MONGOLIAN WILDLIFE FACE THREAT

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Posted on 07 Dec 2005 # UPI

 

http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews & id=62568

*Mongolian wildlife face extinction crisis*

 

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia : Wildlife Conservation Society scientists say they

are deeply concerned about an alarming decrease in general wildlife

populations in Mongolia.

 

The New York-based organization blames overhunting and excessive trade in

skins and other animal products for the problem, the New York Times reported

Tuesday.

 

A WCS study of Mongolia's wildlife says by some estimates, the populations

of endangered species -- marmots, argali sheep, antelope, red deer, bears,

Asiatic wild asses -- have plummeted by 50 percent to 90 percent.

 

Two exceptions are an apparent increase in the number of wolves and a

gradual increase in the number of endangered Przewalski wild horses.

 

" The country is facing a quite extraordinary and unnoticed extinction

crisis, or at least the threat of one, " Peter Zahler, assistant director for

Asia at the New York-headquartered Wildlife Conservation Society, told the

newspaper.

 

The WCS said the nation's independence from the Soviet Union in 1990 " was

the undoing of Mongolia's century-long effort to control wildlife trade. "

 

The WCS says nearly all of Mongolia's annual $100 million in wildlife trade

is illegal.