Livestock Guardian Dogs, Mongolia

Livestock guardian dogs have been a cornerstone of nomadic life in Mongolian culture for centuries, but this stopped during the Mongolian People's Republic (1924-1992) with the collectivization of property and pressure to urbanize. But the working bankhar dog is making a comeback thanks to the Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project. A fully trained pair of bankhar dogs, can protect livestock from predation. This frees up herders to invest their time safeguarding against dzuds (extreme drought or freezes causing die off of livestock) and other threats to their already challenging way of life which are becoming increasingly regular due to climate change. In the Khanghki Mountains, dogs like Zoos and Pas, effectively and regularly deter wolves, while in the Gobi, Paatsaga and Baavgai are essential to families who winter in critical snow leopard habitat. This not only protects the herders livelihood but also protects the predators from retaliation. And the long term hope is that with reduced threat of predation, herd size may shrink in turn protecting the steppes which face desertification from overgrazing.