Dead animals on a farm in Republika Srpska: who removes them and where they may be buried

When an animal dies on a farm, the Republika Srpska Law on Veterinary Services (Zakon o veterinarstvu u Republici Srpskoj) sets out who collects the carcass, what the owner must do and where the carcass may be destroyed. The rules apply to owners of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry, and also to rural guesthouses that keep animals.

In short

• Report every death to the zoohygiene service and follow its instructions on disposal. Except for pets, also inform the competent veterinary organisation (Art. 98 para. 2).
• It is forbidden to throw carcasses into rivers, other watercourses or drains, or to leave them on roads, in open country, in a forest or anywhere else (Art. 98 para. 1).
• The municipality (jedinica lokalne samouprave) must provide a veterinary zoohygiene service. This service removes carcasses safely from premises where animals are reared or kept and takes them to a facility that collects, processes or destroys animal by-products. The municipality must also provide a carcass collection facility (Art. 17 paras. 1 and 2).
• The law treats burial or burning at a livestock cemetery or burial pit (stočno groblje, jama grobnica) that meets the prescribed conditions as an exception, not the normal method (Art. 99 para. 1). The municipality must provide the conditions for it (Art. 17 para. 4).
• If the animal died in unusual circumstances, the carcass may be removed only on the order of a veterinary inspector (Art. 17 para. 6).

Who it applies to

Every owner or keeper of animals. The municipality organises the service. The owner must report the death and follow the service's instructions.

What to do

1. Report the dead animal to the zoohygiene service and inform the competent veterinary organisation. Do not dump the carcass or leave it outside the farm. Do not bury it on your own land on your own initiative either: this is allowed only when a veterinary inspector orders it, and a livestock cemetery or burial pit must meet the prescribed conditions.
2. Ask your municipal administration who runs the zoohygiene service in your municipality, how to call it and whether you pay for removal. The articles listed below do not say who pays for removal from a private farm. A municipality without a zoohygiene service must provide the money for carcass removal until it sets one up (Art. 17 para. 5).
3. If you suspect an infectious disease, follow Article 45: report it immediately to the authorised veterinary organisation, keep other people away from the animal and the carcass, isolate the animal, and hold on to the carcass until a vet tells you what to do. Suspect a disease also after a sudden death with no visible cause, or when two or more cases of illness or death occur one after another in the same building.
4. If the death was unusual (for example an accident or poisoning), do not remove the carcass without an order from the veterinary inspector (Art. 17 para. 6).

Fines

Dumping or leaving carcasses in a forbidden place, or not reporting a death, is a minor offence (prekršaj) (Art. 120 para. 1 point 26). The law sets these fines for the offence:

• natural person: 500 to 1,500 KM (Art. 122),
• sole trader (preduzetnik): 1,000 to 3,000 KM (Art. 121),
• company or other legal person: 1,000 to 3,000 KM (Art. 120 para. 1), plus 300 to 900 KM for the responsible person in that company (Art. 120 para. 2).

Not covered here

• Manure storage.
• Waste from slaughtering animals for your own use.

For these questions, ask your municipal administration and the veterinary inspector.

Where to go

• City administration of Trebinje or your municipal administration (Bileća, Gacko, Ljubinje, Nevesinje, Berkovići): zoohygiene service and livestock cemetery.
• Authorised veterinary organisation in your area: to report a death or a suspected infectious disease.
• Veterinary inspector: unusual deaths.
• RS Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management: conditions for livestock cemeteries and burial pits.

Laws and sources

• Zakon o veterinarstvu u Republici Srpskoj, Law on Veterinary Services (Službeni glasnik RS no. 75/17 and 63/24), Articles 17, 45, 94, 98, 99 and 120 to 123. Article 94 says animal by-products are collected, processed or destroyed in facilities intended for processing, treating or destroying them, in line with the rules on animal by-products.
• Amendment to the Law on Veterinary Services (Službeni glasnik RS no. 63/24): changes only Articles 11, 18, 58 and 64, not the articles described here.
• Amendments to the Law on Animal By-products (Službeni glasnik RS no. 94/19): Article 2 adds a new point e) to Article 17 para. 1 of the base law, which is burial or burning at a livestock cemetery or burial pit that meets the prescribed conditions. The base law was published in Službeni glasnik RS no. 60/13.
• Rulebook on conditions for a livestock cemetery and burial pit (Pravilnik o uslovima za stočno groblje i jamu grobnicu, Službeni glasnik RS no. 95/16): Article 99 para. 3 of the Law on Veterinary Services provides for a new rulebook on livestock cemeteries and burial pits, but it has not been adopted yet. Until then, under Article 123 para. 3, the by-laws in force on the day the law entered into force (18 August 2017) still apply where they do not conflict with the law, and this is that rulebook. Under it, a livestock cemetery or burial pit lies outside settlements, on land that is not flood-prone and not next to watercourses or springs, and a livestock cemetery is fenced and marked, with controlled access (Art. 2). The bottom of a livestock cemetery must be at least 1 m above the highest groundwater level, and a carcass is covered with at least 1 m of soil (Art. 3). A burial pit must be at least 5 m deep (Art. 4). A carcass may be buried where the animal died or on the keeper's land only when a veterinary inspector orders it, at least 20 m from a water supply facility (Art. 3 para. 3).