Right now: over 500,000 hectares of forest are burning — where can we find out how many animals have died?

When only official information on forest fires remains, without independent assessment as it used to be, it is difficult to gauge the real scale of the catastrophe. For years, independent observers revealed colossal discrepancies in the official statistics—in some cases the figures were understated tens of times! This is hardly surprising: one need only look at investigations by the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, which expose the blatant lies surrounding Russia’s wildlife—statistics are fabricated, money is siphoned off, and there are no genuinely objective data at all. Nothing but lies.

I remind you that the Accounts Chamber has previously reported:

• After auditing the federal project “Forest Conservation” (2019–2021), it was found that regions were rapidly planting closed-root seedlings for reforestation merely to check a box, while in reality up to 90 % of all planted trees die before reaching three years of age.

  
  

• In the report “On the State of the Forest Fund” for 2020, the Accounts Chamber revealed that data for 84.4 % of all Russian forests had not been updated for more than ten years. In other words, we have no idea of the real situation in our forests because no objective data exist.

  
  

• After auditing the 2023 budget execution in the Ministry of Natural Resources and its subordinate bodies, the Accounts Chamber identified 56 violations totalling 74.4 billion rubles! Appeals were prepared for the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Federal Antimonopoly Service. In short, the Ministry of Natural Resources simply pocketed billions, and there is no counteraction against the federal agency.

  
  
• The Accounts Chamber also noted that by 2024 the “Forest Conservation” project would restore only the losses of 2022, not the full deficit owed to nature—again, with up to 90 % of seedlings eventually dying! Meanwhile, the Ministry of Natural Resources failed six of the ten targets in the national project “Ecology.”

That’s the reality! Therefore, when discussing today’s forest fires and the real scale of the disaster, it is logical to ask: can we trust these data at all, or is this yet another blatant lie?

In fact, since the start of 2025, Russia has been experiencing unprecedentedly widespread forest-fire activity, even by official statistics. According to Avialesookhrana (under the Ministry of Natural Resources), by midnight on 12 May 2025, 95 major forest fires were burning across seven Russian regions, covering about 521,172 ha (half a million hectares).

In other words, these are forests burning right here and now—flames consuming them at this very moment! This does not include forests already burnt.

What worries me most is that, just as no one previously counted how many animals burned or how much young offspring was lost, no one is counting it now. Our officials are not even trying to reform the forestry system to record the real losses to wildlife and minimise them!

Thus, it is currently hard to assess the total environmental damage, although numerous reports indicate severe losses of wild fauna. For instance, in the Amur Region on the territory of Muravyovsky Park, a severe fire on 9–10 May destroyed most wetlands and groves. Scientists report that nests of critically endangered Japanese cranes were burned to ashes along with their offspring! This was discovered only because biologists had been monitoring the egg clutches, now lost. Only the nests of white-naped cranes (located higher) survived, yet while parents fled, crows raided some clutches. Several oriental stork nests containing eggs also burned.

Do you think these data will appear in official statistics? I highly doubt it—they will simply be forgotten and erased!

Experts also note that “many birds and small mammals died in the fire… Habitats of the Amur forest cat and other Red Data Book species have been destroyed.”

Earlier, scientists warned that “in the next two years, populations of many animal and bird species will decline as a result of the fires, and some forests may require decades to fully recover.”

Now new fires have arrived, closing the vicious cycle of ecocide and worsening the already dire state of Russia’s wildlife.

Vladimir Prelovsky, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Physical Geography and Biogeography of the Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, stated back in 2019 after large-scale fires:

“For a more accurate assessment of damage, field surveys must be conducted immediately after a fire. Here lies another snag: the number of zoologists in Siberia is declining much faster than the populations of the rarest species, so vast areas remain completely unstudied; we know neither quantitative characteristics nor even the specific species composition of their inhabitants.”

His comments on shrinking food resources are also insightful. Just the other day, I published notes that bears are hungry; hunters complain that they kill bears for fat, yet there is half as much fat as usual! Meanwhile, the ministry claims there is no problem, saying bears aren’t starving—they merely approach people because their numbers are too high, so more bears must be shot.

Vladimir Prelovsky said:

“For many hibernators, lack of food leads to insufficient fat reserves for hibernation and consequently their death. Chipmunks, for example, need large food stores to feed when they awaken mid-winter. Among bears, the number of ‘shatun’—stragglers—is rising: they may enter settlements, attack livestock and dogs, and, when encountered, people.”

Arkady Matveev, Dean of the Faculty of Biology and Soil Science at ISU, commented on the same issue:

“Animals are forced to approach human settlements in search of food and shelter. Murine rodents enter homes, and predators—bears, foxes—come close to dwellings.”

In response to mouse infestations, farmland expands pesticide spraying—killing every living thing. And seeing large predators, officials demand permission to kill even more: for the 2025 hunting season alone, regional authorities issued quotas to kill over 42 thousand bears—an unprecedented scale!

Decisions by the Ministry of Natural Resources can be truly shocking. For instance, they extended bear-hunting season to the end of the calendar year (31 December), when bears are already hibernating! In summer 2024 they even tried to permit hunting through the entire winter until spring.

Or consider firefighting decisions in ancient forests—wildlife refuges. Officially, the ministry and Rosleskhoz allow fires in remote forests not threatening settlements or economic assets to burn unchecked. Regional authorities are formally permitted, I quote, “not to extinguish fire outbreaks if the cost of containment exceeds the projected damage and the flames do not threaten people.”

I see a catch here: once protected ancient forests burn, “sanitary logging” is allowed, opening huge profit opportunities. Machinery moves in, logs scorched trees—many only slightly burnt—and sells them for good money. Budget funds are also siphoned off for these logging operations.

The sole focus is profit. That, I keep saying.

Meanwhile, wildlife burns, food sources shrink, and animals come to humans for sustenance!

Such madness is global. In April 2025, Australian authorities ordered around 800 koalas shot from helicopters because they had nothing to eat after fires! Environmentalists were shocked: “How did you decide they were starving—from a rifle scope in a helicopter?”

We face equally dire chaos.

Who knows how many animals died in the fires? Where can one find objective statistics?

Oh yes—what statistics? Our forest data haven’t been updated in over ten years. No one knows the state of our wildlife.

Our single rule: “Seize nature reserves, fight fires only near settlements, and if you see a starving animal seeking help—shoot without hesitation.”

Right now, more than half a million hectares of Russian taiga are burning simultaneously, and nests of Red Data Book birds lost in the flames were noticed only because a few biologists were monitoring them.

I again quote RAS specialist Vladimir Prelovsky: “Here lies another snag: the number of zoologists in Siberia is decreasing far faster than populations of the rarest animal species.”

© PAVEL PASHKOV