Reindeer Herders’ Association’s projects in progress

Reindeer Herders’ Association does not have any projects in progress at the moment. Instead there are two trials in process. In 2012 we started a website www.porotyot.fi (in Finnish) where reindeer herding cooperatives can inform where they are doing herding work. This is mainly directed to hunters, so they know which areas to avoid with their hunting dogs. This trial is now implemented in nine different cooperatives. The results are so far promising.

Another trial of ours is related to road safety. We started to test if spraying reindeer antlers with reflective spray would make them more visible in the traffic. The aim of this is to see if a reflective spray can diminish the amount of traffic accidents as drivers could see reindeer better. This trial started in the spring 2014. The pictures from the trial spread around the world and news were published in all continents from Asia to South-America. There were also interviews to radios and over 20 international TV-crews came over to Finland. The spray does not yet last enough long in the antlers, but the work on the development continues. In any case, the trial got so much attention that it has been the best campaign on reindeer and traffic so far.