{
  "id": 7593453,
  "title": "Russia’s Irkutsk region is culling livestock over what officials call lumpy skin disease, but local farmers suspect foot-and-mouth disease",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/15/russias-irkutsk-region-is-culling-livestock-over-what-officials-call",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-15T16:39:55.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Meduza (English)",
    "slug": "meduza-english",
    "url": "https://meduza.io/en/news/2026/09/15/russia-s-irkutsk-region-is-culling-livestock-over-what-officials-call-lumpy-skin-disease-but-local-farmers-suspect-foot-and-mouth-disease"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In Russia's Irkutsk region, authorities are conducting a mass culling of livestock due to a lumpy skin disease outbreak, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. However, many local farmers are suspicious of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak instead. Residents of villages under quarantine have accused veterinary officials of lacking transparency, and they claim to have signed nondisclosure agreements but not received copies of their animals' test results. Veterinarians do not share test results with owners, and they administer vaccines using prefilled syringes without providing vaccination records. This makes it difficult for farmers to determine which disease their animals are actually being vaccinated against. One farmer told the BBC that the symptoms of lumpy skin disease and foot-and-mouth disease are distinct and cannot be mistaken for one another. In the village of Butyrki, residents have complained about veterinarians not changing their work clothes between farm visits, which they believe contributes to the spread of disease. Some carcasses of killed animals have been found lying by the roadside, and the burned remains are sometimes dumped in a pit near the Sarafanka River. The pit was initially intended to be near homes but was relocated following protests. The cull in Irkutsk is not the first in Russia; a similar mass livestock cull over a disputed diagnosis occurred in the Novosibirsk region in 2026, initially blamed on pasteurellosis but later found to be foot-and-mouth disease. In the Kemerovo region, the same pattern emerged in May, with officials blaming lumpy skin disease while locals suspected foot-and-mouth disease. Meduza, the news outlet reporting this story, is committed to transparency about its use of AI in the newsroom. This English-language account was written by one of their journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model that adheres to strict editorial standards. Every draft undergoes review by a Meduza editor before publication, and readers are encouraged to report any errors to reports@meduza.io.",
  "summary": "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.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Meduza (English)",
        "title": "St. Petersburg election officials from Russia’s antiwar Yabloko party were ordered to report to military offices at 9 a.m. on the first day of voting — exactly when polls are scheduled to open",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/15/st-petersburg-election-officials-from-russias-antiwar-yabloko-party",
        "published": "2026-09-15T16:59:18.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}