Village ignores bird flu quarantine despite official orders

On paper, there is a quarantine, restrictions, checkpoints, security forces, and a ban on entry. But when we approached Sloboda-Beshkil, everything looked calm: no disinfection barriers, no guards. The road is clear, chickens are grazing on the roadside, ducks are near the gardens. The village is living a normal life, as if there was no outbreak at all.

Nevertheless, it was here, in Isetsky District, that veterinarians recorded an outbreak of bird flu. The source of the infection is a private household on the outskirts of the village. The area is officially closed for quarantine, but in practice, few people know about it.

How it all began

Elena, the owner of that very household, is not well-known in the village. She is not a local. She lives sometimes here, sometimes in Tyumen. The woman says that everything started unexpectedly — in the morning, several chickens simply stopped moving.

«It started simply — you come, and they are already lying down. In the evening they were running, in the morning you come — that«s it, they»re done. I immediately called the veterinarians, they came, issued a notice. Before that, I had already closed the birds in the building, so as not to let them out,» recalls Elena.

There were about thirty chickens and almost as many ducks in the household. All for personal use, not for sale. After the veterinarians« visit, all the birds had to be destroyed.

«They did everything quickly, neatly,» says Elena. «The birds were taken for disposal, the premises were treated, then everything was disinfected again. Then they went through the village, vaccinating others. So everything, it seems, was done on time.»

She is sure: the infection came through water. Behind the owner«s small household, there is a stream that flows from a small pond.

«There are wild ducks swimming there, and ours together with them. They even sometimes came to us to eat, they see where ours go. That«s all. Not the feed, not the walk, but precisely the water. The cause is in the river.»

Now it«s quiet in her yard — no geese, no chickens.

«Everything is destroyed,» she says calmly. «I wrote a statement that I voluntarily agree. There will be no compensation, of course, because I signed it myself, but I didn«t want to wait. The main thing is that it doesn»t spread further,» the woman explains.

There were outbreaks before this

Elena«s neighbor recalls that she was the first to raise the alarm.

«Her chickens started dying, and she went to the veterinary service. She had a large household — geese, ducks, and quails. They say they killed all of them. About sixty pieces, probably,» says the woman.

In the neighboring village Rassvet, she says, similar cases were a month ago — also bird deaths, but no one applied anywhere. Everyone thought that the feed was bad and it was just poisoning.

According to Elena, her neighbor also had birds dying. However, she omitted this in conversation with journalists. However, according to the woman, isolated cases in Sloboda-Beshkil happened here and there even in the summer.

Now it«s quiet in Sloboda-Beshkil. People are not aware of the details of what happened. When asked about the quarantine, many just shrug their shoulders.

«Yes, everything is calm with us,» says an elderly resident. «We go to the store, buses are running. Only at the poultry farm, they say, there is quarantine. They are not taking ours there for now.»

Quarantine

At a large enterprise not far from the village, where they raise turkeys, restrictions were indeed introduced.

«Ours are not working now, while the quarantine is on,» says a saleswoman in the village store. «Those who agreed to stay, they live on shift right at the factory. They say the conditions are normal, everything is clean. They are paid, of course. And so everyone is waiting for it to end. And those who are here on quarantine for now, they also get paid.»

According to Elena, the veterinarians promised to return at the end of October — to re-treat the premises and lift the restrictions. And only after three months will she be allowed to start new birds.

«Let it be better this way,» she sighs. «I kept a household for ten years, and this is the first time. Just now we won«t let them out on the water anymore. The main thing is that I applied in time. Otherwise, many had birds dying even in the summer, but everyone kept silent.»

What they say officially

At the Isetsky Interdistrict Veterinary Center, they previously refused to comment on the situation. The regional veterinary department similarly referred to the fact that «information about animal diseases is classified as restricted distribution information.»

In the administration of Isetsky District, they even stated that there are no outbreaks of bird flu.

Meanwhile, in documents obtained by the editorial office, it is indicated: the source of infection was recorded in the personal household of a resident of Sloboda-Beshkil, and the territory within a radius of 15 kilometers is included in the surveillance zone.

Due to the outbreak at the neighboring breeding poultry enterprise, a shift work mode was introduced for employees, with mandatory disinfection of incoming vehicles.

At the end of September, in villages of Vikulovsky District, swine fever was discovered. It all started with mass deaths of livestock in private yards. Within a few days, villagers were left without pigs: some died in pigsties, others were burned due to the dangerous virus. For spreading the infection, some residents now risk facing fines. Why this happened and what the situation is in the village — in our report.