Peru: 50,000 alpacas succumb to freezing temperatures

dailymail.co.uk / AP reported SAN ANTONIO DE PUTINA— Life for the thousands of indigenous families raising alpacas and sheep in Peru’s southern Andes has become a nightmare amid a bitter cold wave that has killed tens of thousands of their animals and sickened their children.

Temperatures have fallen to minus 23 Celsius (minus 9.4 Fahrenheit) here in this year’s Southern Hemisphere winter. So far this season, 50,000 alpacas have died and authorities fear up 300,000 of the animals could perish if temperatures stay that low.

With grasslands blanketed by ice and snow, the alpacas suffer hunger, and when the ice melts the damaged vegetation is burned yellow by the midday Andean sun. Read Article

