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| Pastures under snow, pashmina goats starving | | | Early Times Reporte
Srinagar | Feb 6
Thousands of pashmina goats and changluk sheep -- only reared along the pastures on India-China border in Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir -- are on the verge of starving to death. The pastures have disappeared under a thick layer of snow and the temperature below -- 25 degree Celsius is taking its toll on the livestock. Many animals have not touched even a blade of grass for the past three weeks.
The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) has approached the State and Central Governments for airdropping fodder in inaccessible areas, lest the precious species become extinct due to starvation. Some herdsmen in Changthang, who possess mobile phones, have reported that animals have started dying and the situation will worsen if fodder does not arrive. With no other means of communication available, the authorities are airing special programmes on the local radio station to pass instructions to the cut-off nomads.
Every winter scores of herdsmen leave for Changthang pastures along the India-China border in Numa block of Leh to feed the cattle. The winter migration is a pre-requisite for growing a special wool on the pashmina goats' skin. The fine wool is used to manufacture pashmina shawls by craftsmen in Kashmir Valley. The Korzuk sheep, a rare breed, is used by the nomads to carry their belongings.
Chief Executive Councillor of the LAHDC Chering Dorje told The Pioneer from Leh that some of the pastures are around 300 km from the district headquarters with no road link available to access them. He said that herdsmen from Tsomoriri, Kharnag, Karzuk, Tegazone and Champoor are in the far-off pastures along with around 2,00,000 cattle. He said that pashmina goats were the mainstay of livelihood of these nomads.
Deputy Commissioner MK Bhandari said the administration has dumped 3,000 quintals of dry grass for the starving cattle. "We have despatched some truckloads of fodder to Numa but it is impossible to carry it to the pastures," he said. The district administration has approached the State Government to "press into service the Air Force to airdrop grass and fodder".
He said that in some areas, patches of pastures have opened due to powerful cyclonic winds that sweep away the powdery snow, "but most areas are covered and the animals are dying a slow death".
The LAHDC has constituted a Special Task Force to work out measures to save the rare breeds |
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