MUSTANG: For the Tihar celebrations, the country received a supply of 5,000 mountain goats from Mustang district as compared to 21,000 during the Badadashain festival.

The District Agriculture Development Office has been annually recording the number of mountain goats leaving Mustang for Dashain and Tihar festivals.

A non-gazetted second class employee at the Office, Rajendra Samanta said that the supply of goats during Tihar was less than Dashain this season due to the culture of consuming less meat during Tihar.

The Upper Mustang region witnesses an increase in the commercial production of mountain goats. Lomanthang, Chosera, Chonhup, Dhami, Muktinath and Surkhang VDCs are known to be pocket areas for the production of the animals.

Mountain goats from Mustang are usually supplied to Beni, Pokhara, Baglung, Kushma, Chitwan and Kathmandu.