Mass deaths of endangered antelope stumps scientists. At least 120,000 of the animals have died in Kazakhstan since mid-May. Environmental and biological factors could be at play, but the exact cause is a mystery.
Jillian Kestler-D’Amours Staff Reporter
TheStar.com
May 29, 2015
http://on.thestar.com/1FpUXek

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Experts are scrambling to understand how almost 120,000 saiga antelopes have died off in Central Asia at an unprecedented rate, harming recent efforts to protect the endangered species.

The mass die-off began in mid-May in Kazakhstan, where most saiga populations are concentrated.

“You’ve got the beautiful green pastures littered with white mounds of saiga carcasses, and when you look more closely, (there are) little freshly-born calves ... and they’re all dead,” said Aline Kühl-Stenzel, the terrestrial species coordinator at the United Nations Environment Program and Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals Secretariat (NEP/CMS).