Reindeer News from Finland
(Pic – Helsingin Sanomat)The coverage of the force slaughtering case in Nellim received attention from the UN according to a report in Helsingin Sanomat. A letter was sent and signed by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples, Rodolfo Stavenhagen of Mexico, as well as Pakistani Hina Jilani, the UN Secretary-General’s expert on human rights. The article did fail to point out that the forest conflict plays a role in the relations within the herding cooperative and fails to mention that Sami-Finnish relations and concepts of herding may also have a role in the case. The majority of reindeer herders in Finland are not Sami, but are Finns, especially in the more southerly ranges of reindeer husbandry. There, according to another report in Helsingin Sanomat, ”The price of reindeer meat is so low for producers that I was forced to seek an additional source of income”, reindeer herder Timo Jumisko from the Salla reindeer-herding association, was quoted as saying. “Sheep farming is suited to reindeer herders in a sense that both animals can be fed the same fodder.” Recruitment into reindeer husbandry is obviously an issue in this region as the Chair of cooperative stated “All means are required, for too many young people are leaving reindeer herding.”
From the same reindeer herding region (Salla), a journalist remarked that the round ups there had lost their allure (though this might be a reflection of the journalists preconceived ideas of what a round up should be like),
“Reindeer roundups have lostmuch of the exotic lure of bygone days. The reindeer are driven into the enclosures with the help of helicopters and off-road vehicles. There are no dogs in the enclosures, and few use lassos any more. Slaughter on the spot ended in the 1990s. The reindeer are taken from Tuohivaara to an abbatoir in the main village of Salla. Only a few reindeer for consumption at home end their lives in the pen.”
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