Two million animals dead as severe winter hits Mongolia

Extreme cold with the heaviest snowfall since 1975 comes after summer drought

BAYANMUNKH SUM, Mongolia More than two million animals have died in Mongolia so far this winter, a government official said on Feb 26, as the country endures extreme cold and snow.

The landlocked country is no stranger to severe weather from December to March, when temperatures plummet to as low as minus 50 deg C in some areas.

But this winter has been more severe than usual, with lower than normal temperatures and very heavy snowfall, the United Nations said in a recent report.

As at Feb 26, 2.1 million heads of livestock had died from starvation and exhaustion, Mr Gantulga Batsaikhan of the country's Agriculture Ministry said.

Mongolia had 64.7 million such animals, including sheep, goats, horses and cows, at the end of 2023, official statistics show.

The extreme weather is known as "dzud", and typically results in the deaths of huge numbers of livestock.