Reindeer Blog

TROMSO, Norway (Reuters) – Indigenous Sami peoples in the Arctic may have found a way to help their reindeer herds cope with climate change: more castration. Research by Sami experts shows that sterilized males can grow larger and so are better at digging for food — as Arctic temperatures vary more, thawing snow often refreezes [...]

President Dmitry Medvedev awarded the reindeer herder Vitaly Kemlil (pictured on the left with the President at the Kremlin last week) a special award at the Presidents annual awards for Russians who have made a special contribution to the nation. The award is entitled ‘Order of Merit of the Fatherland IV degree’ – the same [...]

Interesting article and superb photography displaying Nenets herders coping with oil and gas installations on their migration routes in the ‘Russian Photo Blog‘. The photographer spent quite some time with herders that migrat through the Bovanekovo filed and was also allowed access to the contstruction site itself. View all the photos here and the article [...]

The World Society for the Protection of Animals has added their voice to what seems certain to to become an annual right of passage – animals rights organisations using the Christmas season to raise their own profile with media friendly releases about the ‘mistreatreatment’ of reindeer by reindeer herders. Another organisation, VIVA, launched a similar [...]

A Russian film has picked up the top honors at an international film festival in Bulgaria highlighting the best work on extreme sports, adventure and mountains. The award-winning documentary about reindeer herders in the Polar Urals beat 80 films from 27 other countries. “Nyarma” by Edgar Bartenev focuses on the Nenets people, their customs, family [...]

A ‘chum’, the traditional though still in use every day dwelling of the reindeer herding Nenets on the Yamal Peninsula,  will be making a guest appearance at one Russia’s busiest airport: Moscow’s Sheremetyevo. This marks the kick off of a series of events in the nations capital celebrating the life and culture of the worlds [...]

As many as 50 reindeer froze to death after falling through thin ice near Kautokeino, Norway yesterday according to a report in NRK Sami Radio. This is a dangerous time of year for reindeer and their herders, as although lakes and rivers are frozen, the ice is thin and liable to break. Herders attempted to [...]

Evenki reindeer herders in Buryatia  came to the rescue of the passengers and pilot of an AN-2 plane that crash landed in the taiga 300 km West of Chita, due to poor weather over the weekend. The herders were contacted by satellite phone and managed to locate the plane which had lost radar contact and [...]

The Canadian mining company Blackstone ventures has managed to buy the rights to start drilling in the Vindelfjällen nature reserve in the north of Sweden. The company is planning to drill right by one of the most ancient Sámi summer villages still inhabited every summer by the reindeer herders and reindeer  of Grans Sameby, the [...]

A recent study published in the International Journal for Circumpolar Health concluded that reindeer herding Sami in Sweden, most particularly men, were more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety than others.  Entitled “Depression and anxiety in the reindeer-herding Sami population of Sweden” , the objectives were to investigate symptoms and predicting factors of depression [...]