David Attenborough’s Planet Earth II should be top of the TV catch-up list this Christmas. An epic ending to the Grasslands episode sees a high-speed chase between an Arctic wolf and a young caribou – the wild relative of the reindeer. But the year’s most shocking reindeer-related story is both more touching and troubling than anything seen on screen.
Over 75 years ago, a naturally occurring outbreak of anthrax (a bacterial disease affecting the skin and lungs), caused mass death among the caribou of the Yamal-Nenets region in Arctic Siberia. For decades, the diseased bodies lay buried beneath the frozen ice. But this summer, unusually high temperatures caused the permafrost to thaw.
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