Hundreds of thousands of cattle perish in Argentina drought
From reader Gail: 
By Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Nov 12 (IPS) – The persistent drought affecting some 90 percent of Argentine territory has slain cattle in the hundreds of thousands and caused forest fires, drastic restrictions on water use and local disputes over water. The area around Tostado, a town in the northeastern province of Santa Fe, is one of the worst hit. Over the last two years, heat and drought have silently killed off cattle and bankrupted farmers on small and medium sized ranches. “This area normally gets between 800 and 900 mm of rainfall a year, but in 2008 it got 344 mm, and this year it has had less than 340,” veterinarian Felipe Brizuela, the head of the Regional Economic Council of Tostado, told IPS. “We had 974,000 head of cattle in the 9 de Julio district alone, and now we have less than 500,000. We have an inadequate reservoir and our water supply comes from the Salado river,” but the adjacent province of Santiago del Estero, which controls the river flow, “virtually cut off supply, and in 10 days we will have none,” he predicted. … Tostado Mayor Enrique Fedele said the situation is critical. Two-thirds of the cattle have died, and unemployment has climbed to 50 percent. The municipal government this month declared a “social emergency.” As well as a lack of water, the area is suffering unbearably high temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius. “It’s really terrible. I used to have 100 horses and now I have only 15. They took my cows and goats,” Armando Bustos, a farmer in the Toledo area, told IPS. “I don’t plan to kill myself because I love life, but four farmers around here have committed suicide because they had so few animals left,” he said. …
