Military operations greatly alter Chechen mountain life
Ruslan Isayev, Northern Caucasus - Military operations have greatly affected the way of life in the mountains of southern Chechnya. People used to concentrate on farming, raising animals, and hunting and, in fact, Southern Chechnya was noted as a conservation area. However, since the start of the second war, all this has changed.
The raising of livestock has dramatically fallen off; animals can no longer safely graze on pastures either because of landmines or being snatched by Russian soldiers flying overhead in helicopters.
Even hunting has all but disappeared as hunters have gotten rid of their guns. Although they could prove they were licensed to own hunting rifles, Russian soldiers viewed anyone possessing arms as a potential partisan.
And because of the military operations, animals that had once populated the Chechen forests, such as bears, wolves, boars and deer, have moved off to seek safer havens.
As have the Chechens, for the same reasons. Nearly one thousand inhabitants have vacated the towns of Gezenchu, Shirdi-mokhk, Tsentaroy, Tevzena-gala and Kurshali in Nozhay-yurt region, leaving them to the wild dogs.