Premature to slaughter wild reindeer

wild reindeerReindeer.Photo: pixabay.com

Researcher believes it is premature to slaughter wild reindeer

2,000 wild reindeer in Nordfjella are to be slaughtered after the discovery of chronic wasting disease. Researcher Ketil Skogen thinks it’s dramatic shoot all wild reindeer.

– It seems panicky to go to such a step. It is an expression of an extreme need for control that characterizes the nature management in very many ways. The animals cease to be wild animals because they are so controlled, says Ketil Skogen, wild animal researcher, sociologist and senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (Nina) to NRK.

Different opinions

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority has noted the criticism of the slaughter, but is in line with the report of the Scientific Committee on Food Safety. Their conclusion is that the outbreak of chronic wasting disease must be stopped.

According to the Skogen and other researchers at Nina, it is not known how the disease infects. Another Nina researcher, Olav Strand, a researcher on the wild reindeer population in Nordefjella does not agree with Skogen.

– We should have known more about how it infects. But the knowledge we have indicates that this must happen quickly and that we must take it seriously, Strand says to NRK.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today