Dacha's passions: why does a gardener need chickens, geese and rabbits on the plot?

Irina Mishina

Every morning in our holiday village now begins with the cock crow that wakes up the whole neighborhood at 5-6 o'clock. The rabbits also felt like masters of life and began to move to neighboring areas to feast on beautiful garden flowers. Owners of living creatures, like many, simply read a joyful message in the news and, without delving into its essence, began to acquire chickens, geese and rabbits.

In general, this law has a heavy karma. In September last year, the case of a Russian woman came to the Supreme Court, in whose summer cottage a chicken coop was discovered. The court fined her 10 thousand rubles. and forbade Russians to breed farm animals in garden plots. Maria Spiridonova, a member of the Association of Lawyers of Russia, then explained that it is possible to start cattle and poultry in the country house only if the site belongs to a personal subsidiary plot with the appropriate registration. And then living creatures in the dachas seemed to be banned. The people began to get rid of goats, chickens, piglets and rabbits in order to avoid fines. But now chickens and rabbits are allowed again. On July 8, the document on this subject was approved by the Federation Council. As Yulia Ogloblina, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, said, "there is a great demand from members of associations for this initiative." At the same time, he made the reservation that in connection with the bill "there are many controversial points".

We asked on the sidelines of the State Duma why this happened. Spreading their hands and delicacy, the deputies said that in this way the authorities want to give summer residents the opportunity to save money on buying products that inflation is making less and less affordable. Products obtained from domestic farm animals will be allowed to be used only for personal purposes. Entrepreneurial activity in poultry breeding within the framework of innovations is strictly prohibited.

Owners of only those plots where, according to urban planning regulations, it is possible to equip a chicken coop and a rabbitry, will be able to breed poultry and rabbits. Otherwise, permission must be obtained. Summer residents will also have to comply with veterinary, sanitary and epidemiological rules and hygiene requirements for such buildings. After all, those who had a chicken coop or rabbitry in the neighborhood know firsthand about the smells that poison outdoor recreation. And also about rats, which inevitably start up next to manure and animal feed, if there is a lot of it.

So, about the law. Not only I, a journalist and summer resident, but also a professional lawyer, a lawyer, could not immediately understand its intricacies. “The breeding of chickens, geese and rabbits is possible only if the territory allows urban planning regulations. But this regulation defines the legal regimes, features of development and operation. With regard to dachas, there is a lot of incomprehensible here, because this is all calculated mainly for building standards in cities, ” lawyer Lyubov Goncharova explained to me.

Article 23 of the new law “Peculiarities of Formation, Use of Garden Land Plots and Garden Land Plots” ornately states: “Garden land plots and garden plots of land must be used for their intended purpose and in accordance with their permitted use. It is allowed to use garden land plots and garden land plots for the cultivation of poultry and (or) rabbits by citizens for their own needs, subject to the town planning regulations for the territorial zone within which such land plot is located, or in accordance with a permit ... subject to land legislation , veterinary norms and rules, sanitary and epidemiological rules and hygienic standards. Where exactly, from whom and how all these permits are obtained is a mystery. Nor is there a word about the rules in the law.

I suppose that the vast majority of summer residents will not read this law at all and delve into its subtleties, but will simply start chickens, geese and rabbits. But the local police and Rospotrebnadzor will have a reason to issue a fine for a round sum. For what? The law is written so cunningly that there is a reason for that, no doubt about it.

In general, personally, I don’t think that summer residents will now start breeding livestock without exception. However, those who do this are likely to ruin the lives of everyone else. Because breeding cattle in large quantities is not only about the appropriate aromas. These are also certain resources: water, electricity. As a result, country livestock breeders will start consuming them in large quantities, which will cause a load on the entire SNT infrastructure. The deputies, most of whom are happy owners of country cottages in closed settlements, of course, do not suspect this.

It will also not be easy to fight with the owners of chickens, geese and rabbits to the neighbors, who will receive the aromas, and the raids of the rabbits on the flowers, and the heart-rending crowing under the windows. Because it is not clear which specific bodies will monitor all this. They are not specified in the 36-page law.

Realizing this, my neighbors in the dacha, desperate to fight the rabbits that devoured their garden flowers and chickens that spread indestructible aromas, chipped in and bought a ferret, which was thrown at night on the site of the “livestock breeders”. He solved all their problems in a couple of hours.