In few weeks, the number of reindeer on the Kolguyev island dropped dramatically by almost 15 percent. The mass death is a result not only of difficult weather conditions on the island, but also of an excessive number of animals, top regional veterinarian Aleksandr Antonov says to the Nenets Autonomous Okrug regional press service.
According to Antonov, the situation for the Kolguyev reindeer comes as local herders over several years have boosted the number of animals to a critical level. The local herders now have a total of more than 8,000 animals, while the maximum limit for the area is 5000, a press release informs. Bad weather conditions on the island with ice layers covering the pasturelands was the direct reason of the mass death. “The capacity regulations on the number of reindeers have been heavily violated,” Anotonov says.
Kolguyev is located in the Pechora Sea. It is about 3,500 square kilometer big and is inhabited by about 450 people, many of them indigenous Nenets people.
Although extreme, the situation for reindeer at Kolguyev is not unique. Also in other parts of the Arctic the number of reindeer has been significantly increased over many years. As illustrated by figures from Patchwork Barents, the number of reindeer has grown steadily over the last ten years not only in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, but also in Finnmark (Norway) and Norrbotten (Sweden). In NAO, the number of reindeers in 2012 totaled 179 thousand while Finnmark had 186 thousand and Norrbotten almost 150,000. In Finnmark, the number of animals has increased by almost 80,000 since 2001. The Nenets AO has had an increase of about 20,000 over the last five years.
