Currently there are more than 730,000 reindeer in the Yamal peninsula which easily outnumber the region’s population. On an average, more than 20,000 animals are killed during the annual hunting season in November and December. The blood drained from the animal is exported, especially to China, where it has traditional medicinal uses.
This year, the number of reindeer to be killed is expected to be manifold due to the recent anthrax outbreak. The outbreak in August this year, thought to be a result of thawing permafrost had killed a boy and more than 2000 reindeer. Nikolai Vlasov, deputy head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service said:
Reindeer livestock numbers in Yamal are too high. The more dense the animal population is, the worse the disease transfer medium (and) the more often animals get sick. Density of livestock, especially in the tundra areas that are very fragile, should be regulated.Otherwise, they will kill the pastures and later will destroy the indigenous minorities of the North who will have nothing to live on. It is impossible to breed reindeer without limits. I base my conclusions on Soviet standards,’ he said. ‘Back then livestock was kept at the same number, 300,000-to-400,000 heads. Now there are 700,000 already.
The brutal nature of killing the reindeer had caused outrage from many animal activists during recent years. The animals are usually stunned using a high voltage electric shock to the forehead before their throats are slit, the blood is collected and their heads are then cut off. During the process of draining blood, the animal is still alive, though paralyzed and unconscious from the high voltage charge.
