By bne IntelliNews The Mongolian government has put the state on a high level of preparedness for disaster protection at the national level, as decided at a meeting on February 14. The decision was made based on the extreme cold winter, known as a dzud — a phenomenon unique to Mongolia — which has caused a crisis in the animal husbandry sector. There have been high numbers of animal deaths in the Sukhbaatar, Khentii, Dornogovi, Arkhangai and Dornod provinces in particular. As of February 10, 508,039 heads of livestock had died in the country, a government statement said. Prime Minister L. Oyun…