Nepal's capital city, Kathmandu, has run out of goats to sacrifice just days before the country's biggest religious festival of the year.
The government has been forced to send officials into the countryside to look for animals to help ease the shortage in Kathmandu.
Goats and other animals are ritually slaughtered and eaten during the Hindu festival of Dashain to appease the goddess of power, Durga.
Bijaya Thapa, deputy general manager at the Nepal Food Corporation, said: "Kathmandu city faces a shortage of goats during the festival, which always brings a high demand for goat meat.
"We are bringing goats in to ease the supply and to control dramatic price hikes."
Officials have been told to persuade farmers to sell their livestock in rural areas, where the government has posted adverts calling on people to sell their goats.
Mr Thapa said the price of the animals had risen by a quarter in the capital as the festival approached, and the government was hoping to bring in around 6,000 extra animals.
"Our staff have been mobilized across the country to search for goats to prepare for the festival," he said.
"Around 240 goats have already reached Kathmandu and we are expecting more in the coming days."
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