The following appeared as an editorial in a wildlife journal.

“Arctic deer live on islands in Canada’s arctic region. They search for food by moving over ice from island to island during the course of a year. Their habitat is limited to areas warm enough to sustain the plants on which they feed, and cold enough, at least some of the year, for the ice to cover the sea separating the islands, allowing the deer to travel over it. Unfortunately, according to reports from local hunters, the deer populations are declining. Since these reports coincide with recent global warming trends that have caused the sea ice to melt, we can conclude that the decline in arctic deer populations is the result of deer being unable to follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea.”

In an editorial in a wild life journal, it was published that the arctic deer which live on islands in Canada’s arctic region are declining in number, as reported by the local hunters. The editorial has drawn similarities of this report with the recent global warning trends and drawn the conclusion that the decline in arctic deer population is due to inability of deer to follow their age old migration patterns across the frozen sea.

This argument is not based on reports from any authentic sources and is thereby very unconvincing. It rests on the feedback given by local hunters who themselves can be misguided as they are not the experts to notice the changing patterns. There is every possibility that the arctic deer have migrated to other regions leaving the hunters to make guesses. It is equally possible that in spite of the climatic changes, it is actually the local hunters who are responsible for the migration or decline of the arctic deer. Hence, the inability of deer to cope up with the changing climate is probably only a word spread by hunters to cover up the cruel pace at which they went on hunting the deer.

The author has quickly jumped to the conclusion that the population of arctic deer is waning because of global warming hampering their age-old patterns of migration across the frozen sea. Though it is true that global warming has caused sea ice in Polar Regions to melt, but it may not be the cause of decline of the arctic deer. They need a habitat cold enough for at least some part of the year and this condition is likely to have been met in the arctic region. Moreover, if global warming was the cause, then it should have affected other animals in the same region as well. No such issue is covered in the editorial.

The author was not only quick to assume that there is a decline in the arctic deer population, but also overlooked any causes of this, other than the global warming trends, when there can be different reasons for the decline of deer, if at all it is true. It could be due to their natural habitats being disturbed by increasing human interference, or due to increase in the number of their predators. The fall in number may also be associated with some sort of pollution of water or due to shortage of the plants they feed on. There may even be lack of suitable environment for their mating. Before arriving at any conclusion, the adaption trends of different animals, especially arctic deer in this case should have been studied. Since it is quite likely that just as birds change their timing and countries of migration, adapting to the changing climates, arctic deer have also adapted to the rise in temperature due to global warming and migrated to a different location.

Conclusively, the argument given by the author in the editorial of wild life journal is denounced due to lack of evidence. The author should have supported it with more reliable statistical data.