Emergency fodder supply for wild ungulates started

GSTDTAP > 资源环境科学

	Emergency fodder supply for wild ungulates started
	admin
	2018-01-18
发布年	2018
语种	英语
国家	国际
领域	资源环境
正文(英文)	Due to the droughts during the summer of 2017, WWF Mongolia has closely been checking the rangeland condition in the Western Mongolia. From first days of January, the condition in Altay Sayan ecoregion in Western Mongolia has become particularly critical because of the frequent snowfalls that blanketed the short and scarce standing grasses on which the herbivores depend. Therefore, the WWF Mongolia has started emergency actions to protect globally endangered Mongolian saiga antelope and wild ungulates with support from Prague zoo. Locally produced hay, rock salt for licking and fodder pellets were delivered and placed in the “Sharga-Mankhan” Nature Reserve where a separate population of Mongolian saiga occurs, and in Shargyn Gobi as well. Mr. B. Batsaikhan, a Saiga ranger team leader, said “it had snowed a lot in saiga ranges, the snow thickness reached 15-20 cm in some areas. So, it is really hard for wildlife, in particular for the Mongolian saiga because they are not able to access to grass as natural grass growth was bad in last summer. That’s why, we have started placing hays and fodder for the wildlife such as Mongolian saiga and black tailed gazelle in the region. These interventions would be helpful for the wildlife to survive and overcome this harsh winter condition”. This action is one of first planned measures that WWF Mongolia has planned based on their continued monitoring of the rangeland and weather conditions since the last autumn in order for safeguarding and protecting the Mongolian saiga. WWF Mongolia will carry out other preventive measures in the target areas, based on the local conditions as winter cold and snowfall progresses. In addition to these biotechnical measures, WWF Mongolia field team have started a mobile campaign to raise awareness on saiga importance and protection in order to reduce conflicts between human and saiga in areas where both herders and wildlife congregate in available standing grass. There are some facts on declining populations of Mongolian saiga due to a number of threats such as harsh natural and weather conditions, outbreaks of contagious diseases, and illegal hunting. For instance, the droughty summer of 2001 was followed by the dzud (heavy snowfall) and harsh winter condition of 2002. As a consequence, population size of the Mongolian saiga dropped to only 750 animals. The effort made by environmental community, including the WWF Mongolia backed by the MAVA foundation, reversed the disastrous situation and saved the Mongolian saiga population from the brink of extinction. As of 2014, the species population size reached 14,000 animals and distribution ranges increased by 13 percent. However, there was another concern: a outbreak of goat plague disease occurred at the end of 2016 and its population size dramatically decreased to less than 5,000 as of March, 2017.
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来源平台	World Wide Fund for Nature
文献类型	新闻
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.173/C666/handle/2XK7JSWQ/126132
专题	资源环境科学
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	admin. Emergency fodder supply for wild ungulates started. 2018.