Posted on 02/07/2008 3:57:41 PM PST by blam
Cashmere goats in India face starvation
By AIJAZ HUSSAIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
An elderly man belonging to the Chang-pa mountain tribe holds his Himalayan goat as his son cuts its horn that was hurting the animal's eye in Kharnak, some 185 kilometers (116 miles) from Leh, India, in this July 21, 2007 photo. More than 100,000 Himalayan goats famed for their pashmina wool or cashmere face starvation after their desert habitat was blanketed with snow, while three people died during the region's worst storms in three decades, officials said Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
SRINAGAR, India -- More than 100,000 Himalayan goats - famed for their pashmina wool - or cashmere - face starvation after their desert habitat was blanketed with snow, while three people died during the region's worst storms in three decades, officials said Thursday.
The government was trying to get emergency supplies to the area as winter stocks of fodder ran out after rare snows covered pastures in the remote Ladakh region near the border with China, said Dr. Tsering Phuntsog, chief animal husbandry officer in the region.
"There is a strong possibility that many goats might perish if supplies don't reach them immediately," he said.
Nomads and Tibetan refugees herd the goats in the remote and barren area. Despite being high in the Himalayas, Ladakh usually gets almost no rain or snow.
"This is the heaviest snowfall in the last three decades in the region. Being a cold desert, Ladakh usually receives about 10 centimeters (4 inches) of precipitation in a year, but this year about 2 feet of snow has accumulated," said M.K. Bhandari, a local government official.
Phuntsog said some 10 truck loads of fodder had reached the area, while the air force was planning to airlift supplies by helicopter to the worst-hit Tegazong area, where nearly 60,000 goats were starving and pregnant goats had started aborting.
Ladakh is part of India's Jammu-Kashmir state. The highly prized wool is used to make famed pashmina shawls and cashmere, which takes its name from the region, and is a major source of revenue in the area.
The storms were not expected to seriously affect the global cashmere industry because much of the wool is now produced in China and Mongolia.
Meanwhile, the rest of Indian-controlled Kashmir reeled under heavy snowfall - 10 feet in some areas - and the main road liking Kashmir to the rest of India remained closed for a fifth day.
A soldier and two civilians working for the army were killed in an avalanche near the de facto border with Pakistan, said Amir Ali, a local disaster management official.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and both claim the area in its entirety.
I hope the animals can be saved.
Goats dying? Muslim men weep.
Eat ‘em up! They taste just like goat!
Where's AlGore when you need him?
GW ping
Oh, no! Save the goats!
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