Full-On Collapse Of Northern Reindeer Herd In Siberia; From 43,000 In 2017 To A Few Thousand Now

More than 40,000 wild reindeer perished since the last count in 2017, said scientists who returned from a major expedition to the Taymyr Peninsula.

The Yenisei group of reindeer has disappeared entirely while the westernmost group living along the Tareya River has dramatically shrunk in size from 44,300 animals in 2017 to only several thousands now.

A research conducted over a territory of 80,000km2 – equal to the area of the United Arab Emirates – concluded that drastic measures are needed to claw back wild reindeer populations in all of Taymyr, northern Evenkia and western Yakutia.

The Taymyr Peninsula sits on the very tip of vast Krasnoyarsk region, facing the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago – and yes this is the fastest warming place on earth. The air temperature in Taymyr has increased by 1.2C degrees over the past decade, which is above average not only for Russia but for the planet, said Andrey Kiselyov, a leading researcher.

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Skulls of wild reindeer piled by poachers in the Taymyr Peninsula in Siberia. Photo: WWF Russia / The Siberian Times

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https://desdemonadespair.net/2019/10/northern-reindeer-that-roamed-taymyr-peninsula-are-at-the-brink-of-extinction-the-losses-are-catastrophic.html