Killing of Reindeer in Norwegian Supreme Court / Avlivning av ren i norsk domstol

KL — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:08:33 +0000

Samerna borde ha samma rätt att avliva djur som judar och muslimerna. Det menade advokaten Trond Biti när samisk tradition sattes mot norsk lag igår i högsta domstolen i Norge. Trond Biti menar att muslimer och judar avlivar djuren med knivstick utan att bedöva (SR.se).

Sami should have the same right to kill animals as do Jews and Muslims. So said lawyer Trond Biti when the case of Sami traditions came up against Norwegian law yesterday in the Supreme Court of Norway.

“They have every right to practice their traditions and so should the Sami people” said Biti.

Trond Biti is defending a herder for killing a reindeer with a knife stabbed into the heart, although it is contrary to the Norwegian Animal Welfare Act. Norwegian law has primacy over Sami customs, said the First State lawyer Lars Fausa for Troms and Finnmark, after the reindeer owner was fined 5,000 NOK (550 EURO) for having slaughtered reindeer in violation of the Animal Welfare Act. (NRK, SR.se).

More on this story here on an earlier story on the Reindeer Blog

Sami traditions, Norwegian Law

Philip Burgess — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:19:15 +0000

(Pic. Finnmark Dagblad) Today the Supreme court in Norway will hear the question as to how best to kill a reindeer, as reported in Finnmark Dagblad. The case goes back to 2005, when a reindeer herder in the Kvalsund area killed a reindeer by inserting a knife directly into a reindeer’s heart which, the herder argued through his lawyer was an age old customary tradition. The herder was acquitted in the Inner Finnmark tingrett, but was sentenced in the Hålogaland lagmannsrett and found to have infringed the Animal Act. As a result he was fined 5000 NOK (570 Euros). The law states that the animal should be unconscious before death or it will suffer unnecessarily.

You can read the Hålogaland decision here (Norwegian)

At the time, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority stated their satisfaction with the ruling,

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority is satisfied that the decision in the lagmann is so unambiguous and clear.There can no longer be any doubt that the Animal Act requirement also applies to the killing of reindeer. We expect that this verdict will help to end any other illegal ways to kill reindeer.

The knife into the heart method is not uncommon for reindeer peoples around the world (for example Chukotka), as peoples have used different methods to kill reindeer in different regions. The Reindeer Portal and Reindeer Blog will continue to follow this story.

Reindeer Blog » Slaughter Techniques

Killing of Reindeer in Norwegian Supreme Court / Avlivning av ren i norsk domstol

Sami traditions, Norwegian Law