Power Cut in Russia's Siberia Results in Mass Chicken Death

By The Moscow Times

Aug. 11, 2014

More than 12,500 hens have suffocated to death at a poultry farm in Western Siberia. Creisi / Pixabay

More than 12,500 hens have suffocated to death after a power cut caused a ventilation system to fail at a poultry farm in Western Siberia.

The power cut, which took place Saturday and lasted for 1 1/2 hours, knocked out the ventilation system in one of the sheds at the Sarapulskaya Poultry Farm, leading to the deaths of 12,540 hens, the Udmurtia republic's veterinary service said in an online statement.

A post-mortem examination established the cause of death as asphyxiation and heat stroke, the statement said.

The deaths come after Russia last week announced a food import ban on all meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the U.S., the EU, Canada, Norway and Australia in response to sanctions that those countries had imposed on Russia for its role in the ongoing Ukraine crisis.

Imported poultry accounts for only 10 percent of the roughly 4 million tons of poultry consumed in Russia per year, a spokesman for the Cherkizovo meat manufacturer told ITAR-Tass news agency on Monday.

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