End the Reindeer Slaughter in Norway

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Sign this petition to show your support for an end to the government sanctioned reindeer culling and the reintroduction of wolves to Norway!

Reindeer are being killed in mass numbers in Norway in an effort to control their growing population, but the reindeer boom isn’t some sort of unexpected proliferation. It is directly related to the elimination of the reindeers’ primary predator, the wolf. In 2016, Norway decided to eliminate 70 percent of its wolf population, thereby providing room for reindeer to grow out of hand [1]. The country destroyed 47 of its remaining 68 wolves to protect livestock farmers [2].

An estimated 2 million sheep a year are released unsupervised to graze in the wilds of Norway. As many as 1,500 of them are killed by wolves each year, and the farmers that owned those sheep compensated by the government [3]. Many more sheep die in accidents, falling off cliffs, drowning, or from illness, than from wolf attacks [3], but the wolves bear the brunt of the blame.

Reindeer numbers have increased, and a deadly chronic wasting disease (CWD) is spreading through wild herds. In response, the Norwegian government has marked no less than 6 percent of the total reindeer population for death, some 2,000 to 2,200 wild reindeer.

This is a misguided attempt to curb their degenerative prion disease from spreading to livestock [4]. Reindeer have inhabited lands in Norway for over 4,500 years, living in balance with their habitat and the predators that once naturally kept their numbers in check.

Norway faces a turning point in its conservancy efforts, as mismanagement and myopic policies continue to erode native species.

The best method for returning balance to the Norwegian ecosystem is to reintroduce wolves to the reindeer habitat. This is an uphill battle, as Norway’s recent call for wolf hunters drew enough to outnumber the animals 723 to one [5]. A reported 11,571 hunters registered for a chance to kill 16 wolves [5].

But responsible wolf conservancy is possible. In Denali National Park & Preserve, wolves are a keystone species, as they are in Norway, and their behavior and movements are tracked diligently with the help of smart collars [6]. Researchers are not only able to see how the wolves are interacting with their own kind, but with other species, as well. Wolves are the solution to controlling reindeer!

Sign the petition and tell Norway’s Minister of Agriculture and Food that this approach to reindeer population control is obscene and ineffectual, and should be halted immediately in favor of predator reintroduction.