A group of individuals suspected of cattle rustling has been detained in the Kyzylorda region. Residents of the village of Aiteke bi reported the theft of nine camels from free-range grazing to the police.
As reported by polisia.kz, investigators established that the suspects killed and butchered the animals not far from the scene of the theft – right on the grazing land.
"Operatives from the regional police department and the Kazaly district detained suspects aged between 24 and 30. A hunting rifle, cartridges, knives, and a hide were seized as material evidence," the statement reads.
Police are checking the suspects' involvement in similar crimes.
It is worth noting that recently, incidents have become more frequent where the protagonists are not so much the barymtachi, or livestock rustlers, but rather free-grazing domestic animals.
Numerous traffic accidents on high-speed roads caused by stray livestock running under the wheels of vehicles often lead to tragedies. The statistics are merciless: annually, over 30 people die in road traffic accidents involving livestock on Kazakhstan's highways.
For example, in the Turkestan region, on the "Almaty – Tashkent" highway, a bus collided with a herd of horses that ran onto the road. The driver, unable to avoid the collision, hit several animals. At the time of the accident, there were 17 passengers on the bus, five of whom were injured: four became disabled, and one died from their injuries.
The careless attitude towards livestock grazing is often justified by traditional forms of farming - so-called steppe pastoralism. But it is, after all, the 21st century; the steppe is crisscrossed by motorways, and modern vehicles are capable of reaching very high speeds. Hence the conclusion - how safe is free-range grazing, really, and is it not time to finally resolve this thorny issue?