134,000 saiga antelope dead in two weeks. What is the probable cause?

In May, 134,000 saiga died in the space of just two weeks. I spoke to E.J. Milner-Gulland, a conservation biologist at Imperial College about the probable cause

Last month I wrote a short piece for Nature on the alarming and as-yet unexplained mass mortality of saiga antelope in Kazakhstan in May. I spoke at length to E.J. Milner-Gulland, a conservation biologist at Imperial College London and chair of Saiga Conservation Alliance. Last week, the charity launched an appeal to raise urgent funds in support of their efforts. Here is an edited transcript of the interview.

Henry Nicholls: What is the latest news from Kazakhstan?
E.J. Milner-Gulland: More than 134,000 saigas died in the space of just two weeks in May. This is about half of the global population.