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450 sheep 'commit suicide' |
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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 13 August 2005 |
 First
one sheep jumped to its death. Then stunned Turkish shepherds, who had
left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly
1,500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff, Turkish media
reported.
In the end, 450 dead animals lay on top of one another in a billowy
white pile, the Aksam newspaper said. Those who jumped later were saved
as the pile got higher and the fall more cushioned, Aksam reported.
"There's nothing we can do. They're all wasted," Nevzat
Bayhan, a member of one of 26 families whose sheep were grazing
together in the herd, was quoted as saying by Aksam.
The estimated loss to families in the town of Gevas, located
in Van Province in eastern Turkey, tops US$100,000, a significant
amount of money in a country where average GDP per head is around
US$2,700.
"Every family had an average of 20 sheep," Aksam quoted
another villager, Abdullah Hazar as saying. "But now only a few
families have sheep left. It's going to be hard for us."
Source: China Daily |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 13 August 2005 )
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