[News Today] Livestock deaths surge amid heatwave

[LEAD]
The scorching heat is now hitting Korea's farms. Livestock are dying in growing numbers, with cases starting nearly a month earlier than last year. And the toll is rising fast, more than seven times higher than this time last summer.

[REPORT]
A calf is stretched out on the shed floor and the mother continuously drinks water.

Water is sprayed on the sizzling hot roof but it dries up in no time.

Calves, especially vulnerable to heat, are not eating properly, as shown in their emaciated appearance.

Jeong Dong-seon / Hanwoo cattle farmer
They eat less, which hinders growth. Cattle need to gain weight. I'm worried.

At a poultry farm, ahead of the arrival of chicks, huge ventilators are constantly running but they are not enough to alleviate the heat.

Chickens have high body temperature and being bred in a dense environment, there's greater risk of death.

Han Jae-suk / Poultry farmer
Given the heat forecast, we are only taking in about 70,000 livestock. Not enough to turn profit. I think about giving up. It's too tough and too hot.

On a single day on July 8, some 160-thousand livestock animals died nationwide, as heat related damages continue to snowball.

Livestock deaths since May total around 379-thousand, up 7.6 fold from the same period last year.

The first such death reported in Jeollanamdo Province was on June 27, almost a month earlier than last year.

Livestock farms are exerting all-out effort to prevent mass death while the government is also providing support in the form of vitamin supplements and stress relief pills.

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