WWF supports the traditions of indigenous peoples in Taimyr

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has supported the initiative of the indigenous community from the village of Volochanka to revive the traditions of dog sledding, according to the WWF Russia website.

Thus, local residents will be able to better adapt to the climatic changes taking place in the region.

With the support of WWF, the Musher Club was able to renew its equipment and purchase the necessary stuff, conduct a series of classes and trainings. The community also reportedly intends to increase the number of husky dogs and employ the local population as mushers and animal care workers. It is expected that this experience can be further transferred to other villages of Taimyr.

In the village of Volochanka, there is already a “Musher School” organized by the Fund, in which pupils and local schoolchildren master sledding skills, study the behavior of dogs, make sledding equipment, hold competitions and small expeditions. The family-clan community "Husky-Tyal" (Husky wind) has been reviving the traditions for several years.

«Working with dogs can be beneficial not only as a sledding sport and serve not only for riding,» says Anastasia Terebikhina, head of the Husky-Tyal family tribal community.  «It is also a transport for use in the primitive conditions of the Arctic: for transporting fish from the fishing place to the house, partridge hunting, going to the store, for firewood, water and other household items. Moreover, the transport is economical, our fuel and spare parts are very expensive, and not every ordinary fisherman or pensioner can afford to have expensive equipment. Therefore, every inhabitant of the North, regardless of age, should have the skills to ride a dog sled.»

The idea of ​​reviving the traditions of dog sledding was not born by chance - the history of the peoples of Taimyr and its development is closely related to the skill of mushers. The expeditions of Kondrat Kurochkin, Nikolai Urvantsev and other researchers would have been simply impossible without dog sleds. Until the end of the last century, it was a popular sport in the region. Now, according to the leaders of the community, traditions are being forgotten.

Source