The Russian village of Lazorevy, in Russia’s Urals region, has been invaded by giant swarms of flies after a local farmer allegedly used chicken droppings as natural fertilizer in his fields, which acted as a perfect breeding ground for the insects. Imagine Albert Hitchcock’s “The Birds”, only on a much larger scale and with flies instead of violent birds. The roads of Lazorevy have become living carpets of flies that rise into horrific swarms every time they are disturbed, locals sweep buckets of dead flies from their homes every day, and some people are even afraid to go outdoors because the tiny insects are virtually everywhere. The recent fly invasion has been described by most as a living nightmare, and despite the best efforts of residents and local authorities to wipe out the unwanted guests, the flies are breeding so fast that humans can’t keep up.

Photo: 1TV.ru video screengrab

“It’s unbearable, the flies are everywhere,” a Lazorevy woman told Ura.ru. “I’m afraid for my children. We need to poison the flies constantly with chemicals, but then we all have to breath that air. It’s frightening.” Soon after the flies started terrorizing the Russian village, rumors started spreading that a local farmer was to blame. He had allegedly used bird droppings from a local poultry farm as natural fertilizer for his fields, and the flies laid millions of eggs in it. Some said that dead chickens and chicken entrails had also been used, but that is yet to be confirmed. The owner of the chicken farm admitted to supplying the bird droppings to the farmer, but said it was normal practice, blaming the fly invasion on bad luck.

Photo: ND News video screengrab

“This is much better than chemicals,” Maxim Maksimov said. “We were just unlucky with the weather. A wet spring and then a sudden increase in temperatures created favourable conditions for flies to breed.” As for the farmer, Andrei Savchenko, he has refused to take the blame, claiming that there is no way to prove that the flies came from his fields, and that flies have been around for millions of years.

Photo: 1TV.ru video screengrab

“There is no stamp on them, on the flies, to prove they came from me. You need to investigate the flight of the flies, where they come from” Savchenko said. “Flies have existed for millions of years, and they are everywhere. This is just a question of the amount of them. But no one can tell me what the acceptable or cut-off number of flies is.” Authorities have launched an investigation into the use of hazardous waste as a fertilizer, which is illegal in Russia. If found guilty of causing an environmental disaster, the farmer risks spending up to two years behind bars. Meanwhile a solution to the fly invasion has yet to be found.

 

At the urgent request of villagers, Lazorevy was sprayed with insecticide, but that only cleaned up the place for about two days. With millions of flies breeding virtually everywhere around the village at an incredibly fast rate, the insects were back in Lazorevy in no time. Local shops have exhausted their supplies of insecticide cans, but for every fly killed, dozens more seem to rise from the ground. It’s just an unequal fight. “You can’t hang out your washing to dry or open your windows, let alone go outside,” an exasperated woman said.

“Every day or two there’s enough to fill a bucket, half a bucket,” another resident sweeping dead flies from her home added.

People are worried about their crops, but also about contacting life-threatening diseases, as flies are potential carriers of typhoid and cholera.