On a farm in northern Ukraine, a frightened heifer has hobbled since shrapnel broke her hind leg, and her ordeal reminds us of the heavy toll animals pay in war.
At four months old, she survived the bombings that almost completely destroyed a farm in the village 25 km southeast of Kharkiv (east), killing a third of the animals.
“In Ukraine, agriculture is an important branch of the economy. According to 2020 data, it accounts for 9% of GDP (vs. 1.6% in France), 13.8% of employment (vs. 2.5% in France) and 45.1% of goods exports (vs 14% for France) from »remembers the economist Sandrine Levasseur in the OFCE blog.
A “Nightmare Night” for Lioubov Zlobina, the 62-year-old owner, who says it is her “Haunted by the screams of cows burned alive ever since” in the hangar on March 26, when the Russians tried to capture the city.
“I’m holding on to this little miracle, but I’ve put her on antibiotics twice and unfortunately her wound is still weeping and she’s not gaining weight.”she wails under the sound of bombs in the distance.
“If we could remove the shard it might be out of the forest, but for an operation we would have to take it very far and we can’t do that.”breathes Mrs. Zlobina and looks overwhelmed.
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A beam fell on your head
Her husband, who was a Soviet Army driver in Afghanistan, shows AFP on his cell phone some videos taken on the night of the tragedy.
“We ran out of the basement in all directions”, explains Mykolaï Zlobin, 57, because the hay immediately caught fire. A calving cow was beheaded.
A whole section of wall had to be destroyed with the tractor so that the cattle could find an exit while the shells continued to hit the panicked herd.
“I tried to save some piglets but the sows were scared and protected them under their bellies.”regrets Lioubov Zlobina, but is surprised that the hens continue to peck as if nothing had happened.
Yulia Koval, 38, an employee who was present on the day of the tragedy, says a beam fell on her head as she tried to push the calves outside.
“We could have gone through it because it kept falling, but we didn’t think about it”She says. “We just wanted to save her, that’s all”.
However, the animals most affected had to be killed.
Hungry stray dogs
Now the stable is just a rusty metal skeleton. Ruminants have to stay in the surrounding fields, which fortunately are not mined.
Temporary shelter was hastily built for the youngest, but a permanent solution must be found before winter.
And the two-acre farm lives in the agony of dogs abandoned by their owners and seeking shelter further west: they are starving.
“Look at this wounded sheep with its three lambs” said Ms. Zlobina, pointing at her as she tried to hide. “She was attacked less than twenty-four hours ago.”
“In the beginning the packs ate the corpses of abandoned Russian soldiers and we sometimes found a foot or a hand on our property, but now they attack the livestock.”she says in disgust.
During the first weeks of the Russian invasion, Mala Rogan was occupied by forces from Moscow, who have since left that part of Ukraine, leaving a battle-torn landscape in their wake.
An expected loss of 300,000 animals
But the small village is still under heavy artillery fire and a special permit from the Ukrainian Armed Forces is required to go there, completely isolating the farm with no gas or electricity.
The fate reserved for him is not uncommon and the media regularly reports on the massive deaths of animals during the bombings in the regions hardest hit by the destruction.
According to the Ukrainian government, 15% of cattle have already been lost. For its part, the Association of Dairy Producers estimates that the country’s cattle population will have fallen by 8 to 10% by the end of the year.
“In 2021 Ukraine had 3.11 million animals and a loss of 300,000 animals is expected ” according to the NGO Open Cages Ukraine, which produced a first report on June 9 after contacting 290 farms.
war in Ukraine. “We just wanted to save them, that’s all”: cattle also victims of fighting EXPAND