Tag Archives: reindeer
REINDEER FINDING PURSUING POLAR BEARS A DRAG: Researchers captures first known video of bear hunting down reindeer as need for alternative prey grows due to climate

Photo by P. Nowosa/P. Ulandowska-Monarcha
Polar bears in Svalbard are continuing to expand the diversity of their diet as climate change diminishes their traditional hunting prospects, according to a team of Polish researchers who captured what they say is the first video of a bear stalking and killing an adult reindeer.
‘(NEAR) RECORD NUMBER OF ANIMALS AND TWO CRUEL DEATHS’: Annual Svalbard reindeer count shows Mother Nature was kind, but humans discarding steel wires were a fatal snag

Photo by Trine Lise Sviggum Helgerud / Norwegian Polar Institute
It was a highly favorable winter for nearly 1,700 Svalbard reindeer, the second-highest count ever in an annual census, but for researchers conducting the count it’s two reindeer who didn’t survive who are much in mind as they were fatally snagged in wires discarded by humans.
Svalbard Daily Planet for the week of Aug. 19-25, 2019

Climate change forces reindeer turn to seaweed (we’re pretty sure that means “eat” rather than literally transform), salvage resumes on the Northguider trawler, more about tourists wrecking and picking up wreckage in pristine areas, the Svalbard icebreaker is the first Norwegian ship to reach the North Pole, area temperatures at highest point in 300-year timespan and more headlines from the global media about this blessed land of the frozen chosen (with our always inspirational masthead motto for the day in italics).
RABIES ALERT: Reindeer observed near Ny-Ålesund in mid-July tests positive for disease; warning issued about infection risk
Pick the ‘fake news’ headline: 1) Scientists discover energy source of Rudolph’s nose; 2) Trump wants to starve Santa’s reindeer

Rudolph has a wonderful nose. An ingenious nose. Amazing ability. Tremendous energy. And brilliantly red.
If that sounds like praise from a certain orange-hued megalomaniac, consider this other shocking exposé: “Trump wants to starve Santa’s reindeer. Why, they are barely able to pull all that weight now! Who knows what will happen if all the funding flowing to scientists and universities for global warming is cut? Might have to cancel Christmas!”
Random weirdness for the week of Nov. 13, 2016
Land and sea sick: Four more reindeer pay ultimate price for garbage; how much are we willing to pay so they don’t have to?

Four more reindeer paid the ultimate price during the past several days for due to the trash scattered around Svalbard (actually, many more undoubtably did as well, but not in view of people exploring near town).
The question is: how much of a price are we willing to pay so the animals don’t have to?
Get the picture? Photographer’s encounter with reindeer snagged in cables results in unfortunate type of shooting
Briefs from Svalbardposten for the week of July 26, 2016
Random weirdness for the week of July 5, 2016

Since this week seems to be our “reality check” issue, we’re leading with something whose only local connection is it involves our unofficial “sister city” in the U.S., but is high on our rant list for WTF Are Climate Change Deniers Thinking??!! It was a chilling weekend in Juneau, Alaska, where within a day of each other: 1) record flooding occurred when a glacial ice dam collapsed and released an entire lake on the town, and 2) a 1,225-meter-high mountainside spontaneously collapsed on a glacier field a bit further north.