Finnish forest reindeer from animal parks to be transported to Moscow

The forest reindeer population in Russian Republic of Karelia has collapsed. In Finland, transplanting into new areas such as Northern Satakunta and Pieksämäki will be used as a measure to save the dwindling stock.

print this

By Tapio Mainio in Ähtäri
     
      Zookeeper Tiina Pitkänen feeds bunches of dried leaves to the Finnish forest reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus) individuals in the Ähtäri Zoo. Some of the young animals will be transported to Moscow as soon as all the red tape has been cleared away.
      “In all, sixteen Finnish forest reindeer will be moved from the Ähtäri and Ranua animal parks in Finland to Moscow to form a kind of a gene bank. As a result of poaching, the forest reindeer population in the Russian Republic of Karelia has collapsed and new forest reindeer individuals from the Russian side no longer wander into the Finnish province of Kainuu”, Ähtäri zoo intendant Mauno Seppäkoski explains.
      Seppäkoski was alerted to the alarming situation in Karelia by forest reindeer researcher Leo Ludkbic from the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. Ten years ago, there were an estimated 7,000 forest reindeer roaming around in Karelia.
     
The wild Finnish forest reindeer - not to be confused with the domesticated variety of the animal herded in Lapland - disappeared from the country towards the end of the 19th century, but a population returned across the border from Karelia in the early 1960s.
     
The forest reindeer population is also in trouble in Finland's Kainuu.
      The fragmentation of forested areas combined with the growth of wolf and lynx numbers has halved the number of wild forest reindeer.
      “In a 2001 aerial observation project, around 1,700 forest reindeer individuals were detected. Last winter, only 802 individuals were recorded. In the Suomenselkä drainage area in Western Finland, 1,076 forest reindeer were observed. Also in Suomenselkä the growth of the population has stalled”, Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute (RKTL) special researcher Jyrki Pusenius explains.
      The first Finnish forest reindeer were moved from Kainuu to the Salamajärvi National Park in 1979.
      The worrying situation of the Finnish forest reindeer population will be the topic of next week’s expert meeting in Kuhmo.
     
At the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, in order to secure the survival of the threatened species, transplantation into new areas is now being considered.
      The individuals for new areas would come from the surplus stock of zoos and animal parks, as well as from the Kainuu and Suomenselkä populations.
      There are woodlands suitable for the forest reindeer both in Northern Satakunta and in the surroundings of Pieksämäki.
      In these areas there are also fewer predators ready to dine out on the animals.
      "The forest reindeer population transfer project would have to be carried out with the utmost care, and not forgetting to hear the local people as well”, says senior planning officer Janne Pitkänen from the ministry.
      According to Pitkänen, Finland’s game management reform has delayed the transfer project.
     
Using radio collars, RHTL researchers have mapped out suitable habitats for forest reindeer.
      In Kainuu, the distance between the animals' summer and winter pastures is already more than a hundred kilometres.
      “The thinned out population can easily disappear. In the relatively confined winter pasture area they can become prey to wolves and other predators, or during the lengthy migration they can be hit by cars”, says Jukka Bisi of Metsähallitus, the Finnish state enterprise that administers state-owned land and water areas.
     
The transplantation is not without its risks, either.
      The Finnish forest reindeer that were moved from Ähtäri to the northern parts of the province of Häme failed to breed. Some of the animals wandered as far as to Jämijärvi.
      At present, a herd of an estimated 20 individuals remains of that attempt.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 3.6.2011


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Experts concerned about collapse of wild forest reindeer population (11.4.2007)

Links:
  Finnish Forest Reindeer (Wikipedia)
  Ähtäri Zoo

TAPIO MAINIO / Helsingin Sanomat
tapio.mainio@hs.fi