MONGOLIA
20
million farm animals freeze to death
Extreme cold kills millions of livestock in
Mongolia--where is Al Gore?
Mongolians
are used to living with cold weather, but this year's extreme cold
weather is causing hardship and killing millions of the animals
they depend on for survival.
If CO2 could warm the planet, now is the time to pump it out (of
course, it doesn't.)
news.google.com/news/livestock+die+in+mongolia
www.news.com.au/breaking-news/million-farm-animals-freeze-to-death/
20 million farm animals freeze to death
* From: NewsCore
* February 08, 2010 11:29AM
UP to 20 million farm animals may die in Mongolia before spring as
the fiercest winter in living memory grips the country,
International Aid Agencies warned today.
Sky News reported that local experts have told the Red Cross half
the entire country's livestock could be wiped out.
A Sky News team that traveled through remote regions in Central
Mongolia found cattle, goats and sheep frozen to death across the
plains, with some herds almost completely wiped out.
Outside her traditional home in Central Mongolia, grandmother
Hotont Suon wept as she looked at the carcasses of her herd lying
on their backs.
Their legs to the air, they had been frozen to death. In the pens,
sheep must huddle together to escape the bitter cold.
"Our hay is all gone now. As our goats die we sell the hides and
buy more fodder, but it only lasts a few days," Suon said.
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It's called the 'Dzud' - a multiple disaster with a summer drought
followed by one of the coldest winters on record.
It has left millions of livestock dying from a combination of
exhaustion and starvation - some herders report that their cattle
perish at the rate of 50 a night.
Some families have even been reduced to sharing their small tented
home with the surviving animals.
The Mongolian Government has appealed for food, medicine and animal
food to combat one of the country's worst natural disasters.
The poorer herding families are left with insufficient food
supplies to last out the winter. Many have taken out high interest
loans to pay for animal fodder which they can't meet.
Fears are also growing for thousands of herders who live in remote
mountain regions in south-western Mongolia.
There has been no word from thousands of people cut off in their
villages by the heaviest snow fall in decades, prompting Mongolian
Airforce helicopters to launch search and rescue operations.
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