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Moscow (dpa) - According to environmentalists, global warming is increasingly threatening reindeer in Russia.
"Climate change is already the greatest threat to these animals," said Wladimir Krewer from the WWF environmental foundation of the German Press Agency in Moscow.
An early melting of ice means that even pregnant animals have to swim through ice-cold water.
In the past, they could easily cross frozen lakes and rivers.
Finding food is also more difficult because plants are more often covered with ice than with snow.
Russian environmentalists observed in August that reindeer moved back to the far north of Russia earlier than ever before.
South of the Taimyr Peninsula on the Arctic Ocean, many young animals drowned while crossing a large river because they lacked the strength to do so.
"About 200 young animals remained exhausted on the bank," says a WWF report.
Many animals fell victim to stray dogs.
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“We have to be aware that climate change will bring more and more phenomena with it that have not yet occurred in the Arctic,” said environmentalist Alexej Kokorin.
For example, there are more frequent heat waves and wildfires.
The WWF estimates that the number of tundra reindeer living in the Arctic Ocean has halved to around 400,000 in the past ten years.
There are two types of reindeer in Russia: one lives in the forests and the other in the tundra, as Krewer said.
They are of considerable importance for the functioning of ecosystems and the indigenous peoples.
They could not exist without reindeer.
Krewer also sees the animals as threatened by hunting.
It is allowed that ten percent of the population can be hunted annually.
"The problem is: there is no exact count."
Poachers particularly target the deer's antlers.
According to the WWF, scientists estimate that up to 70 percent die of blood loss and sepsis after such an "intervention".
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Sawing off the antlers of animals that are still alive is a criminal offense in Russia.
Poachers face several years imprisonment.
Nevertheless, according to the animal rights activists, reindeer are "exterminated with snowmobiles on winter pastures", especially in winter.
Poachers are generally well armed and equipped.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201224-99-804361 / 3
WWF Russia