Mongolia's Livestock

In early 2010, a bitterly cold and snowy winter followed a summer drought, preventing many species in Mongolia from grazing adequately. The disaster, which Mongolians called a zud (this one was particularly devastating, but they are an all too common phenomenon), resulted in the deaths of millions of camels, goats, sheep, cows, yaks and horses. The U.N. even started a program to pay herders to clear the animal carcasses. The deaths were tragic enough, but in a country where much of the population depends on herding livestock, the disaster also threatened the livelihood of the area's humans.