Reindeer Blog

(Source BBC News) Arctic reindeer can see beyond the “visible” light spectrum into the ultra-violet region, according to new research by an international team. They say tests on reindeer showed that the animal does respond to UV stimuli, unlike humans. The ability might enable them to pick out food and predators in the “UV-rich” Arctic [...]

(Helsingin sanomat) Olli Pulju, 49, and his hired man Pasi Salmi, 26, are tending a herd of reindeer in Särkikoskenmaa, northeast of the village of Kersilö in Sodanylä, in Finnish Lapland. The herd is feeding on a patch of forest in the middle of a vast swamp. The world’s fourth largest mining company Anglo American [...]

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 [...]

MOSCOW (Reuters Life!) – When rival energy producers Russia and Qatar talk business, it’s no longer only about natural gas — they’re talking reindeer meat, which Russia has promised to export and butcher according to Muslim dietary law. The prospect of Russia exporting halal reindeer meat products to the desert kingdom first came up last [...]

In recent weeks, there has been quite a number of stories (in the english language media)  that feature reindeer being ‘mistreated’, coupled with news releases, video and protest letters. These protests have focussed on the treatment of reindeer by reindeer herders who depend on reindeer for their livelihoods and have been practicing the livelihood for [...]

Tourism has brought reindeer to the centre of Rovaniemi. Behind the project are Rovaniemen Kehitys Oy, a company promoting tourism in Rovaniemi, and local entrepreneurs, according to a report in Helsingin sanomat. The Sirmakko family has set up a reindeer park in downtown Rovaniemi, on the upper deck of the parking garage adjacent to the [...]

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 [...]

A bizarre exhibition by the renowned artist Carsten Höller has just opened at Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof contemporary art museum. “Soma” also offers the chance for a limited number of guests to overnight in a bed suspended above a collection of animals that includes reindeer, canaries and mice for €1,000. In total there are 12 reindeer [...]

FAIRBANKS (AP) — For most hungry Alaskans, reindeer meat doesn’t represent much more than a spicy sausage link. University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers want to know if there’s more potential for the state’s roughly 18,000 reindeer. A new market study is under way to see whether local consumers are interested in high-end cuts of reindeer, [...]

Farmers and herders in Northern Finland have threatened to shoot reindeer from Norway.  “Between December 2009 and May 2010, we have counted, and sent back about 4200 Norwegian reindeer, ” said Assistant Police Chief in Peräpohjola police in Finland, Ossi Hyvönen.  Hyvönen estimated the damage to pastures to be as much as 120,000 Euros, just [...]