Husbandry and Diseases of Semi-Domesticated Eurasian Tundra Reindeer in Fennoscandia

Tryland, Morten; Nymo, Ingebjørg Helena; Romano, Javier Sánchez; Riseth, Jan Åge

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-05386-3_19

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…Feeding is one way to cope with winter crises, to compensate for pastures with low nutritional value, or for the permanent loss of pastureland. The increased risk of infectious diseases when animals are kept in high density is described in older publications when the herds were kept closer together for larger parts of the year [1,[26][27][28]. Today, infectious diseases are becoming more common in Finland and Sweden where feeding in enclosures is more common than in Norway [29,30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Necropsy findings and causes of loss in semi-domesticated reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Northern Norway

Mørk,

Eira,

Rødven

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Background: Reindeer herding in Norway is based on traditional Sámi pastoralism with the animals free ranging throughout the year. The animals move over large areas in varying terrain and often in challenging weather conditions. Winter crises, such as difficult grazing conditions caused by icing or large amount of snow, are survival bottlenecks for reindeer. Calves are especially vulnerable, and many may die from starvation during winter crises. Predation and starvation are the predominant narrative to explain losses, however, carcasses are difficult to find and often little remains after scavenging and decay. Documentation of the causes of death is therefore scarce. Results: In this study, we investigated the cause of reindeer mortality in Troms and Finnmark, Nordland and Trøndelag during 2017-2019. Necropsies (n=125) and organ investigation (n=13) were performed to document cause of death. Body condition was evaluated using visual fat score and bone marrow fat index. A wide range of causes of death was detected. The diagnosis were categorized into the following main diagnostic categories: predation (n=40), emaciation (n=35), infectious disease (n=20), trauma (n=11), feeding related disease (n=5), neoplasia (4), others (n=6) and unknown (n=17). Co-morbidities were seen in a number of diagnoses (n=16). Reindeer herders are entitled to economic compensation for reindeer killed by endangered predators, but a lack of documentation leads to a gap between the amount of compensation requested and what is awarded. An important finding of our study was that predators killed animals in good as well as poor condition during winter. Emaciation was shown to also be associated with infectious diseases, and not only attributable to winter grazing conditions. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of examining dead reindeer to gain knowledge about why they die on winter pasture. The work presented herein also shows the feasibility and value of increased documentation of reindeer losses during winter.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climate change with increasing summer temperatures is also predicted to potentially increase diseases caused by temperature dependent parasites such as Elaphostrongylus rangiferi [33] and Setaria tundra [34] as well as the spread of vector borne diseases [27]. Trauma caused by animals falling off cliffs, avalanches, tra c incidences, etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Necropsy findings and causes of loss in semi-domesticated reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Northern Norway

Mørk,

Eira,

Rødven

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Necropsy findings, meat control pathology and causes of loss in semi-domesticated reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in northern Norway

Mørk,

Eira,

Rødven

et al. 2024

Acta Vet Scand

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Background Reindeer herding in Norway is based on traditional Sámi pastoralism with the animals free ranging throughout the year. The animals move over large areas in varying terrain and often in challenging weather conditions. Winter crises, such as difficult grazing conditions caused by icing or large amounts of snow, are survival bottlenecks for reindeer. Calves are especially vulnerable, and many may die from starvation during winter crises. Predation and starvation are the predominant narratives to explain losses, however, carcasses are difficult to find and often little remains after scavenging and decay. Documentation of the causes of death is therefore scarce. Results In this study, we investigated the cause of reindeer mortality in Troms and Finnmark, Nordland and Trøndelag during 2017–2019. Necropsies (n = 125) and organ investigation (n = 13) were performed to document cause of death. Body condition was evaluated using visual fat score and bone marrow fat index. A wide range of causes of death was detected. The diagnoses were categorized into the following main categories: predation (n = 40), emaciation (n = 35), infectious disease (n = 20), trauma (n = 11), feeding related disease (n = 5), neoplasia (n = 4), others (n = 6) and unknown (n = 17). Co-morbidities were seen in a number of diagnoses (n = 16). Reindeer herders are entitled to economic compensation for reindeer killed by endangered predators, but a lack of documentation leads to a gap between the amount of compensation requested and what is awarded. An important finding of our study was that predators, during winter, killed animals in good as well as poor body condition. Emaciation was also shown to be associated with infectious diseases, and not only attributable to winter grazing conditions. Conclusions This study highlights the importance of examining dead reindeer to gain knowledge about why they die on winter pasture. The work presented herein also shows the feasibility and value of increased documentation of reindeer losses during winter.

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Husbandry and Diseases of Semi-Domesticated Eurasian Tundra Reindeer in Fennoscandia

Cited by 2 publications

References 86 publications

Necropsy findings and causes of loss in semi-domesticated reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Northern Norway

Necropsy findings and causes of loss in semi-domesticated reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Northern Norway

Necropsy findings, meat control pathology and causes of loss in semi-domesticated reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in northern Norway

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