Extreme Mongolia Weather Kills 350,000 Animals

Ulán Bator, Mar 18 (Prensa Latina) Hundreds of thousands of animals have died in Mongolia''s extreme weather this year the crisis has gone almost unnoticed by the world.

More than 350,000 goats, sheep and cows have been killed by a natural phenomenon called "dzud", a hot summer drought followed by a severe winter.

The combination means that animals can't graze enough during the warmer months to build up the reserves they need to survive winter temperatures that regularly plunge to -50C.

For a country where a third of the population rely on livestock to survive, many families are quickly going from affluence to poverty due to the slow-moving disaster.

Most of these people would be forced to move to tent districts on the outskirts of Mongolia's urban areas, living without even the basics and with little or no income.

Around 25 thousand people lost their cattle in a country where a one third of the population deppends on cattle rising.