The climate crisis is causing problems for reindeer kept by breeders in northern Norway. There are looming problems with young talent, the Norwegian University of Technology and Science (NTNU) in Trondheim recently announced. Anna-Laila Danielsen said it is often no longer cold enough for lakes and rivers to freeze and for reindeer to walk across the ice on their way to their winter pastures.
This disrupts the walking routes, explains Danielsen, who wrote her master’s thesis on the problem. Reindeer live in the tundra and taiga of the northern polar regions. They are the only domesticated deer species.
Bridges are intended to make migration easier for animals
Breeders also reported to Danielsen that a light blanket of snow often falls over the still thin ice. The animals would often not be able to recognize that the ice is not yet solid. If they walk over them, they can collapse. Some breeders therefore want to build bridges for the reindeer.
In addition, there is now less permanent frost and temperatures in winter fluctuate around freezing point more often than before. This could create multiple thin layers of ice on the snow, which together would be so hard that the reindeer would eventually no longer be able to reach the food under the ice, Danielsen writes. The herders therefore have to bring in extra feed, which is expensive and time-consuming, especially because vehicles carrying hay and pellets cannot reach everywhere in the wilderness.
Supplementary feeding is also problematic
There is often a crowd among the reindeer during feeding. Dominant specimens keep other animals away from food. In the wild this is not a problem, because the weaker specimens look for another place to graze. This is not possible at an artificial feeding station. Some breeders have now developed special devices for supplementary feeding.
Source: Krone
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