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2.5 million livestock perish, three
million more expected
The government estimates three million more will die before the cold weather ends in June. Nearly two-thirds of the landlocked Asian country has been buried under 20 to 40 cm (eight to 16 inches) of snow, making grazing impossible for the country's herds of cows, yaks, goats, sheep, horses and camels. The United Nations Development Programme in Mongolia on Thursday announced a plan to pay 60,000 herders to clean and bury the carcasses of the dead livestock to prevent the spread of disease before the spring thaw begins. A third of Mongolia's 2.6 million people lead nomadic lives and depend entirely on livestock for a living. The State Emergency Commission has warned the snow also means there is a high risk of floods once spring comes.
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