Russia’s Irkutsk region is culling livestock over what officials call lumpy skin disease, but local farmers suspect foot-and-mouth disease

The BBC Russian Service has published a report on the mass culling of livestock in Russia’s Irkutsk region, where authorities say animals are being seized and killed because of a lumpy skin disease outbreak.Agriculture Ministry rules require that animals with lumpy skin disease be isolated and treated, while livestock with foot-and-mouth disease must be killed to prevent its spread. Many local farmers suspect a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.Residents of villages under quarantine have accused veterinary authorities of a lack of transparency. Several residents of the village of Butyrki told reporters that they had signed nondisclosure agreements but had not received copies.Veterinarians do not show owners their animals’ test results. They prepare vaccine doses inside their vehicles, then approach the animals with prefilled syringes. Owners receive no vaccination records, so they cannot be certain which disease their animals are being vaccinated against. One farmer told the BBC that the symptoms of lumpy skin disease and foot-and-mouth disease differ substantially and are impossible to confuse.Butyrki residents have complained that veterinarians do not change their work clothes between farm visits, contributing to the disease’s spread. Witnesses say the carcasses of killed animals are sometimes found lying by the roadside. The carcasses are burned in a pit near the Sarafanka River, meaning the remains could enter the river through groundwater. The pit was initially supposed to be closer to homes but was moved after protests.Russia has seen another mass livestock cull over a disputed diagnosis. An earlier outbreak turned out to be foot-and-mouth disease.In the spring of 2026, animals were culled en masse in the Novosibirsk region. Authorities blamed a pasteurellosis outbreak, but an independent laboratory later detected foot-and-mouth disease in one of the cows. Mass culling began in the Kemerovo region in May. Officials again blamed lumpy skin disease, while local residents suspected foot-and-mouth disease.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.