By PTI GANGTOK: Nearly 300 yaks have died due to starvation following heavy snowfall in North Sikkim district since late last year, an official has said. The North Sikkim District Magistrate Raj Yadav confirmed the death of around 300 yaks due to starvation during heavy snow fall in Mukuthang and Yumthang regions since December 2018. While carcasses of around 250 yaks were found in Mukuthang region, 50 yak carcasses were found in Yumthang recently, Yadav said Saturday. "It appears that these dead yaks had got nothing to eat during the prolonged period of snowfall since December last year," Yadav said. The animal husbandry department's medical team has reached Mukuthang, he said. The team carried feed and fodder for the yaks which are still alive, he said, adding, the yaks will also be examined by the medical team. The yaks belonged to 15 families in Mukuthang and 10 families in Yumthang, he said. The affected families will get compensations on the basis of a report that is being prepared by the district administration and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, he added.<doc-sep>The number of yaks that died of starvation in north Sikkim could be 500 or more, the authorities have said after talking to herders who graze the animals in Mukuthang Valley in the northeastern state near the border with China. Officials had said on Saturday that 300 yaks died at around 15,000 ft in Mukuthang after families, which looked after them, came down to lower altitudes to save themselves from the cold, leaving the flocks behind. “The figure is likely to increase and may cross 500 if one goes by the claim made by local people,” Raj Kumar Yadav, district collector of North Sikkim district, said. “Two teams of the animal husbandry department and civil administration have reached the affected areas and are collating data,” said Yadav. The report is supposed to reach the administration by Monday evening. Officials described the incident as catastrophic and unprecedented. The Sikkim government said in a statement on Saturday that the yaks were stranded at one place in Mukuthang since December which caused starvation and led to their death. Bad weather and heavy snowfall had blocked the road leading to Mukuthang for the last three months and several attempts at dropping fodder in helicopters for the yaks failed. It takes five-hours by a vehicle and another three to four-hour trek to reach Mukuthang Valley from Gangtok, the state capital. Experienced herders in Sikkim said this is the highest yak death toll in recent memory. They said yaks died in large numbers because of starvation in 1968, 1985 and 1995. “I lost 80 of them in the last two few months and many are about to die. Many yaks have died in the past due to starvation and snowfall but the toll is highest this year. I somehow managed to return from Mukuthang Valley,” Tsogyal Bhutia, a retired Sikkim police personnel who owned 200 yaks in Mukuthang Valley, said. “I suspect that more than 900 yaks are dead by now in Mukuthang and nearby areas,” 66-year-old Bhutia, whose family started herding when Sikkim was under the monarchy, said. Tenzing Lachungpa, a herder who lost ten yaks recently, said the deaths will have an adverse impact on everyone. “Yaks are extensively used by the army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and local people to transport goods along the rough terrain,” he said. Sonam Norgay Lachungpa, president of Travel Agents’Association of Sikkim (TAAS) who also belongs to a family of herders, said the yaks manage to survive on very little grass they get at these high altitudes. “But non-stop snowfall killed all the grass and herders could not reach the valley with fodder. The yaks could not move to another location because of heavy snowfall. Their blood froze. There are reports of many yaks dying in Yumathang, 22 km from Lachung,” he added. The herding families depend on the yaks and earn their living by selling their milk and cheese.<doc-sep>The officials were surveying the towns of Yumthang and Muguthang — favored regional grazing grounds for the yaks — when they came upon the corpses of the large beasts, said government official Raj Yadav, who added that the domesticated animals had been hemmed in by heavy December snowfall and unable to make passage to the nearest village.<doc-sep>
Authorities say at least 300 rare Himalayan yaks have died of starvation in the high mountains in the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim, close to the border with China GAUHATI, India -- At least 300 rare Himalayan yaks have died of starvation in the high mountains in the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim, close to the border with China, authorities said Saturday. A team of local administrators and veterinarians visiting the heights of Muguthang and Yumthang in northern Sikkim discovered the animals' corpses on Friday, said government official Raj Yadav. He said the semi-domesticated animals became trapped in December after their passage to the nearest village got blocked due to heavy snowfall. Yadav said authorities tried several times to drop feed for the Yaks by helicopter but failed due to inclement weather. "The passage was cleared five days ago, after which our team trekked to the area to discover the tragedy," he said. The areas of Muguthang and Yumthang are favorite grazing grounds for yaks in the region. Yadav said the government would compensate the yak owners with 30,000 Indian rupees ($430) per yak up to a maximum of three yaks per family. "There has been human interference like construction of roads in the area," said Usha Lachungpa, a conservationist in Sikkim. "Snow sliding down and blocking roads could be a result of such activities." It could take a long time for the area's yak population to grow and reach the level before the recent catastrophe, she said. Villagers living in the Himalayan foothills of northeastern India heavily depend on livestock, mainly yaks, goats and sheep, for their livelihoods and to feed their families.