Mystery Illness Killing Herds of Endangered Antelope in Kazakhstan

Wildlife experts are racing against time to determine the cause of mysterious illness killing thousands of endangered Saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan.

ABC News reports 120,000 antelopes have died in the past few weeks and experts are unable to determine the cause of deaths, to prevent them. It is believed that infections by multiple bacteria and recent rains that have left the landscape damp and cold are causing entire herds to die.

The Saiga antelope which once thrived on the slopes of the Central Asian country had dwindled in numbers until a decade ago, when conservation efforts kicked in and caused numbers to swell from 20,000 in 2003 to more than 250,000 until the recent spate of illnesses.

Experts said the species has low resilience and it could take more than a decade for it to recover from the recent catastrophe. Meanwhile, researchers hope that herds which remain unaffected by disease battle it out and can avoid other deadly infections the likes of which ravaged wildlife in China last year.