April
12, 2002
Reindeer slaughterhouses for Russia
A Finnish company plans
to build the world’s largest and most modern reindeer slaughterhouse in
the small Siberian village of Yar-Sale, the first in a series of 160 modern
reindeer slaughterhouses planned for Russia over the next few years.
The new slaughterhouse
in Yar-Sale will handle 3,000 to 5,000 animals during the winter months.
The Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
notes that conditions faced by the Russian reindeer industry have deteriorated
considerably since the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Transportation costs have
skyrocketed, and helicopters can no longer be used to take the meat to market.
Wages for reindeer are marginal, and, as a result, motivation to work in the
industry has waned.
In Siberia, the reindeer
industry is threatened by pollution from the oil and mining industries. Changes
in the Siberian climate have made the grazing of reindeer increasingly difficult.
However, local leaders
are now optimistic that the Finnish-built slaughterhouse will help rescue the
Russian reindeer industry.
Apparently, the emerging
Russian middle class considers reindeer meat to be a delicacy, and Moscow, St.
Petersburg, and other major cities consume as much reindeer products as can
be delivered.
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April
12, 2002
Dead puffins wash ashore in Norway
Hundreds of dead puffins
have been washing ashore in north-central Norway, according to Norway’s
Aftenposten newspaper. Wildlife biologists have been baffled by what might be
killing the unique, protected seabirds.
They suspect a poisonous
jellyfish may be to blame.
Puffins nest on islands
off the north-central Norwegian coast. A protected species in Norway, puffins
are known for their large reddish-orange beaks, and are sometimes called "sea
parrots."
The puffins’ worst
enemies to date have been oil pollution and fishing nets.
But scientists worry the
puffins, who head for Norway’s coastal islands to nest in March and April,
may have encountered poisonous jellyfish, as some people have reported spotting
the birds flying erratically.
The jellyfish have been
known to damage the eyes of salmon raised in Norway’s coastal fish farms.
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April
12, 2002
ATV Bering-crossing stopped in its tracks
Russian border guards have
threatened to arrest a pair of British adventurers, stopping them from completing
their drive across the Bering Strait, the Anchorage Daily News reports.
Steve Brooks and Graham
Stratford drove their customized all-terrain vehicle to Little Diomede Island,
the half-way point on the 56-mile trip between Wales Island and Russia.
But Russian guards say
they will arrest the two if they cross the international dateline and enter
Russian waters.
The dateline runs between
Little Diomede and Big Diomede Islands and marks the boundary between the United
States and Russia.
The team already had Russian
visas and planned to wait about two days to see whether the Russians would grant
them access.
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Nunavut 99
