More than 80,000 reindeer died of starvation in two separate extreme weather events in the Arctic in the last 10 years due to weather conditions that scientists are attributing to global warming.
One researcher suggested setting up mobile slaughterhouses to at least salvage some of the meat if a similar event occurs.
"Rain on snow" freezing events that happened in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of West Siberia in the falls of 2006 and 2013 prevented the reindeer from getting to their traditional food sources, said the scientists at the University of Finland.
Some 61,000 reindeer died in November 2013, about 22 percent of the 275,000 reindeer on the Yamal Peninsula, the researchers said. The publication New Scientist said 20,000 reindeer died in 2006.
"While rain-on-snow does not cause problems in spring, it can be catastrophic for reindeer in the autumn when rain turns to an ice crust as normal freezing temperatures return," the University of Finland scientists said.
"This crust, often several centimeters thick, prevents the reindeer from feeding on fodder beneath the snow throughout the winter months. Two extreme weather events in 2006 and 2013 caused mass starvation among the reindeer herds, and researchers for the first time have linked these extreme weather events in the coastal mainland in northwest Russia with sea ice loss in the adjoining Barents and Kara seas."
New Scientist said there is a fear of another major reindeer starvation event because the second-lowest level of sea-ice cover ever was recorded in the Arctic in September.
"If we see such events again this year, it could mean that they're becoming more frequent," said Bruce Forbes at the University of Lapland. "Now is the risk window, and if it happens again, it will be a major problem for traditional reindeer herders still suffering from losses in 2013."
Forbes was the lead author of a study examining the reindeer starvation events which was published Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters.
Forbes told the Siberian Times that researchers are proposing that more mobile slaughterhouses should move to the Yamal area.
"With our analysis we believe short-term forecasting that gives just a couple of days warning might be possible if the Barents and Kara sea ice extent were to be monitored in real time," Forbes said.
"Even a couple of days warning could be critically important to get the mobile slaughterhouses to herds at risk in time. That way, reindeer could be humanely slaughtered and the meat sold to market so that herders would at least receive from profit. In the most recent event of 2013 many smaller private herds not only lost all their animals, but received no monetary compensation because the animals starved on the tundra."
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