YAKUTSK, November 13 (RIA Novosti) – Deer-herders in Russia’s remote north stand to make significant financial losses after around 1,000 of their animals fled to join migrating wild reindeer, local officials said Wednesday.
Authorities in the northern permafrost province of Yakutia said they have sent helicopters to search for the animals, which remain almost the only source of income for local nomadic peoples.
The wild deer have changed their migration route for an unclear reason and ran through territory where domestic animals were grazing, a spokesman for the local administration told RIA Novosti.
Driven by their instincts, the domestic deer ran away with the wild animals. The local officials were provided with about 1 million rubles ($30,400) to retrieve the herds and return them to their owners.
The locals in the far northern Olenyoksky District depend heavily on reindeer farming. They use the deer meat for food and their skins to make warm clothes and shoes.
“The loss of reindeer is an emergency situation for the farms,” district head Alexander Ivanov told local news site News,Ykt.Ru. “The economy in the district, salaries and subsidies depend on their quantity.”
