日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
China
Home / China / World

Bitter cold devastates alpaca farmers

By Associated Press In San Antonio De Putina, Peru | China Daily | Updated: 2016-07-22 08:04

 Bitter cold devastates alpaca farmers

A man shows his sick alpaca last week in San Antonio de Putina, Peru. Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press

Fleece sold for only $5 a kilogram and a jacket made of the wool can fetch $5,000

After three days of heavy snowfall and bone-chilling temperatures, Mateo Mullisaca watches as one of his alpacas falls to the ground in agony on his farm almost 5,000 meters high in Peru's Andes.

"Without water and without food, the weak ones die," the 62-year-old shepherd said as the animal takes its final breath with vultures lurking nearby.

Peru's government has declared a state of emergency in the southern Andes and promised $3 million in relief amid a bitter cold snap that has killed 50,000 alpacas. Authorities fear that if the mercury continues to hit - 23 C as many as 300,000 camelids could die, devastating the largely indigenous families who raise them.

Mullisaca, who last year lost about a fifth of his herd of 150 animals, said promised food and corrals haven't arrived in large enough numbers to protect them from the cold. Sheep, the only other animal that can survive on the grassland plateaus, are also dying in large numbers as evidenced by Mullisaca's loss the night before of five lambs a few hours after entering the world.

Peru is the world's largest producer of alpaca wool, an almost silky natural fiber coveted by the world's top designers, and has about 4 million of the camelids. But in stark contrast to the high prices charged by the likes of Armani and Gucci is the daily struggle against the elements and poverty by the thousands of shepherds whose livelihood depends on the trade.

The high-altitude rural hamlets where alpacas have been raised for centuries are among the most-deprived in Peru. The more than 120,000 families that make a living from shearing the soft, featherweight fiber earn as little as $1,200 a year, which works out to less than half of Peru's minimum wage.

There have been a few private attempts to give farmers a bigger share of the $150 million Peru exports in alpaca fleece every year. Most sell fleece, on average, for about $5 a kilogram and the fleece passes through several intermediaries before arriving on the shelves of luxury stores where a jacket made of the wool can fetch as much as $5,000.

Major financial loss

Every alpaca that dies represents a major financial loss, explains Isaac Caparo, a veterinarian who specializes in camelids. Each animal's wool can be sheared only once a year and a female gives birth to a single offspring once every 11 months. Every winter freeze destroys the tough grasslands the animals feed on and almost no crops can survive in the nutrient-poor soil.

When alpacas die, families butcher the animals for their meat. But eventually they go hungry and their children can become sick due to an almost-complete lack of heating. Two months into the cold season an estimated 14,000 children in the Andes have suffered from respiratory illnesses and 105 died, according to government figures. The majority of the cases are in the Puno region where the alpacas are concentrated.

 

 

Editor's picks
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 91xoxo| 午夜手机福利 | 国产精品久久久久一区二区三区 | 久久se精品一区精品二区 | 欧美精品一区在线 | 久久久精品 | 国产精品三级在线播放 | 国产精品1区2区3区 二区国产 | 成年网站免费观看 | 国产裸体bbb视频 | 大陆黄色网 | 亚洲精品免费观看 | 2019天天干天天操 | 精品久久久久久久 | 国产精品亚洲综合一区在线观看 | 国产91在线观看 | 久草在线首页 | 亚洲aⅴ天堂av在线电影软件 | 国产在线91精品入口首页 | 91小视频在线观看免费版高清 | 国产精品成人亚洲一区二区 | 国产精品亚洲片在线va | 日本高清不卡视频 | 国产精品一区久久 | 国产无遮挡一级毛片 | 色综合五月色婷婷开心 | 亚洲欧美色欧另类欧 | 伊人成人在线观看 | 国产成人精品一区二区仙踪林 | 欧美一区二区大片 | 黄页成人免费网站 | 麻豆传媒视频入口 | 日韩aⅴ一区二区三区 | 欧美精品国产精品 | 激情插插插 | 欧美色性| 日韩精品一区二区在线观看 | 91精品欧美一区二区三区 | 亚洲成人精品 | 精品视频在线免费播放 | 九九爱国产 |