Photo: Thomas Nilsen

Roads deadly for reindeer in Arctic Sweden

Twice as many reindeer have been killed on the roads in northern Sweden this month compared to the same period last year. And one of the main factors is climate change, according to the Swedish Sami Association.
January 25, 2018

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A total of 431 reindeer have been killed on the roads of Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland and Västernorrland so far this month, double the number in the same period last year.

And with around 2,500 reindeer killed in traffic in 2017, an increase of around 1,000 since 2013, Jenny Wik Karlsson, a legal expert and CEO of the Swedish Sami Association, says reindeer herders are significantly out of pocket.

«There has been so much snow this year that the reindeer have taken to the salt covered roads, which are like candy to the animals. I feel for the reindeer and the reindeer herders who are losing a lot of money – they get compensation for slaughter but it is not enough.»

She is calling on speeding motorists to slow down and think of the reindeer.


This story is posted on Independent Barents Observer as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.

 

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