Rare northern cow breed maintained at prison facing closure

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By Marjo Valtavaara
     
      Amuri, a calf of the Northern Finncattle breed native to the north of Finland, looked curiously at the guests arriving in the cowshed at the Pelso Prison in Vaala in the Kainuu region on Friday. The side of the calf shone white as the snow that had fallen in the yard of the penal institution. Only the mouth and the ears were black.
     
Amuri is part of the gene bank of the nearly 100 head of Northern Finncattle maintained by Pelso Prison.
      Next to the cowshed stands another gene bank - a pen with nearly 500 sheep. The most endangered type of sheep native to Finland is the Kainuu variety, of which Pelso has a full flock.
      Many are asking what will happen to these gene banks if the prison is shut down. If plans by the Criminal Sanctions Agency to close the prison are implemented, the cows and the sheep will be left without a home.
     
Prison guard Jussi Kuukasjärvi also chairs the Finnish Original Cattle Association, and serves as the village elder of Pelso. He is not yet looking for a new home for the animals.
      “We must consider carefully where the animals will be situated, and who would make sure that the genetic heritage will remain pure."
      When the Iskola minimum security wing of the Sukeva prison in Sonkajärvi was closed down a year ago, a herd of about 60 head of the Eastern Finncattle, another indigenous pedigree breed, were sent to school farms in Kajaani and Tampere.
      Reino Nivakoski, a guard and field work supervisor, is confident that both the prison and the gene bank will be allowed to continue.
      “At a time of climate change, maintaining the genes of original breeds is more important than ever. It is possible to get back to square one from the aimless wandering of selective breeding, as long as that square still exists.”
     
When the snow-white Amuri was chewing her Friday lunch feed, prison warden Päivi Ollila held a press conference for the personnel.
      “If the shutdown is implemented, there will be work for everyone, but not in Kainuu”, the message said.
      The event, typified by a nervous atmosphere and occasional heckling, concluded in a walkout by personnel. Only a minimum number of staff stayed behind in the prison.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 22.11.2008


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MARJO VALTAVAARA / Helsingin Sanomat
marjo.valtavaara@hs.fi