Each winter, temperatures in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert can plunge below −35°C, bringing bitter winds, snow, and periods when natural forage becomes extremely difficult to find. At the Wild Camel Protection Foundation’s two breeding centers in southern Mongolia, a dependable supply of winter hay is essential to caring for more than 40 endangered Wild Camels (Camelus ferus) during the harshest months of the year.

These centers maintain the world’s only captive breeding population of Wild Camels, a vital safeguard for a species with fewer than 500 individuals estimated to remain in the wild in Mongolia. During the winter breeding season, the camels are brought into protected enclosures where staff can provide food, monitor their health and reproductive condition, and give special attention to pregnant females, mothers, and young calves.

Fund must be raised each year to purchase, transport, and store enough nutritious hay for the winter. This is especially important during severe dzud conditions, when extreme cold, snow, ice, and poor summer vegetation can make natural forage even more scarce.

This year is particularly challenging due to rising fuel prices and the ongoing fuel shortage in Mongolia, which have made the transportation of hay to these remote breeding centers even more difficult and costly.

Every bale of hay makes a difference. Your support helps Wild Camels maintain their strength through the Gobi winter, supports healthy pregnancies and calves, and contributes directly to the long-term conservation of one of the world’s rarest and most remarkable large mammals.

Feed Wild Camels This Winter