What Killed the Reindeer of Saint Matthew Island?

In 1944, 29 reindeer were introduced to the island by the United States Coast Guard to provide an emergency food source. The coast guard abandoned the island a few years later, leaving the reindeer. Subsequently, the reindeer population rose to about 6,000 by 1963 and then died off in the next two years to 42 animals A scientific study attributed the population crash to the limited food supply in interaction with climatic factors (the winter of 1963–64 was exceptionally severe in the region). By the 1980s, the reindeer population had completely died out. Environmentalists see this as an issue of overpopulation.
   Unfortunately, the disaster that befell the reindeer of Saint Matthew Island provides a case study for population declines that, in the coming years, could prove to be an early warning of what is to come.