Mass culling of cows, bulls, goats and pigs in private households is continuing in villages across Russia’s Novosibirsk region. Animals are being euthanized, and the carcasses are taken to special disposal sites for burning. According to local residents and farmers, owners are often not told the reason for the seizure and are not shown documents, being told only that it involves a “particularly dangerous disease.”
Officials initially linked the situation to an outbreak of pasteurellosis, reported in early February 2026. Later, rabies was added to the explanation. Quarantine was first introduced in five districts, after which veterinarians and police began visiting villages. Farmers say even vaccinated animals with no visible signs of illness were destroyed.
What explanations are being discussed
One of the main theories is that the region may actually be facing foot-and-mouth disease, and that the authorities are concealing it because of the risk to meat and livestock-product exports. Animal rights advocate Yury Koretskikh said that if this assumption is correct, the severity of the measures and the secrecy of officials become more understandable. Suspicion also grew after Bagansky village council deputy head Valentina Zenkova made remarks to journalist Ivan Frolov that appeared to acknowledge such a situation. After his report was published, Frolov was detained and told that an inquiry had been opened under Article 207.1 of the Russian Criminal Code.
A second theory, widely discussed on social media, is that large agribusiness interests may be involved. Supporters of this version argue that restrictions appear to have hit small household farms harder than large enterprises. At the same time, representatives of major farms interviewed anonymously said such a scenario would not benefit them and would create reputational costs.
A third explanation concerns the possible use of low-quality domestic vaccines instead of imported ones. Local media discussed this version, but agricultural industry sources said Russian vaccines have been used for several years already, and there is no clear proof that this factor was decisive.
Authorities’ response
“As for rabies, this is a natural hotspot... We are dealing with a so-called epizootic storm,” said Yury Shmidt, head of the regional veterinary and sanitary center, on March 17, insisting that the issue is pasteurellosis and rabies.
Shmidt said removing animals was the only way to stop the spread of infection and added that veterinarians had recorded no new pasteurellosis outbreaks for 10 days. After visiting the region, Rosselkhoznadzor head Sergei Dankvert also said the problem was pasteurellosis. On March 18, regional lawmaker Denis Subbotin apologized to residents for how the authorities handled the culling, and on March 19 Governor Andrey Travnikov called the measures strict but necessary, without offering further detail.