Hundreds of thousands of cows were burned in the Moscow region, but the media suppressed the story

One of the largest incidents of mass burning of cattle in recent times was recorded in the Moscow Region of the Russian Federation. According to the Telegram channel Baza, 800,000 cows were burned in the Kolomna City District. The channel initially published information about the incident, citing local residents, but deleted the post about two hours later.

This may indicate censorship, as other sources have also reported on the mass culling of livestock in the Moscow region. 

At the same time, the publication “Agency” was unable to find any instances of such large-scale burning of sick cows in the region. An incident of similar scale occurred this spring in Siberia, where farmers protested against the mass slaughter of livestock.

According to Baza, the animal carcasses were burned less than two kilometers from the village of Semenovskoye, which is located about 10 km from Kolomna. The Telegram channel’s post has been preserved in the TGStat archive.

Local residents told the channel that car tires were brought to the site before the burning and were used to start the fire.

A video of the fire was also filmed by residents of the village of Nepetsino in the Kolomna District, located about five kilometers from Semenovskoye. This was reported by the Telegram channel “Govorit NeMoskva.”

According to Baza, representatives of the company “Rusmilk” decided to cull the livestock after it became infected with dermatitis and to dispose of the carcasses by burning them.

Initially, the plan was to burn the animals elsewhere—about one kilometer from the village of Gornostaevo, which is located approximately five kilometers from Semenovskoye. However, the local administration reversed this decision following protests by residents.

The publication “Agency” found no other cases in recent years where cow carcasses were incinerated on such a scale in the Moscow Region.

At the same time, in late October, Marina Kolosova, a resident of Shatura, wrote on the social network “VKontakte” about the burning of approximately 300 animals due to nodular dermatitis in the village of Shaturtorf.

“They were burning them for 4–5 days about 2 km from the residential area… We had to breathe that in for 5 days,” she described.

Previously, other livestock had also been culled in the region due to infectious diseases:

• In 2017, 194 pigs were burned in the Ramenskoye District due to African swine fever.
• In 2016, 322 pig carcasses were incinerated in the Moscow Region due to the same disease.

In late winter and early spring in the Novosibirsk region, Russian authorities seized thousands of cows. The animal carcasses were subsequently burned.

Officially, the authorities attributed these measures to an outbreak of pasteurellosis. However, according to critics, the officials’ actions more closely resembled the measures taken when foot-and-mouth disease is detected.

Later, the region’s Center for Veterinary and Sanitary Control acknowledged that foot-and-mouth disease had been detected in the cows seized during the campaign.

The mass seizure and destruction of livestock sparked protests by farmers who opposed the authorities’ actions.

In Russia’s Zabaykalsky Krai, a state of heightened alert was declared due to foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks in neighboring China and Mongolia. The region’s governor, Alexander Osipov, stated that these measures are intended to prevent the spread of the infection. Authorities ordered the allocation of funds to purchase vaccines, vaccinate livestock in 12 districts, and restrict grazing within a 10-kilometer radius of the border. Farmers have also been advised to consult specialists if their animals show signs of the disease and to sell meat and milk only if they have the required veterinary documents.

Plague in Russia: What Is Known About the Outbreak So Far.

In the Irkutsk region, 189 people have been placed under observation due to suspected plague — RMF24