Reindeer Blog

Ask reindeer herders in certain parts of Norway and they will tell you that trains and reindeer do not mix. In the Norwegian media, there have been a series of stories about a series of deadly interactions between reindeer. A total of 1877 reindeer were run over by train in 2008 in Norway, despite the goals of the Norwegian Rail Administration’s to reduce the carnage.

Several measures have been evaluated to reduce the number of collisions, including fences along the most vulnerable routes, GPS monitoring, clearing of forests along the railway lines, lining the side valleys, and the use of reflectors to keep animals away from railway lines.

In 2009 it was scheduled to build a fence on a four-kilometer stretch between Semska and Sørelva and the Salt Mountain, which has been the site of numerous reindeer deaths.

Meanwhile, in the largest area of reindeer husbandry in the world, the most northerly railway in the world has just opened for business. Linking the vast gas fields of Bovanenkovo in the middle of the Yamal Peninsula to the Russian railway network, this railway has been under construction for many years and from an engineering standpoint is marvel as it is almost entirely built on permafrost and crosses several large rivers, including a 4 km long bridge across the Yuribey River floodplain. The bridge is the world’s longest above the Arctic Circle. The railroad will be used for transport of equipment and materials for the development of the gas field and for construction of the Bovanenkovo-Ukhta pipeline across the Baydaratskaya Bay a press release from Gazprom reads. The Ob-Bovanenkovo railroad is also planned to be used for transport of gas condensate from the fields on the Yamal Peninsula. For reindeer herders, the railway bisects the migration routes of several reindeer herding brigades.

Arctic railway lines are all the rage in northern Europe with feasibility reports being commissioned on extending railway routes in Norway and Finland to the Arctic Ocean.

Коренным малочисленным народам Севера Сибири и Дальнего Востока предлагается предоставлять земельные участки на праве безвозмездного срочного пользования.

Как сообщается на специализированном земельном портале ЗЕМ.РУ 20 января 2010 года Государственная Дума Российской Федерации рассмотрит проект федерального закона № 217488-5  ”О внесении изменений в статью 24 Земельного кодекса Российской Федерации, в статью 3 Федерального закона “О введении в действие Земельного кодекса Российской Федерации” и в статью 10 Федерального закона “Об обороте земель сельскохозяйственного назначения” (в части предоставления находящихся в государственной или муниципальной собственности земельных участков в безвозмездное срочное пользование лицам, относящимся к коренным малочисленным народам Севера, Сибири и Дальнего Востока и их общинам).

Continue reading Госдума России рассмотрит законопроект, касающийся оленьих пастбищ

On a remote island in the Bering Strait during World War II, a tiny band of Americans ran a radar station. Twenty-nine reindeer were placed on St. Matthew Island with them, to be eaten in case of emergency.

The emergency never came, and population biologist Dave Klein counted 6,000 reindeer on the island by 1963, spread out over just 50 square miles of land. Then, sailors started to report seeing bleached reindeer skeletons dotting the island. When Klein returned in 1966, there were only 42 left and no males with the ability to reproduce. The herd dwindled and eventually went extinct.

There this strange mystery sat for decades until extreme weather specialist John Walsh of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and University of Nebraska climatologist Martha Shulski teamed up with the now 80-year-old Klein to solve it. They announced their findings this week here at the American Geophysical Union meeting.

It turns out that a series of winter cyclones comparable in intensity to a Category 2 hurricane buffeted the island in early 1964. Overpopulated and isolated as the island was, the reindeer herd proved vulnerable to the extreme storms, which brought much heavier than normal snowfall, stronger winds, and lower temperatures.

The question that remains is why these extra-strong storms occurred. For reasons that still aren’t understood, a series of weather systems sweeping across the Pacific from Japan intensified just east of the dateline and then headed north.

Over that winter, the closest weather station to reindeer’s home, St. Paul Island, got more than six and a half feet more snow than normal. The barometric pressure differential between the low of the strongest storm and the regional high in Siberia was the highest in the 60-year period for which measurements are available. The reindeer were no match.

Source: WIRED

Russian scientists have doubts over whether global warming is here to stay and whether it’s man made. But for the Saami in Russia’s north, the mild winters already pose a threat to their traditional way of life. All around the Arctic, the effects of a temperature rise are visible, and native inhabitants of the tundras in Europa, Asia and North America are struggling with the new reality.

That’s also true for the Saami reindeer herders on Russia’s Kola Peninsula, an area bordering on Norway and Finnish Lapland. But, in Russia, climate change is not a hot-button issue, nor is much attention being paid to the upcoming climate summit in Copenhagen. Russian scientists say they have no evidence that global warming is a long-term trend, and doubt whether it is a man-made phenomenon.

Continue reading In Russian Arctic, global warming threatens traditional way of life (Deutsche Welle)

Российские информационные агентства передают, что 20 ноября Госдума РФ приняла в третьем чтении проект федерального бюджета на 2010 год и плановый период 2011 и 2012 годов.

В итоговом бюджете расходы на государственную поддержку северного оленеводства составили всего 180 млн. руб.

Continue reading Господдержка оленеводства в России сократится вдвое

There was an interesting interview in RusBusiness News recently with Aleksandr Mazharov, the Director of the Department for International and Interregional Relations of YaNAO (Yamal Nenets Autonomous Okrug). Obviously, the vast majority and indeed focus of the Yamal economy is its oil and gas reserves.  95.5% of the regions exported products were oil and gas in 2008. However, there has recently emerged a new export – reindeer meat and hides – and Mazharov proudly points out that the region is the only one in Russia exporting these products to the European Union.

Europe has not opened its borders to us straight away. For a number of years we drafted the necessary documents, underwent lengthy approval and control procedures, and only then the EU issued a certificate allowing the supplies of products of the northern reindeer herding to European countries. We have to take into account the fact that the only territory certified is the Yamal district where the main slaughter and meat processing enterprise – the Yamal Reindeer Company – is based.

Despite the fact that the exported products only take a rather narrow niche the competition we have to fight is very serious. There are Finnish producers working in the same segment, and, as strange as it may sound, companies in New Zealand.

Mazharov went on to highlight the quality of their reindeer products, the health benefits of reindeer meat, the plans to increase the sale of soft antlers for the Chinese market,  and the partnerships with the Finnish company Kometos Oy.

In a near future the first train of the Finnish deer slaughter line will be commissioned in the Yamal village Antipayuta (Tazovskiy district). Similar enterprises should appear in the village of Seyakha (Yamal district) and the trading post Yuribey (Tazovskiy district). In the future the trading post Payuta should acquire its own slaughter and freezer complex.

This would represent a significant increase in slaughterhouse capacity as currently there is only one slaughterhouse in the region capable of slaughtering reindeer meat to EU standards and packaging, based in Yar-Sale. You can read the full interview here, or read below

Continue reading Oil and Gas Not the Only Export from Yamal… Also Reindeer Meat

Договоренность о закупке племенного поголовья северных оленей в Якутии была достигнута между губернатором Магаданской области Николаем ДУДОВЫМ и президентом Республики Саха (Якутия) Вячеславом ШТЫРОВЫМ сообщает Информагентство “Sakhalife” со ссылкой на «INFOLine» (www.ADVIS.ru).
Continue reading Магадан закупает в Якутии 120 племенных оленей

Foster said: “Like puppies, reindeer should be kept for life, not just for Christmas.”

Picture : James Marshall. Reindeer imported to Britain for Santa’s grottoes and festive parades are dying prematurely after exposure to diseases from British farm animals, a senior government vet has warned.

An official investigation has revealed a sharp increase in deaths in young reindeer, also linked to bad diet, poor welfare and the stress of being uprooted from their natural habitat.

Dr Aiden Foster, who carried out the research at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA), said the deer, which normally live to 12 years, were badly suited to life in Britain. He said: “Reindeer are highly specialised Arctic deer. The recent fashion of keeping them in captive situations many degrees south of their normal range is fraught with health and welfare issues.”

The warning comes amid greater commercial exploitation of the animals, which are now a common festive feature. Today, reindeer parades are planned in Birmingham and Middlesbrough, and others in cities across Britain.

About 500 of the animals have been imported in the past five years, taking advantage of a relaxation of quarantine rules. Some cases are detailed in quarterly bulletins published by the VLA’s network of regional laboratories. In the past year these have included: Continue reading Life in UK proves fatal to reindeer (Times Online)

by Catherine Marciano.  JARFJORD, Norway (AFP) – On Norway’s border with Russia, the consequences of climate change are affecting the reindeer population as rising temperatures hit food stocks and industry growth eats into vital grazing land.

“Over the past three years, I’ve had to give some hay to my 800 reindeer during the coldest months. It’s more expensive and it gives me more work,” said Jan Egil Trasti, a reindeer herder from the native Sami people.

The reason: the lichen his animals graze on has become tougher to find as winter temperatures rise. The snow thaws, and along with rain, then freezes anew — covering the ground in layers impervious to all but the most tenacious reindeer. Continue reading Global warming a growing threat to Arctic reindeer (AFP)

Between 2-400 reindeer have drowned in a river near Jokkmokk in northern Sweden after thin surface ice cracked while the herd were moving to their winter pastures.

Reindeer herders in the region were taking around 3,000 animals across the river, a route that has been safely crossed on previous occasions.

”The ice suddenly gave way and hundreds of reindeer fell into the water,” said Bertil Kielatis, chairman of the Sirges Sami village in Jokkmokk.

”Now we are working to recover the animals that have drowned,” he added.

Sirges is Sweden’s largest Sami village with around 300 members and 90 herders.

The incident means a substantial financial loss for the herders and disaster for the local community.

”It’s a tragedy in many ways,” Kielatis added. ”Not only for the reindeer that suffered but for the herders who were helpless to save their animals.”

The reindeer were lead by herders who drove snow-mobiles and were assisted by a helicopter.

Kielatis added there was nothing unusual about the route or the way the herding was carried out.

”This is how we usually work nowadays when leading a large herd up or down from the mountains,” he said.

Source> The Local, NRK Sami Radio, Sveriges Radio