Russia's Irkutsk region mass-culls livestock as farmers fear foot-and-mouth disease

The BBC Russian Service has reported on a mass culling of livestock underway in Russia's Irkutsk region, where authorities are seizing and killing animals, officially attributing the measure to an outbreak of lumpy skin disease.

According to the official version, animals are being removed from farms and killed to stop the disease from spreading further. However, local farmers interviewed by the BBC expressed doubts about this explanation, suggesting the actual cause could instead be foot-and-mouth disease — a far more serious and more rapidly spreading livestock infection.

What the two diseases are

Lumpy skin disease is a viral cattle illness that causes nodules on the skin and can lead to significant economic losses, though it is rarely fatal to the animals themselves. Foot-and-mouth disease, by contrast, is a much more contagious viral infection affecting cloven-hoofed animals, including cattle, pigs and sheep. Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease typically trigger strict trade restrictions, since the virus can spread quickly between farms and regions.

If the farmers' suspicions were confirmed, it could point to far more serious consequences for the livestock sector in the Irkutsk region than the officially acknowledged lumpy skin disease outbreak would imply. The BBC report did not specify how many animals have been culled so far or how many farms have been affected.

Russian authorities have so far not officially altered their stated explanation for the outbreak.