Under the title: “Mongolia is wealthy when it has own language, border and livestock!”, the first conference of Mongolian herders was held at the State House in Ulaanbaatar on 24 October. The conference was organized by the Zunduin Dorj Foundation and the Mongolian Association against Livestock Theft. Delegates from 327 soums of all 21 provinces gathered for the conference. Mongolian Parliamentary Speaker G.Zandanshatar opened the conference.

According to statistics, animal theft has increased by 25 percent and herders suffered a total of MNT 5.5 billion.

Many herders consider that the punishment for stealing livestock is not strict enough. For example, there is a case of thieves who stole eight head of cattle being “let off” after doing some community service – whilst, a youngster who stole a smartphone has been given seven years detention.