This project will investigate short- and long-term effects of supplementary feeding of semi-domesticated reindeer. Pastureland is being irreversibly fragmented due to socio-economic pressure, and reindeer herding is challenged by climate change, causing increased frequency of freeze-thaw and rain-on-snow events, and ice-covered winter pastures. Pasture limitations are increasingly mitigated by feeding, with traditional reindeer herding rapidly drifting towards husbandry and farming. We are lacking knowledge on how these changes may impact animal welfare, health and diseases, food safety and the Sami culture and traditions. We will document traditional knowledge on reindeer health and diseases and effects of different feeding regimes. We will improve the understanding of the relationships between herding and feeding practice and identify risk factors for disease outbreaks. Furthermore, we will evaluate impacts of feeding regimes on herding sustainability and cultural traditions. With a questionnaire survey to all reindeer pasture units (siidas) in Norway, we will compile traditional knowledge on reindeer feeding, health and diseases. Through cooperation with reindeer herders with different feeding regimes in Trøndelag and Sweden (controls; no feeding), Nordland (intensive feeding) and Finnmark (supplementary feeding only), we will equip 15 reindeer calves in each herd with GPS-collars and follow them in three consecutive years to reveal how different feeding regimes impact behaviour. The calves will also be sampled for the detection of exposure to potential reindeer pathogens. A broader sampling from the same herds will be conducted through necropsy of collected carcasses (animals dead on pasture) and from slaughter animals. As a follow-up of the questionnaire, socioeconomic drivers will be investigated through in-depth interviews. As a crucial element of dissemination, regional seminars with stakeholders and management authorities will be arranged.
