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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Patrick Greenfield

‘We cannot say for sure these wolves come from Russia’: Finns try to fathom cause of record reindeer deaths

A wolf in a white snowy forest
Wolves have had their strictly protected conservation status downgraded in the EU after numbers almost doubled in 10 years. Photograph: Danny Green/naturepl.com

Juha Kujala no longer knows how many reindeer will return to his farm from the forest each December. The 54-year-old herder releases his animals into the wilderness on the 830-mile Finnish-Russian border each spring to grow fat on lichens, grass and mushrooms, just as his ancestors have done for generations.

But since 2022, grisly discoveries of reindeer skeletons on the forest floor have disrupted this ancient way of life. The culprits, according to Kujala: wolves from Russia.

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