Uninvited bones: why large families got the lands of a cattle burial ground
In Vladivostok, large families complained that they were given plots on land that had previously been used as a cattle burial ground. It is alleged that the administration did not warn about the possible risks. The problem of cattle burial grounds is still relevant for Russia, although laws were passed a few years ago on this subject, including the creation of a register of such facilities — and eventually the closure of all of them. Read more about the situation in the Izvestia article.
How cattle burial grounds were given to large families
Local media reported on the complaint of 42 large families from Vladivostok, who had been waiting 9-10 years to receive land plots. They were given land plots in the village of Beregovoe, 150 km from the city. It is claimed that there are no roads, schools and only one paramedic for the entire population. Moreover, the land itself is allegedly located in a landslide zone, and the USRN extracts show that the territory was previously used as a cattle burial ground.
The family administration did not inform about the risks, the publication says.
Izvestia sent a request to the administration of Vladivostok.
The expert of the direction "Popular Front. Analytics", Sergey Sokolov, a member of the public council of the Ministry of Agriculture, noted that the problem of having up-to-date information about orphan cattle burial grounds remains very acute.
"Cases when such plots fall into the number of lands allocated for construction, whether for privileged categories of citizens or apartment buildings, are no longer uncommon," he told Izvestia. — There is a risk of encountering a plot of land where a cattle burial ground was located 30-40 years ago, and this practice, unfortunately, takes place.
According to open data, in 2023 there were about 14 thousand cattle burial grounds in Russia. However, as Andrey Peshkov, an honored ecologist of the Russian Federation, notes, this topic and information on it "have always been closed."
And Irina Telnova, an expert at the HSE Institute of Ecology, emphasizes that official data may differ from reality. And he cites as an example a study of the volume of waste from animal life, which, as calculations have shown, turned out to be several times less than the livestock.
— Therefore, there is no need to talk about reliable data. Moreover, there is simply no information on what exactly is buried there and in what quantities," she told Izvestia.
Irina Telnova believes that even after reclamation and disinfection, the land should not be given over to building and cultivation.
How to get rid of cattle burial grounds in Russia
At the end of 2023, a law was passed that should solve these problems. It prohibits the construction of new animal burial grounds, also prescribes the liquidation of existing ones within 25 years after completion of operation, and also provides for the creation of a federal register of all such facilities and organizations working with biological waste.
Natalia Belyaeva, General Director of the Delphi Legal expert Bureau, member of the Scientific and Technical Council of Rosprirodnadzor, explained that according to this law, the operation of existing facilities is possible only until January 1, 2030. The subsequent stage of gradual liquidation is regulated by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, which in 2024, in particular, approved new veterinary rules that define mandatory laboratory checks of soil and residues before liquidation, the procedure for disinfection and dismantling of structures and reclamation of the territory.
— The register of animal burial grounds, included in the Federal State Information System in the field of veterinary medicine, exists and is regularly updated, — Natalia Belyaeva said. — It is closed, accessible only to authorized persons. But in general, significant changes have been made, work on liquidation is underway, and the monitoring system allows you to monitor the condition of each facility and monitor compliance with legislation.
The main thing now, she notes, is the development of new rules and high—quality monitoring. The regions need the center's methods and support to effectively identify and account for facilities.
It should be noted that local programs are also accepted in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. So, in the Novosibirsk region, they promised to close all anthrax burial grounds by 2027. In the Altai Territory, it was planned to eliminate 130 cattle burial grounds by 2026. In the Irkutsk region, most of the dangerous facilities have already been closed, and the procedure for the liquidation of ownerless cattle burial grounds has also been approved.
However, there is no single state program regarding cattle burial grounds - these are the powers of the regions. In most cases, this work is carried out at the expense of regional budgets.
Previously unknown cattle burial grounds are periodically discovered, but more often these are newly appeared objects. For example, a similar story happened in April 2024 in the same Primorye. There, an illegal cattle burial ground helped to discover the Amur tiger, which began to come to the village of Benevskoye more and more often. It turned out that he was attracted to the landfill of farm animal waste.
There were also situations similar to those in Primorye. So, in 2017, a resident of Orenburg received land for the construction of a house as a large family in the protected area of a cattle burial ground.
What regions need to combat cattle burial grounds
Sergey Sokolov is confident that a "real inventory" is needed: the study of old documents and the collection of objective data on previously placed cattle burial grounds.
— This is important because there are enough economic entities of the Soviet era that had livestock and which no longer exist, — said Sergey Sokolov. — The main issues arise precisely for those farms that are not in any registers. It is likely that work will be required with the archives of the regional veterinary services and districts in general — in Soviet times, records were kept quite strictly.
At the same time, he emphasizes that there are no legislative gaps in this area as such — there is a regulatory framework obliging to reclaim and preserve cattle burial grounds.
— The main problem is to find financing and determine the balance holder of the cattle burial ground. Where it can be established, the work is carried out under the supervision of Rospotrebnadzor, the prosecutor's office and local authorities," the source told Izvestia.
The situation could be improved by the introduction of incentive support measures, he believes. He suggests using as an analogy a program for the return of land to agricultural circulation, where up to 50% of the cost of deoxidation and uprooting is compensated by the state, and providing compensation for part of the cost of reclamation for farms that received such plots from previous owners.
Irina Telnova also notes that now the organization of the disposal of animal remains is long and expensive, and only "strict accounting of livestock, control of supervisory authorities and the inevitability of harsh punishment for non—compliance" can force farms to do this.
Natalia Belyaeva emphasizes that the use of land for construction or agriculture, if there is an abandoned cattle burial ground on the site, is "categorically unacceptable."
— The accepted veterinary rules allow checking sites for obstacles to normal land use. Although it is impossible to exclude the possibility of errors, any detected violation leads to the immediate cessation of construction and cancellation of the land use permit," she said.
Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and the Rosselkhoznadzor.
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