Large fly plague terrorizes Russian villages: “Scene from a horror film”

Several villages in the Russian Urals have been plagued for weeks by an immense plague of flies. Several Russian news sites write that the residents compare the large swarms of flies to “a scene from a horror movie”.

Russian authorities are concerned about the health risks associated with the flight plague. “You can’t open a window or put up outside your laundry, let alone go out yourself,” said a citizen of the village of Lazorevy opposite the Russian state television. “I wipe up half a bucket of dead flies every day,” another resident sighed.

On the same state channel, a third female resident of the region called the fly nuisance “unbearable.” “I think it’s scary for my children. We must constantly poison the flies with chemicals that we then breathe ourselves. It is frightening.”

Chicken manure

The fly infestation probably comes from a field over which chicken manure has been spread. A farmer would have used large quantities of chicken droppings from a local poultry farm as fertilizer. Some reports state that dead chickens and entrails have also been used as compost.

The farmer in question, Andrei Savchenko, denies that it is his fault. “Flies have been around for millions of years, and they are everywhere,” he said. “This is only a matter of quantity, but who decides what the maximum number of flies can be.”

The Russian authorities have launched a criminal investigation into the illegal use of “environmentally hazardous waste” by the farmer.