"Such a beast must be transported in a tank": how much can deputy Rashkin pay for a new elk

State Duma Deputy Valery Rashkin can pay up to 700 thousand rubles for a moose, which he wants to purchase and release into the forest to maintain the animal population.

Earlier, he admitted that he really shot a moose in the vicinity of the village of Lysye Gory in the Saratov region.

Then Rashkin told reporters that he plans to buy a moose cow instead of the killed one.

Elk are worth more

According to experts, the desire of the deputy to acquire an animal can be fulfilled, although not easy.

The company ZooDom, which acts as an intermediary in the purchase of exotic animals, told RT that they were recently contacted on behalf of Valery Rashkin regarding the purchase of a pair of elk.

“First there was an application for a pair - a male and a female - with transportation, then for one female.

Moreover, the girl wrote on behalf of Valery Rashkin just.

I named the price for the female and her transportation - 700 thousand rubles.

After that, the person who asked to calculate the cost disappeared, "the nursery administrator told RT.

According to the interlocutor, the demand for elk has recently for some reason increased sharply.

At the same time, the deputy Rashkin, apparently, will face difficulties when buying an animal.

The fact is that it is very difficult to transport moose - they are almost not affected by tranquilizers, and on the way they are able to break almost any obstacle.

“Such an animal should not be transported by car, but in a tank.

Therefore, we try not to work with moose, ”said a representative of the kennel.

Valery Rashkin said that he was ready to buy a moose cow, and they are valued higher on the moose market.

Animals can be released into the wild for at least a year.

“A one and a half year old girl costs 150 thousand rubles, an adult, giving birth to a moose cow costs 200 thousand rubles.

A young male elk costs about 90 thousand rubles, but no one really needs boys, as a rule, they ask for girls, ”said Natalya Korenkova, chief technologist of the Sumarokovskaya moose farm in the Kostroma region.

"Elks are naughty"

However, buying an animal is just the beginning.

Its maintenance and transportation are even more expensive.

For example, before releasing a moose into a forest in the Saratov region, it will need to be checked for diseases, vaccinated, and quarantined for a month before and after transportation, "so that the animal is guaranteed to be healthy."

All this time, the customer pays for the life, food and necessary amenities for the animal.

“Elk is an extremely difficult animal to keep.

In order for him to last a month, he needs 15 kilograms of shoots from different trees every day: willow, aspen, birch, mountain ash.

They are sometimes capricious, do not want to eat something.

In winter, moose must be given aspen bark so that they are fed and satisfied, they need salt.

Our moose are accustomed to carrots, oatmeal - this is also desirable to give, so that there is no stress from switching to another type of feeding, "added Natalya Korenkova.

To transport the moose to the place from where it will be released into the wild, a tank may not be needed, but a large and strong car is for sure.

In this vehicle, the animal must stand without touching the roof with its horns.

Valery Rashkin was lucky with the season when he needed a moose, because in the summer breeders do not sell these animals.

The fact is that this time of year the horns of animals become very sensitive, the elk can easily get injured during the move.

“Before transportation, we call the moose, give it a calming injection, put on the bridle, and when the moose begins to realize that something is wrong, several strong employees together drag it into the transportation cage.

This is the only not very beautiful moment in dealing with animals.

We, of course, do not like him, ”said the interlocutor.

After transportation, the moose is kept in quarantine for another month in a spacious aviary.

In this case, it is necessary to build a fence not lower than 2.5 meters so that the elk does not jump over it.

According to a representative of the Sumarokovskaya moose farm, they regularly order a moose instead of a killed one once a year.

For example, in the spring of this year, they bought an animal to replace a killed moose in the Chelyabinsk region.

At the same time, not all moose breeders are ready to sell animals to hunting farms, which means that Valery Rashkin's choice is limited.

For example, the Pechora-Ilych Biosphere Reserve in the northern Urals sells elk only to ethnoparks and nurseries, although sometimes they are also approached from hunting farms.

“We are afraid for the animals, they are tame, they will be immediately shot in the wild, so we do not supply the hunting grounds,” a representative of the reserve told RT.

"I became a victim of circumstances"

Recall that at the end of October, the Committee for Hunting and Fisheries of the Saratov Region filed a complaint with the police against deputy Valery Rashkin on suspicion of illegal hunting. 

The committee said that on the night of October 28-29, inspectors heard shots on the hunting grounds of the Saratov Regional Society of Hunters and Fishermen.

When they arrived at the scene, they saw a car in which there were Rashkin and another person, and in the trunk there was a buttered carcass of an elk.

A video of the arrest was posted online.

Not far from the car, the police found a weapon permit and a hunting ticket in the name of Valery Rashkin, as well as a hunting carbine, tripod and cartridges.

Valery Rashkin himself initially claimed that he and a friend found the carcass of an animal in the forest and decided to load it into the trunk of their car.

In turn, a RT source in the district Society of Hunters and Fishermen said that Rashkin and his acquaintances had allegedly been hunting in the area for several years.

The deputy himself published a video message on YouTube on November 18, in which he nevertheless admitted that he had shot a moose.

According to Rashkin, he came to the village of Lysiye Gory at the invitation of old friends to go fishing and, "if possible, to hunt."

As the deputy said, friends told him that the hunt was open and they had an official permission to shoot ungulates.

At the same time, he confused the elk with the wild boar.

According to him, at the time of his arrest, he "realized that he had become a victim of a coincidence."

Therefore, ostensibly in order to protect his friend, he did not admit that he had shot the animal.

“Based on these considerations, fearing for my friend, so as not to accidentally set anyone up, I didn’t find anything better and blurted out that I had found the carcass of this elk,” Rashkin said.

Now a criminal case has been initiated on illegal hunting (Article 258 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

The investigation is being carried out by the central office of the Investigative Committee.

On November 17, the Prosecutor General sent a petition to the State Duma to deprive Valery Rashkin of parliamentary immunity in connection with a criminal case.

Chairman of the lower house of parliament Vyacheslav Volodin said that the State Duma could discuss this issue at a meeting on November 25.