Without external interventions, recovery of the livestock sector is a slow process, with the restoration of herds taking place over many years.Where restocking is undertaken by external agents such as donors and HGOs, recovery of the livestock economy is rapidly accelerated. While farmers generally cannot obtain animals from outside the locality,external agents can and do. Local livestock economies destroyed by the catastrophe can, thus, be rapidly jump-started.However,the unintentional consequence may be large-scale and irreversible changes to the genetic make-up of local livestock populations.