Russia is advancing studies aimed at rehabilitating and eliminating dangerous cattle cemeteries that threaten public health. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) are pushing to stop the creation of new pet cemetery sites, while the State Duma considers a draft law to establish registries for such facilities and to oversee their operation. Local press coverage notes that a new regulatory framework could take effect in September of next year.
Federal authorities estimate that Russia hosts about 14,000 potentially dangerous cattle burial sites. Roughly 46 percent of these are active but lack identifiable ownership, which raises environmental and health risks for nearby communities. In many cases, farmers establish these sites to avoid costs associated with transporting and properly disposing of animal remains.
The proposed law would ban building new animal cemeteries in Russia. The Ministry of Agriculture will work on veterinary regulations governing the management and disposal of existing facilities.
Under the VetIS component FSIS Cerberus, a complete registry of animal cemeteries will be created. The registry will record all animal burials to enable traceability of biological waste. A formal list of biologically contaminated waste from the processing of food and non-food materials of animal origin will also be approved.
Because current legislation allows broad interpretation of the term biological waste, the new law aims to set a clear, consistent procedure for handling this material. The ambiguity surrounding the term has often caused confusion for those engaged in the circulation of such wastes. The bill proposes replacing the phrase recycling and destruction with a clearer framework that emphasizes recycling and destruction as essential steps.
News reports emphasize that cattle cemeteries today pose health risks to nearby settlements and residents because they can be sources of pathogens linked to anthropozoonotic diseases. The reporting highlights a shortage of veterinary specialists, which can hinder effective oversight of these sites.
Earlier, reports from the UK described a situation where two thousand homes experienced outages due to a goose-related error, illustrating how wildlife and human infrastructure issues can intersect in unexpected ways.