Until the breakdown of the Soviet Union and independence in 1991, the zoo was considered one of the best sightseeing attractions in Dushanbe.  The number of animals was great and diverse.  National independence in 1991, followed by a civil war lasting until 1997, posed a great threat to the zoo in terms of the loss of species and economic hardship.  Public financing was no longer available to the extent it was before.