(Pic-Philip Burgess). With the coming of summer and the migration of reindeer from Finnmarks’s interior to the coast, the local media has lately been filled with stories about the reinplagen. This translates as ‘reindeer plague’, a disease which sounds deadly, but so far, only reindeer have died as a result. It relates to reindeer grazing in urban and agricultural areas where they are not welcome by farmers or some residents. The epicentre of this ‘reinplagen’ seems to be Alta and Hammerfest. Both have been in the media extensively this last two weeks.

A  Labour Party veteran in Hammerfest stated to the media that since the 1990’s, they have been invaded by reindeer and is demanding the reindeer herders pay compensation to citizens whose property has been damaged and that a reindeer hotline should be established (in what surely would be the world’s first?). He feels that neither the police or the municipality are taking the matter seriously. The main newspaper in Alta recently carried a headline that said ‘Reindeer are Eating Up Alta’. (For the record, reindeer are herbivores)According to the Mayor of the town,

Agriculture is the most important thing we have here in Alta. One cannot simply share the ground with reindeer

With all this noise, the head of the Reindeer Herding Administration, Ellen Inga O. Haetta has repeatedly called for dialogue. Today she is reported to be investigating the issue in the Alta valley by helicopter. As a result of this tour, it was stated to the media that the problem was, to all intents and purposes over for the year as most reindeer had moved to the mountains. A farmers representative contradicted their findings, claiming that herders had simply moved the reindeer. While the Reindeer Husbadnry Admininstration continues to promote dialogue, the head of the farmers union said that dialogue is not needed when the law is being broken. An editorial in the local paper Altaposten commented that this seems to be the time of year that people cut loose and criticise the whole reindeer industry for some isolated events and that politicians use the issue to score easy points. It too called for constructive dialogue and preventative measures.

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