Hundreds of cow carcasses reportedly burned near village outside Moscow following disease outbreak

About 800 cow carcasses from the Rusmilk farm — the site of an outbreak of lumpy skin disease — were burned in the Moscow region, Telegram channels claimed.The Telegram channel Govorit NeMoskva reported that the carcasses were originally scheduled to be burned overnight on October 31 near the village of Gornostayevo, part of the Kolomna urban district. Local residents objected, and the burn site was changed, though it was not disclosed where the carcasses would be burned instead.Overnight on November 6, the carcasses, along with hundreds of car tires, were brought to the village of Nepetsino, 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Gornostayevo. On the morning of November 6, the Russian security services-linked Telegram channel Baza reported that the carcasses had been burned less than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the village of Semyonovskoye, in the same district. Local residents told Baza they had seen wooden pallets and hundreds of car tires there shortly before the burning.Baza soon deleted its post, but the Telegram channel Msk1 also reported on the burned carcasses. Msk1 said the livestock were burned in a field near Nepetsino, where several hundred tires had been brought in beforehand. Local residents said officials with the district administration had assured them cattle would not be burned this way in the district.Baza had reported that the decision was made to destroy the carcasses after the lumpy skin disease outbreak at the Rusmilk facility. The Agriculture and Food Ministry imposed a quarantine in the Kolomna urban district in late October due to an outbreak of contagious lumpy skin disease among cattle.One of the most recent high-profile cases of mass livestock slaughter occurred in the Novosibirsk region, linked to a “dangerous disease” that local residents and farmers suspected was foot-and-mouth disease, a claim authorities did not confirm. Owners actively protested the seizure and slaughter of their animals, but it ultimately led nowhere. Residents of the Irkutsk region later complained about livestock seizures, this time citing contagious lumpy skin disease as the pretext.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.