Vaccination of deer against anthrax began on the Kola Peninsula

It is carried out by specialists of the regional station for combating animal diseases. The herds of the Tundra agricultural enterprise are the first to be grafted. These days, reindeer herders drive them to Lovozero and drive them into a huge corral that can accommodate up to three thousand animals.

Here is a round dance!

Outwardly, the coral looks quite simple - an area fenced with a wooden fence built of logs and poles so that the deer cannot jump over it. Although in fact the coral is a rather complex structure, where a lot has been thought out. From above, it looks like a round structure, in which there are compartments of different sizes. Each contains animals - somewhere more, somewhere less.

Some cluster in small groups, roam alone, the main herd numbering under a hundred heads from time to time begins to move. The animals in the center stand and the rest run around them. A bewitching sight - a deer round dance!

Shepherds say that in this way the herd protects the weakest individuals from predators - mothers, calves, and each other - they cover the one running nearby, and the next one protects him.

These animals are shy, they do not let a person close to them, it is worth approaching the fence, they immediately run away to a safe distance. Although sometimes there are curious, seeking to come closer.

The two largest parts of the corral contain deer that have yet to be vaccinated. This is the first herd that the reindeer herders brought to Lovozero the day before. The rest are still grazing in the tundra, waiting for their turn.

The task of reindeer herders is to separate the animals, gradually sending them in small batches of 10-20 heads to storage chambers. And after that, several of them will be driven into the working area - into a very small compartment, fenced with a high fence, where they are to be examined and vaccinated.

With syringe and hacksaw

Accountants observe everything that happens in the working area from above. They are given the animal's number on a tag attached to their ear. Accountants enter all data into a log.

And below there is an action that can be compared with a real bullfight. Deer, caught in a closed paddock, where there are five or six people, rush like crazy, frightened, rush to the wooden walls of the corral, unsuccessfully trying to break free. With their mass, they can easily bring down a person, and with sharp horns they can cause injury.

- The main thing is not to yawn and not to stand at the wall, - experts advise, - let him run in a circle, and if he touches a little, pushes - it's okay, he won't kill, he won't trample.

On average, a deer weighs from 90 to 130 kilograms - the females are smaller, the bulls are larger. But in a hand-to-hand fight with an animal, people always win. One person holds, the other helps, insures, the third - a veterinarian with a syringe in his hand - injects the vaccine with a quick movement.

The vaccine is done, but that's not all. In addition, reindeer herders keep a record of the herd - they count how many females, males, calves are in it, measure the weight of each animal, and also select for slaughter. Those who are destined to go under the knife are sent to a separate part of the corral.

Males are driven into the neighboring one, whose fate is to become bulls, they are castrated. After this procedure, which is carried out with huge tongs, the deer no longer spend their energy on mating, gain weight well, become calm, obedient. It is the reindeer herders who train the bulls to pull the team.

A special procedure is cutting the horns. Adult males shed them on their own in December, after the end of the rut, young animals - at the end of February. And the females remain horned until May, until they have calves.

But why wait and waste such a valuable commodity? Reindeer herders cut off the antlers with an ordinary hacksaw, the whole procedure takes a few seconds. After that, the deer is released into the herd, grazing in another part of the corral. To get there, he runs through a wooden chamber containing an electronic scale. The weight of the animal is immediately recorded by the accountant.

For food and souvenirs

Sawn antlers fly over the fence, they are thrown into the sleigh standing on the other side of the corral. And this is not waste at all, but a valuable product. The horns are used in medicine - in previous years, Tundra sold them to China , where they made medicines. However, a few years ago, the Chinese imposed a ban on the carriage of deer antlers from Russia. But buyers are also in our country. According to Viktor Startsev, the head of the Tundra reindeer breeding farm, they are bought for the production of souvenirs, as well as dog owners. At the same time, it should be noted that deer antlers are more expensive than meat.

“They say that only a breath from a deer should be left after it is slaughtered and butchered at a slaughterhouse, all other parts of the body should go for processing and sale,” Viktor Startsev explained.

The company now has 24,000 reindeer. Last year, more than five thousand were sent to slaughter. Today, the main part of the slaughter is completed, but in the process of vaccination and inspection, some individuals are sent for meat.

- In the structure of slaughter, first of all, there are calves, young animals are mainly males. The broodstock, the females remain for reproduction,” Startsev said. - A large percentage of the slaughter is made up of tretyaki - males, who, after castration, gain weight up to 50 kilograms or more. In addition, their meat is very good, all the same, young animals. The culling includes animals that do not participate in the production of the herd - old females and males. If the deer overwintered badly, did not gain weight, is skinny, sickly, then after inspection it is also sent for slaughter.

The resulting meat is in demand both on the Russian market and abroad.

- Last year there was a big surge in consumption when the country was closed due to the pandemic and domestic tourism began. This is a very positive factor for the development of our northern reindeer husbandry, - said Viktor Startsev.

The key is prevention

Let's get back to vaccinations. The vaccine is for anthrax.

- This is a very serious disease that threatens not only animals, but also people. Despite the fact that we have not recorded cases of reindeer disease, it is necessary to do preventive vaccination, - said Dmitry Bobchenok, a specialist at the regional animal disease control station. - Now we have started to vaccinate the herd of the Tundra state farm, and in general our task is to vaccinate the entire population of deer that are in the reindeer breeding farms of the Kola Arctic.

In addition to vaccination against anthrax throughout the year, reindeer are given a comprehensive vaccination against nasopharyngeal and subcutaneous gadflies and other parasites that can settle in their bodies.

At the same time, veterinarians examine each animal for any other diseases that could harm the rest of the herd. But, as a rule, our deer grazing in the wild, on ecologically clean pastures, are healthy.

On the first day, veterinarians inoculated over 400 animals in Lovozero, and even more on the second day. The work does not tolerate delay, because, being in the corral, the deer do not eat anything. Then the horned ones will be released into the tundra, where they will be able to independently produce reindeer moss.

From Lovozero, specialists from the animal disease control station went to Krasnoshchelye to vaccinate the herd of the Olenevod agricultural enterprise. We got there on snowmobiles.

Vaccination will end at the end of March. After that, they will begin to prepare for another important event in their calendar - for the calving. Usually calves appear at the females in May.