Caribou population declines by 95%

1960 CERussia

In the late 1800s, there may have been 5 million caribou in Russia, which rapidly declined to about 250,000 as a result of overhunting, habitat loss and fracturing through timber cutting and road-building. “The distribution of reindeer in Russia has become fragmented as a result of human impact. Decreases in numbers, and separation in populations and their habitats have resulted in heavy hunting pressures often associated with industrial development.”

“Rangifer Tarandus .” Web. 10 Dec. 2016., Rasmussen, Rasmus Ole., and Natalia E. Koroleva. Social and Environmental Impacts in the North: Methods in Evaluation of Socio-economic and Environmental Consequences of Mining and Energy Production in the Arctic and Sub-arctic. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 2003. Print.

Image: Soviet Union Reindeer, Arctic Front