An infection sweeping through the horse population in central areas of Kazakhstan is threatening to cause shortages of an increasingly popular source of meat, but animal health officials are at a loss to offer explanations on what to do.

The news of mass equine deaths was broken by the Instagram account Patriot of Karaganda, which reported that animals in parts of Karaganda region’s Bukharzhyrau region have been succumbing to a painful condition notable for causing purulent sores that start from the legs and spread across the body.

Disturbing video footage shared online shows two ill horses in a stable in which one is seen with heavily bleeding legs and appears close to death.

Farmers in the village of Tortkol have said they suspect the cause to be lymphangitis—an inflammation of the lymph vessels triggered by pathogenic microorganisms, typically streptococci or staphylococci. They noted that cases of this infection are known to have been prevalent in the neighboring village of Umutker since last year and that their horses shared grazing areas with the infected animals.

Local state veterinarians who conducted tests on the afflicted animals, have dismissed lymphangitis as the definitive cause. This has led to speculation among farmers that officials are intentionally avoiding confirming the lymphangitis diagnosis to avoid the authorities having to pay compensation for livestock losses. Those farmers claim owners of deceased horses with confirmed lymphangitis in an adjacent village have already received financial compensation.

Veterinary officials have advised caution against jumping to conclusions. One official was quoted by Patriot of Karaganda as saying: “So what if the cattle from Tortkol graze alongside those from Umutker? This isn't sufficient grounds for a uniform diagnosis.”

This localized crisis comes against a broadly more positive backdrop — at least for those partial to horse, a much-prized meat in Kazakhstan.

Fresh data compiled by analytics company Energyprom reveals that horse mortality in Kazakhstan fell by 11 percent last year, while the horse population overall increased by more than 5 percent to around 4 million. The most substantial population is in the southern Turkestan region, which accounts for around one-tenth of the total.

This is just as well since demand for horse meat is on the rise. Nearly 7 percent more horses were slaughtered in 2023 than in the year before. Consumption of horse meat in the last quarter of 2023 also saw a significant increase from the same period a year before, attesting to a consolidation of the long-standing Kazakh tradition of sogym, wherein horses are slaughtered in preparation for the stocking away of their meat for winter.

In other animal news, Ecology and Natural Resources Minister Yerlan Nysanbayev on February 12 announced a fresh suspension in the culling of saiga antelopes. This decision, which was effective retrospectively from February 10, was reportedly adopted following consultations with local and international experts.

The Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry had previously, in September, agreed to sanction the control of the saiga population, whose rapid growth has drawn complaints from farmers, through a campaign of netting and shooting.

Nysanbayev suggested saiga hunting might resume later this year in light of predictions of a 40 percent increase in their population to some 2.5 million heads.

“Pasture land [in western Kazakhstan] does not have the capacity to support such numbers,” Nysanbaev said.